Chicago – A titan of a TV/film character actor, who is also a novelist and judo champion, is turning 80 years young on February 13th, 2021. Bo Svenson has been featured opposite Robert Redford (“The Great Waldo Pepper”), was notable as a Southern lawman (“Walklng Tall” series), impressed Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”) and is still ready for his next act.
Bo Svenson was born in Sweden … his mother was a big band leader and his father the driver for the King of Sweden … and emigrated to the America as a teenager. After a stint in the U.S. Marines, where he developed a love for Judo while stationed in Japan, Svenson began acting in 1960s TV to supplement his education. After a run in the TV series “Here Comes the Brides,” he got a big break as the co-star in “Maurie” (1973) and followed that with “The Great Waldo Pepper” (1975) featuring Robert Redford.
A...
Bo Svenson was born in Sweden … his mother was a big band leader and his father the driver for the King of Sweden … and emigrated to the America as a teenager. After a stint in the U.S. Marines, where he developed a love for Judo while stationed in Japan, Svenson began acting in 1960s TV to supplement his education. After a run in the TV series “Here Comes the Brides,” he got a big break as the co-star in “Maurie” (1973) and followed that with “The Great Waldo Pepper” (1975) featuring Robert Redford.
A...
- 2/12/2021
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Many big screen biographies are often accused of taking…liberties…with the facts, often to help the finished film’s pacing. After all, unless it’s a TV mini-series, it’s difficult to compress a remarkable life into an evening at the movies. Film makers will frequently switch the order of events along with the popular practice of using composite characters (a little bit of this fella’, and a bit of this old pal, and…), even inventing supporting roles, or tagging real folks with invented names. And then there are fantasy tales using a real person (and elements of his life) as the story’s heroic center. In Hollywood famous true Western outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James were the leads in many fictional flicks (hey, those two “met” Dracula and Frankenstein’s daughter!). Those on the opposite side of the law like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson...
- 2/4/2016
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Throughout the vast history of cinema the profession of law enforcement has been portrayed heavily and made its mark on the big screen in both dramatic and comical fodder. Whether it be straight up cops and robbers or crooked officers on the take in gangster flicks or ant-hero gun-slinging loners trying to buck the system the presence of crime-busting cads never fail to add compelling, if not at times over-exaggerated, insight into the world of law-enforcing personalities.
The one element of the law-enforcing community that seems somewhat limited but still registers mightily in some cinematic arenas is the concept of the sheriff. Sheriffs do cast a prominent shadow in all sorts of fields in the movies: westerns, medieval times, contemporary country car-chasing farces and even some urban melodramas.
In Arresting Developments: Top Ten Sheriffs in the Movies we will take a look at some of the notable on-screen sheriffs in...
The one element of the law-enforcing community that seems somewhat limited but still registers mightily in some cinematic arenas is the concept of the sheriff. Sheriffs do cast a prominent shadow in all sorts of fields in the movies: westerns, medieval times, contemporary country car-chasing farces and even some urban melodramas.
In Arresting Developments: Top Ten Sheriffs in the Movies we will take a look at some of the notable on-screen sheriffs in...
- 2/19/2015
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
As we say in our review of 2 Guns, don’t let the film’s August release date fool you into thinking it’s not one of summer’s funnest rides. Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg star as an undercover DEA agent and naval intelligence officer, respectively, who’ve infiltrated a narcotics syndicate with the goal of bringing down drug kingpin Papi Greco (Edward James Olmos). The catch: Neither of them knows the other guy isn’t a real criminal until they receive orders to steal $3 million of Papi’s cash from a Savings & Loan but find $40 million more in the vault than they should.
- 8/2/2013
- by Mandi Bierly
- EW - Inside Movies
The Walking Tall Trilogy (DVD) Directed by: Phil Karlson / Earl Bellamy / Jack Starrett Starring: Joe Don Baker / Bo Svenson Advertised as the “original revenge film,” Walking Tall is a '70s classic that I’m not sure would appeal to today’s audience even though there seems to be a resurgence in the popularity of heroes in revenge films with films like Taken. The movie was popular enough to spawn two sequels in the '70s, a television movie, a television series (albeit short-lived) and eventually a remake with its own two direct-to-dvd sequels. This review covers the '70s theatrical films that have been released as a trilogy in a single package. When Walking Tall was originally released in 1973, I was only eleven years old, but for some reason, I have a strong memory of this film’s impact. The movie was R-rated, so neither I nor any of...
- 6/22/2012
- by Reed
- FilmJunk
Well we're back again with the bumper crop of must-have DVDs and Blu-rays for the month of May – from historic Italian epics to underground American sensations to a chilly, expressionistic film noir to movies where Raquel Welch plays a Vegas showgirl fleeing a murderer – we’ve got them all hear for you. So look on below to see what's worth your money this month....
"1900" (1976) Blu-ray
Why You Should Care: At the time of its release, Bernardo Bertolucci's historical epic was said to be the most expensive (requiring the financial commitment of three major studios – 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and United Artists) and ambitious ever mounted in Italy. It's a tale of two friends (played by Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu), born on the same day at the dawn of the 20th century, and the way that their lives crisscross, intersect, and diverge wildly over the rocky course of history.
"1900" (1976) Blu-ray
Why You Should Care: At the time of its release, Bernardo Bertolucci's historical epic was said to be the most expensive (requiring the financial commitment of three major studios – 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and United Artists) and ambitious ever mounted in Italy. It's a tale of two friends (played by Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu), born on the same day at the dawn of the 20th century, and the way that their lives crisscross, intersect, and diverge wildly over the rocky course of history.
- 5/3/2012
- by Drew Taylor
- The Playlist
Joe Don Baker was marketed as a martial arts star in the 1974 actioner Golden Needles, a movie I saw at the Des Peres 4 Cinema back when it was new and haven’t been able to track down since. It had never been released on VHS or DVD so I was psyched to see it’s now out as part of the “MGM Limited Edition” DVD-r series . Before starring in the hit Walking Tall in 1973, Baker had bounced around Hollywood mostly doing TV work . After Kris Kristofferson turned down the role of Buford Pusser, producers offered the role to Baker who had made an impression as Steve McQueen’s younger brother in Sam Peckinpah’s Junior Bonner in 1972.Walking Tall, a true tale about a Tennessee sheriff confronting corruption and gangsters with a large wooden club and a mean attitude, was a surprise success and Baker was soon starring in a...
- 11/29/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Since the earliest days of American cinema there has been a shadowy counterpart to the commercial mainstream: exploitation movies — pictures whose appeal lies in their sensational treatment and leering promotion of often lurid and prurient material. Pre-1960, when mainstream Hollywood worked within severe restrictions on content, exploitation movies offered audiences titillating glimpses of the deliciously taboo, usually under the guise of being some sort of instructional cautionary against the very subject matter being exploited i.e. sex in “hygiene” movies like The Road to Ruin (1934), drugs in anti-drug movies like Tell Your Children (1936, re-released in the 1960s/70s as camp classic Reefer Madness), and gambling in the anti-vice Gambling with Souls (1936).
By the 1950s, as the studios entered their long post-war decline, downscale producers launched a new vein of exploitation moviemaking, churning out low-budget thrillers (mostly sci fi and horror) aimed squarely at the burgeoning youth audience. Again, the movies were cheap,...
By the 1950s, as the studios entered their long post-war decline, downscale producers launched a new vein of exploitation moviemaking, churning out low-budget thrillers (mostly sci fi and horror) aimed squarely at the burgeoning youth audience. Again, the movies were cheap,...
- 1/24/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Opens
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Opens
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, April 2
This might not be your father's Buford Pusser, but the remake of "Walking Tall" remains the tale of a vigilante with a badge -- and a very big stick. As a man of few words who takes on the forces of pure evil in his rural hometown, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is a self-possessed, charismatic screen presence. Drawing on his fans and tapping into hero hunger, the film should find solid footing at the boxoffice.
Like the 1973 Joe Don Baker starrer -- a hit that spawned two sequels, a telefilm and a short-lived series -- this version is inspired by the true story of Tennessee sheriff Pusser. But here the central character, unmarried and ultra-buff, is not an unlikely savior. To the well-chosen strains of Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider", we first see Chris Vaughn as a solitary figure on a ferry to Washington state, returning home after eight years in the Army Special Forces.
It's a relief that "Walking" strips Mort Briskin's original screenplay of its cloying family-man angle and tragic elements. That helps to lessen the self-righteousness of an uneasy, if popular, combination of moralizing and head-slamming. But that combustible mix is still the heart of the story.
Paying tribute to the central character's weapon of choice -- a hunk of wood -- the story has been moved to lumber country (Vancouver subs for Kipsat County, Wash.). Expecting to work in the town's mill, like his Father John Beasley), Chris finds it's been shuttered by Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough, whose ice-blue eyes spell "villain"). After inheriting the plant, the town's lifeblood, Jay has turned his entrepreneurial efforts to a lucrative casino, the front for an even more lucrative drug operation. Emblematic of the Wild Cherry's grip on the town, Chris High' school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott), dances in a peep show at the sensory-overload venue.
For Chris, the casino is an assault on small-town integrity. Ever-vigilant to corruption and wrongdoing, he crosses the powers that be and winds up sliced and left for dead by Jay's goons. Denied legal recourse by the sheriff (Michael Bowen), who considers the casino a "no-fly zone," Chris puts a huge stick of cedar to use in the name of justice and ends up in jail. After baring his impressive torso and its gruesome scars for a jury, he's elected sheriff.
He deputizes his pal Ray (Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass"), a recovering addict, to help him crack Jay's speed-manufacturing business. Adding drugs to the corrosive stew of gambling and prostitution, the adaptation ups the ante on moral certainty with broad strokes: Chris' young teen nephew (Khleo Thomas) has an unspecified medical emergency relating to the ingestion of crystal meth, and Chris and Ray are wholesomely abusive cops as they set out to rid their town of vice.
This lean retelling mercifully compresses the physical attacks on the hero and his family, albeit into unbelievably brazen simultaneous ambushes on the precinct and the Vaughn home. As the senior Vaughn, Beasley makes an impression as a former soldier who must overcome his aversion to guns to protect his wife (Barbara Tarbuck) and single-mom daughter (Kristen Wilson).
Director Kevin Bray keeps the action tight and brutal, from the first casino brawl to the final face-off between Jay and Chris (hatchet vs. tree branch). The cast acquits itself well, with the Rock evincing a quiet balance between humor and brawn. Unlike Baker's Pusser, Chris is not a conflicted man, and the pared-down action loses some of its dramatic tension because there's no doubt that the Rock will prevail -- driving home the point is a low-angle shot of the jeans-clad sheriff, wooden club in hand.
Production designer Brent Thomas and costume designer Gersha Phillips achieve a lived-in look that never calls attention to itself. Glen MacPherson's camerawork captures the setting's natural riches and economic straits, while well-chosen '70s rock tunes help propel the proceedings.
WALKING TALL
MGM Pictures
A Hyde Park Entertainment/Mandeville Films production in association with Burke/Samples/Foster Prods. and WWE Films
Credits:
Director: Kevin Bray
Screenwriters: David Klass, Channing Gibson, David Levien, Brian Koppelman
Based on a screenplay by: Mort Briskin
Producers: Jim Burke, Lucas Foster, Paul Schiff, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman
Executive producers: Keith Samples, Vince McMahon
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Brent Thomas
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Bill Bannerman
Costume designer: Gersha Phillips
Editors: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Cast:
Chris Vaughn: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Ray Templeton: Johnny Knoxville
Jay Hamilton: Neal McDonough
Michelle Vaughn: Kristen Wilson
Deni: Ashley Scott
Pete Vaughn: Khleo Thomas
Chris Vaughn Sr.: John Beasley
Connie Vaughn: Barbara Tarbuck
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Michael Bowen
Booth: Kevin Durand
Running time -- 86 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 3/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.