Latest news with #BufordPusser
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sheriff Buford Pusser — the other story
MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — For many Tennesseans growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, and especially those in McNairy County, Sheriff Bufford Pusser was a hero. Hollywood made the big hit movie 'Walking Tall' about the lawman, but a shadow of controversy has also loomed over the McNairy County sheriff. His wife's murder remains a cold case to this day — and some say Pusser is responsible. Pusser's image of a big stick-carrying sheriff who cracked down on crime continues to this day. However, not everyone believes Pusser was a saint. 'You look into these things and you find it didn't happen that way at all,' said Mike Elam, author and podcaster of 'Buford Pusser: The Other Story.' 'He walked on both sides of the law.' Who was legendary lawman Buford Pusser? Elam is an outsider. He's from Arkansas, where he spent years in law enforcement. He started digging into Pusser's past. For him, the hero story wasn't adding up — especially that Pusser's wife Pauline was mistakenly murdered in an ambush that was intended to take him out. Elam believes Pusser killed his wife and covered it up. 'I believe it was staged to fit Buford's narrative,' Elam told News 2. 'But when you look at the evidence, it's so convincing that he didn't tell the entire truth.' Elam launched a podcast called 'Buford Pusser: The Other Story.' He also operates the a tour called 'The Truth has no Agenda' where he takes his guests — including many law enforcement officers — on a guided tour of the different crime scenes from the night of the murder. Dennis Hathcock is one of the locals on the tour. Pusser cracked down on his family's business, The Plantation Club, on the state line. Annual Buford Pusser Festival celebrates legendary sheriff 'He was evil. That's the only thing I can say … Because he could put out that persona that he's a good man fighting crime and corruption when, if you really knew what was going on,' Hancock told News 2. 'That's the importance of the tour and taking the route Buford took that morning — because that alone convinces a lot of people that it did not happen the way that Buford claimed,' said Elam. Elam said that other red flags at the crime scene included the location of blood splatters, and bullet holes. In fact, a tip last year led the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to re-examine the cold case and exhume Pauline's body. However, this revision of the Sheriff Pusser hero legend has ruffled some feathers in McNairy County. 'It's very frustrating — these people coming from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arksansas trying to be the Bufford Pusser expert,' Steve Sweat said. 'They don't have a clue.' Why were Pauline Pusser's remains exhumed? Sweat is the honorary Pusser expert for the state of Tennessee. He's not happy with tours like Elam's that tell a different story about Pusser. 'As far as I'm concerned, it happened the way the sheriff said it did because he was there and we weren't,' Sweat told News 2. 'As far as I know, that's the way that ambush went, the way the sheriff said it did.' 'I just think the truth is important,' Elam said. 'On my podcast, I always end it saying, 'The truth has no agenda.'' Elam said a tip to his podcast is what led the TBI to re-examine the cold case. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Buford Pusser's granddaughter says grandfather represented ‘respect and integrity'
McNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – Famed Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser died more than 50 years ago, but his daughter carried on the legacy before she died in 2018. Now the torch has been passed to the next generation. Buford's granddaughter shared what she wants people to know about her famous family. News 2 asked Madison Garrison Bush when she first started hearing stories about her grandfather. 'Honestly, before I came out of the womb,' said Garrison Bush. 'A lot of people have told me he was a gentle giant until you crossed that line.' Who was legendary lawman Buford Pusser? Garrison Bush never met her grandfather, but she knows him well through the stories passed down to her. 'He gave a lot of second chances. He would say what's right is right, what's wrong is wrong.' She said the first time her grandfather's legacy really hit her, she was on a first-grade field trip with her classmates to the Buford Pusser Museum in Adamsville. 'That first grade field trip to the museum, and the kids were like, 'Will you sign our souvenirs?' And they were my peers. And I was like, 'I guess. sure.'' For Garrison Bush, her grandfather was ahead of his time. She's proud to say that he was the first in Tennessee to hire a Black deputy. And she admits his way of serving justice would not work in today's day and age, but when need be, he showed compassion as well. She said he would allow inmates to work and earn some money. 'He would release them during the day so that they could go to work. So that they can provide for their family and then return back to the jail when the workday is done…To me, he represents respect, integrity.' When Garrison Bush was older, her parents allowed her to watch the 1973 film Walking Tall about her grandfather. The film chronicles both Buford's crime-fighting actions, but also his wife's, Pauline, tragic murder. Questions remain decades after death of Pauline Pusser She remembers watching the film with her mother. 'It hurt my mom, just like it hurt my grandad, to have to walk out during the really hard scenes when we lost part of our family during all of this.' Garrison Bush left McNairy County, but she's never left behind the Pusser family legacy. Over the years, she's come back home to the festival, just like her mother, Dwana, did, in order to award the Buford Pusser Festival Law Enforcement Award to an exemplary officer of the law. 'To me, it is a way and such an honor to keep his legacy alive in doing what I saw my mother do my whole life.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sheriff Buford Pusser's lasting impact on Tennessee law enforcement
McNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – One sheriff has had a massive influence on law enforcement decades after his death. Buford Pusser is a Tennessee legend, even Hollywood took notice. News 2 spoke with the current McNairy County sheriff about Pusser's impact on crime fighting. Sheriff Buford Pusser kept law and order in McNairy County back in the 1960s. When Hollywood portrayed him in the 1970s film Walking Tall, he carried a big stick to fend off criminals. However, that stick, historians say, is somewhat of a myth. What's not a myth is how Pusser left a permanent mark on law enforcement. 'Whatever you think of him – good, bad – he did motivate people to get into law enforcement for the right reason. I think my whole generation of law enforcement officers, not just in Tennessee, but across the country and all across the world, who were motivated by those movies,' said Sheriff Guy Buck. Who was legendary lawman Buford Pusser? Buck currently occupies the sheriff seat in McNairy County that Pusser once sat in. Even though more than 50 years have passed, Buck still gets asked about his famous predecessor. Pusser was well-known for serving justice with his own style. According to one story, instead of hauling a car theft suspect off to jail, he tied the man to a pole to publicly humiliate him. Sheriff Buck admits that law enforcement today is not what it was when Pusser served this small county from 1964 to 1970. 'Law enforcement is very different. We would all go to jail for the things that we did in 1984, much less the things they did in 1964. It's a different world. It's a completely different world,' said Buck. 'Good guy, bad guy, something in between?' we asked Buck. Buford Pusser's granddaughter says grandfather represented 'respect and integrity' 'I think he was a human being. And he was a sheriff in the '60s. And, I think, if you were to ask anybody about any sheriff in the '60s, they would have different opinions. Some would think they were good, some would think they were bad. Obviously, Buford is no different,' said Buck. Buford Pusser is no longer top cop in McNairy County, but his name is truly synonymous with law enforcement. And, also creating an opportunity for this county to become a place where visitors can come from all over and pay their respects to law enforcement. In fact, they recently unveiled this memorial to do just that. 'It is a granite wall that contains 796 names of every police officer who has died in the line of duty since Tennessee became a state,' said Buck. 'So many of those stories have never had a voice, and they do out here now.' The county also hosts an annual law enforcement appreciation ceremony at the Buford Pusser Festival. Leaders here envision a future McNairy County where people from Memphis to Johnson City can gather to pay their respects to law enforcement, and it all started with one man, Sheriff Buford Pusser. 'You can't say sheriff without thinking of Buford Pusser,' said Buck. Sheriff Pusser was known for professionalizing the department by hiring paid deputies and purchasing squad cars. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joe Don Baker Dies: ‘Walking Tall' Star Who Appeared In Three James Bond Films Was 89
Joe Don Baker, the actor who as the real-life Sheriff Buford Pusser in the 1973 vigilante film Walking Tall carried a big stick to mete out his own Tennessee brand of justice, died May 7, his family has announced. He was 89. A cause of death was not disclosed. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Samuel French Dies: 'Killers Of The Flower Moon' & 'Fear The Walking Dead' Actor Was 45 Mark Gaines Dies: Longtime Universal Distribution Exec Was 77 Born February 12, 1936, in Groesbeck, Texas, Baker played football for North Texas State College and, upon graduating in 1959, served a two-year stint in the Army before moving to New York City to study acting at the Actor's Studio. He would remain a lifelong member of the famed organization. After some time performing on the New York stage – he appeared on Broadway in 1963's Marathon '33 and, a year later, in Blues for Mister Charlie. He then moved to Los Angeles and launched a TV and film career that included guest appearances on such series as Honey West, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Mission: Impossible, Lancer and The Streets of San Francisco, among many others. Early film roles included small parts in Cool Hand Luke and The Valachi Papers. His signature role came in 1973, when he took up a four-foot-long hickory club as the weapon of choice for Walking Tall's justice-seeking Sheriff Buford Pusser. Critics may have scoffed, but the movie, directed by Phil Karlson, was a hit with audiences caught up in the 1970s vigilante-film craze that included Death Wish, Dirty Harry and even Taxi Driver. Georgia-based rock band Drive-By Truckers dedicated a three-song run on its 2004 album The Dirty South to Pusser and Walking Tall, telling the tell from the other side of the law on 'The Boys From Alabama,' 'Cottonseed' and 'The Buford Stick.' Saying Goodbye: A Video Tribute To The Hollywood & Media Figures We've Lost In 2025 Standing at 6'2″ and with the broad frame of the linebacker he was in college, Baker had a prolific screen career playing tough guys on both sides of the law throughout the 1970s and '80s in such movies as Charley Varrick (1973), Mitchell (1975) and Speedtrap (1977). Comedy roles increasingly made their way to Baker in the 1980s and 1990s, including another police chief role in the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy Fletch and, in 1996, Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! Other memorable roles included a baseball player known as The Whammer opposite Robert Redford in The Natural (1984) and, in 1991, a corrupt investigator in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear. He toplined the NBC crime drama Eischied, playing the NYPD's tough chief of detectives who had a soft side for his pet cat. The series debuted in September 1979 but lasted just one season. Baker also appeared in three James Bond films of the 1980s and '90s. He played a bad guy in The Living Daylights (1987) opposite Timothy Dalton as Bond, and a 007 ally CIA agent in the Pierce Brosnan-led GoldenEye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). After appearing in nearly 60 movies throughout his career, Baker retired in 2012. His marriage in 1969 to Maria Dolores Rivero-Torres ended with divorce in 1980. Baker is survived by extended family in Groesbeck, Texas. A funeral service to honor his life will be held Tuesday in Mission Hills, California. Erik Pedersen contributed to this report. Best of Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Where To Watch All The 'Mission: Impossible' Movies: Streamers With Multiple Films In The Franchise Everything We Know About 'My Life With The Walter Boys' Season 2 So Far
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Joe Don Baker, tough-guy actor from Walking Tall and Bond films, dies aged 89
Tough-guy actor Joe Don Baker, a prolific performer in movies as varied as GoldenEye, Cape Fear and Mud, as well as the BBC TV series Edge of Darkness, has died aged 89. Born in 1936, Baker grew up in small town Texas, and studied business administration at North Texas State College. After a period in the army, Baker moved to New York and joined the Actors' Studio in the early 1960s, where he was a contemporary of Rip Torn. Baker made his Broadway debut in 1963 with the Actors' Studio company, appearing in Marathon '33, about the dance marathons of the Great Depression, and made his film debut in an uncredited role in 1967 in Cool Hand Luke. He also appeared in numerous TV series, including the pilot episode of a western show called Lancer in 1968, the making of which was fictionalised by Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton in Baker's role. However it was a role as Steve McQueen's character's brother Curley in Sam Peckinpah's 1972 rodeo drama Junior Bonner that got Baker noticed. He was then cast in a rare lead role, as real-life lawman/vigilante Buford Pusser in 1973 film Walking Tall, directed by Phil Karlson; it became a surprise hit and Baker followed it up with other hard-bitten crime films including Charley Varrick, directed by Don Siegel, and The Outfit opposite Robert Duvall and Karen Black. Baker had more lead roles in the late 70s, but remained better known as a reliable supporting actor in the following decade, appearing in baseball drama The Natural (as 'the Whammer', modelled on Babe Ruth), Chevy Chase detective comedy Fletch and thriller Getting Even. In 1985 Baker was cast as CIA agent Darius Jedburgh in Edge of Darkness, the landmark political thriller TV series starring Bob Peck and Joanne Whalley. Baker's performance in Edge of Darkness got him attention from the producers of the 1987 Bond film The Living Daylights, in which he was cast as arms dealer Brad Whitaker. Baker would make the rare switch from Bond villain to Bond good guy when he was cast in 1995 in GoldenEye as helpful CIA agent Jack Wade, a role he reprised in Tomorrow Never Dies. A stream of smaller roles kept him busy, appearing in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear remake, Gen X satire Reality Bites, and Steven Soderbergh's noir drama The Underneath. He later appeared in the feature film version of The Dukes of Hazzard and his final film role in Mud, which starred Matthew McConaughey, after which he retired. Baker was married to Marlo Baker between 1969 and 1980, and is not known to have had any children.
