The Rock walks in Buford Pusser's steps
March 17, 2004


Region comes out to see new 'Walking Tall' star

SELMER - From a black, tinted-windowed SUV, he emerged, his leather jacket off, a green T-shirt showing off his muscles and his handlers tugging on his right biceps as they tried to rush him back onto his private jet.

Yeah, well, Dwayne Johnson, the former pro wrestler known as The Rock, was hardly in a hurry to go.

What had been scheduled as a brief stop to promote the soon-to-be released "Walking Tall" remake had blown past a two-hour itinerary, with his managers growing impatient as he continued to sign more autographs, some for people who had waited patiently for more than an hour.

When one woman asked for a hug, The Rock obliged.

"I had an absolute blast," he said in an exclusive interview.

So The Rock described the whirlwind of Tuesday, when he descended upon McNairy County to retrace the footsteps of its legendary sheriff. He punctuated his stop by presenting a $5,000 check to the Buford Pusser Foundation as an estimated crowd of 500 looked on from the lawn of the County Courthouse.

In about two weeks, on April 2 to be exact, the new "Walking Tall" movie in which The Rock stars hits silver screens across the country. The tour - organized by Dwana Pusser Garrison, the daughter of the late sheriff whose life story spawned a 1970s movie trilogy and national following - was designed to show that The Rock and the remake have West Tennessee's values in mind. That's because the remake has drawn criticism in recent months from fans who feel slighted that Hollywood tore up the old script, changed the story line without mentioning Pusser by name, and set the updated version in Washington state.

The movie points out that the remake is "inspired by a true story." The original movie, which also led to a 1981 television series, depicted Pusser in his days of running down bootleggers and busting gambling and prostitution rings along the Tennessee-Mississippi line. The new movie stars Johnson as Chris Vaughn, who returns from the U.S. Special Forces to his hometown, only to find that a casino has infiltrated with the drug crystal meth.

"I didn't want to do it the typical, Hollywood way," Johnson said. "I said, 'Let me be Chris Vaughn and preserve the Buford Pusser tradition.'"

Johnson said he agreed to visit the county because he wanted to "walk where Pusser walked." And so The Rock, Garrison and a large entourage blazed across the county, first to the County Courthouse in Selmer, then to the Buford Pusser Museum and Pusser's Restaurant, both in Adamsville.

However, Metro Goldwyn Mayer refused to allow local media inside access or grant interviews with The Rock, though the star stopped to answer a few questions just before he boarded his plane.

And it was then when he began to realized the significance of his travels. All smiles and searching for words, even as one of his managers tugged on his arm, Johnson offered, "I have a sense of what he stood for and how he lived his life, how he walked tall. I hope I captured that in the movie."

Johnson certainly won over hearts in McNairy County. Garrison's daughter has battled multiple sclerosis for six years now and at first struggled with the fact the remake wouldn't name her father. But in what has become a busy two months for her, with a trip to Los Angeles for a private screening in January and an invitation-only premiere Monday night in Nashville, Garrison has thrown her support behind the movie and was the one who persuaded The Rock to swing through West Tennessee.

"No," Garrison told the crowd in front of the courthouse, "his name is not Buford Pusser, but when you go see the movie, you will see the essence of my father's story."

"Hello, McNairy County," The Rock told the crowd after he signed a slew of autographs on his way to the front steps. "This project started for me about three to four years ago when I was filming 'The Scorpion King.' I've always been a fan of Buford Pusser and 'Walking Tall.'"

He would soon leave with a plaque honoring him as an honorary sheriff, that presented by County Mayor Mike Smith; and an honorary sheriff's badge, presented by the McNairy County Chamber of Commerce.

Soon after, The Rock presented Garrison a $5,000 check, saying, "I just hope I do you and your family name justice."

It was then when the crowd erupted.

Jeremy Prather, a fourth-grader in Selmer, couldn't snag an autograph but was happy to see the star anyway.

"He was about to have a fit this morning," said Prather's mother, Darlene. "The Rock, The Rock, The Rock, we had to go see The Rock."

Selmer's Trish Spicher, a stay-at-home mom who brought her 11-year-old daughter, Jerica, and 6-year-old daughter, Pamela, to the courthouse lawn, couldn't help but smile, too. She captured the moment on a digital camera.

"I think that's awesome, what he did," Spicher said. "I never thought anyone would give back like that."

It was that kind of day in McNairy County.



The Rock in McNairy County

The day's highlights

Dwayne Johnson, aka pro wrestling's The Rock, presented the Buford Pusser Foundation a check for $5,000.

A crowd of about 500 gathered in front of the McNairy County Courthouse. The county mayor presented Johnson with a plaque designating the actor an honorary sheriff, and the county Chamber of Commerce presented the actor an honorary sheriff's badge.

Johnson toured the Buford Pusser Museum and Pusser's Restaurant.

Region comes out to see new 'Walking Tall' star