The Walking Tall trilogy DVD Set

 

TITLE-Walking Tall 1,2,3

SOURCE-Shout Factory DVD set

I had seen at least the first 2 films back in the early 80s. Having been told the story about how someone  that worked with dad was Buford Pusser's cousin. So months back when I found this for 50 cents,gotta love the good junkstore,I grabbed it. Planning on one evening watching all three.

WALKING TALL

Buford is a Marine that just did 5 years as a pro wrestler. Him and his wife and two kids move to rural Tennessee. He sees how a local bar/whore house/gambling den has taken over the town. And after getting beat up for trying to stop all these illegal activities Buford runs for sheriff and wins. With the rest of the film being him and his deputies stopping all the crime in town.

Nothing amazing but I can see why this was a huge hit in 1974. Joe Don Baker is great as the lead. With the rest of the cast being decent.

WALKING TALL II

Made just a few years after the first one,and with Bo Sveson as the lead. Like how they use Buford getting shot in the face in the first movie to explain why he looks different this film. More car chases more stunts and less story than the first. With lesser acting too. Guessing this was a hit too. Also this one ends after Buford has died.

WALKING TALL III

Yep another film,Bo is back. But now it is set about a year after the first film,ignores most of the second. And even less plot than the last one. I see why this was the end of the film franchise for what 30 years?

Overall the three films aren't bad. The first one is something I can see myself going back watching again. But parts 2 and 3? Nah skip those turds.

The Walking Tall Trilogy DVD set gets a C+

Piranha DVD

 

Title-Piranha

SOURCE-Shout Factory DVD

Yea normally I save horror stuff for October. Just after watching this the other night I felt the need to write about it. Now I have covered the 90s remake and the 2000s remake on this blog before. And I've seen  the original many times. 

First time viewing it had to be when it premiered on network tv. Sure it was some channels Movie of the week,who else remembers that? Each major OTA network would have a night of the week where they showed cut for tv versions of big movies. Would be a big deal when stuff like Alien played tv for the first time. I had to be 8 or so when I first saw Piranha and I loved it.

The plot is Jaws but replacing the giant shark with a pile of mutated piranhas. They are heading to a water resort and of course the owner doesn't want to shut it down.

Cheesy and cheaply made this is still the best Jaws rip off from that era. Decent FX work,ok acting and a decent plot.

This DVD is loaded. Got a great commentary,that is full of info on  the film. A almost 20 minute long featurette with Corman and others that worked on  the film. They even dug up the scenes added back into the TV version. Back in the day lots of the time when  a film was edited for tv it would cause the running time to be too short,average movie needed to be 90 to 95 minutes so a 2 hour block would have 25 to 30 minutes of ads,so cut scenes would be added back in. Some films even  had new scenes filmed for the tv version.

I know there is a great blu ray of this out there. Betting a 4k is either out or out soon. This DVD is a great cheap choice if you want to try out the film

Piranha gets a B-.