The movie WALKING TALL is an entertaining movie to watch. But just how true is the movie? Near the beginning of the film Buford has just bought a house and is walking out of the courthouse with his wife Pauline and his mother when an old high school buddy spots him. Buford and his friend, Ludy McVay, go down to the state line for a little entertainment. Bufords mother warns him to pay no mind to what he sees there as things have changed in the area. It is an ominous warning. Buford and Ludy go to The Lucky Spot which as shown as a country version of a Las Vegas style casino complete with gaming tables, slot machines and everything you would expect to see in a real casino Ludy is rolling dice until he runs out of money, at which time he asks Buford for some cash so he can keep playing. Buford, watching the game closely, sees the game operator switch dice at which time Buford grabs the mans wrist causing the game operator to drop two pair of dice on the table exposing the game as a fraud. A fight erupts and Buford takes on an entire room of state liners and does does quite well in the fight until he is overpowered by a gang of men. The horrifying scene in this movie is when one of the men takes his knife and carves into Bufords chest before they take him out to the middle of nowhere, throw him in a ditch and leave him for dead.......thats the movie version of things. The real story is that none of this may have happened at all. First, this alleged attack was said to have taken place in 1957, two years before Buford met Pauline and got married. The real club where this event was alleged to have occurred was the Plantation Club on the Mississippi side of the state line, just inside Alcorn County. The club was owned by W.O. Hathcock. Buford claimed that he caught a dice game operator cheating, was roughed by a number of state liners and beaten, Pusser claimed that it took one hundred and ninety two (192) stitches to close the wounds about his head and face. The story goes that he was robber of over $300.00 before he was thrown out in the parking line in the rain. When finally able to do so, he drove himself to the clinic in Selmer to seek medical care. But is this version of the story true? No police report was ever filed in this incident. There are no records available to show that he ever received an medical care. There were no newspaper reports to verify the attack and better yet, I can find no one who witnessed or even knew of the attack when it took place. Reason dictates that even if there were no witnesses to the attack in a crowded bar, someone would surely remember seeing Buford around town with 192 stitches and being all battered and bruised,...yet no one recalls this either. Photos taken in the time frame show no evidence of such an attack...., no cuts bruises scars or stitches on either his head, face or chest. Are we to blindly believe this event took place when no one can provide no evidence that it did? Is this simply a legend growing on it own with no factual basis? While we know the movie version is a complete farce, we also need to question Bufords version of the story as, much like his claims of shutting down 87 moonshine stills when the actual number was only 28, we need to be prudent and objective about Bufords story on this as well, especially considering there is no evidence to back what he told. More to follow: You decide....more to follow: Photos: W.O. Hathcock and an artists impression of the Plantation Club.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:28:25 +0000
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