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Walking Tall (2004)
30 Plays7 months ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris pull out some 2x4s and deal out some vigilante justice to talk about 2004's Walking Tall, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as Chris Vaughn, a Special Forces soldier who returns to his hometown in hopes of working at the town's cedar mill like his father. Chris finds that the mill has been closed since he's been away and a sleazy casino is the town's main source of revenue, run by his rich childhood friend Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough). After a vicious altercation with the casino's security staff leads Chris left for dead and his nephew almost dies from crystal meth sold out of the casino, Chris first mets out some vigilante justice before he gives an impassioned speech at his court trial and gets elected sheriff, vowing to clean up the town. Zach and Chris discuss the casino's strange mix of gambling and strip club, Cobie Smulders' silent cameo, Johnny Knoxville's running comedy, how the movie feels earlier than previous Rock movies like The Rundown or The Scorpion King, and more.
You can watch Walking Tall on Max and next week we're heading into the wasteland to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the original Max Max.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com. Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the podcast for the week of April 1st, 2024. I'm your host Zach. I'm your host Chris.
Discussion on 'Walking Tall' Film
00:00:27
Speaker
And yeah, this week we are grabbing our two by four and smashing some casinos up, because we are talking about the 2004 Walking Tall, which celebrated its 2010 anniversary this week, came out April 2nd, 2004. One of the early movies starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson, I think it was his third movie overall, in like a starring role. And a remake of the 1973 cult classic movie that started, Joanna Baker,
00:00:57
Speaker
All of it inspired by real life vigilante Sheriff Buford Pusser, who lived a very strange and tragic life. Yes. He was a wrestler. He was a Marine. Then he became Sheriff of this county in Tennessee and then basically went on a one man war against the mafia. Was it nine assassination attempts on him or something?
00:01:26
Speaker
something like that. And it's like, yeah, like, he has not talked about a lot. He was like a regional folk hero in his area. Yeah, I think by the time the first Walking Tall movie came out, that's where people were like, Have you heard about this guy that did this?
00:01:47
Speaker
And he really, really latched on to like, he went, he had like a bunch of like, um, like hickory clubs that he would like, go out there, like beat people down where they're like, used for like his like, you know, policing.
Adaptation Changes from Real Life
00:01:59
Speaker
Because I think the original Joanna Baker movie, that was like, like a big thing. It was like, oh wait, he's giving, he's got, he's got his clubs going around beating people to clubs. And then, I don't know if that's better or worse for certain situations. Yeah. And then this, uh, the rock version.
00:02:15
Speaker
also includes that, although I think to a much lesser extent than the Joanna Baker movie from 1973. And also changed his name because I believe there was something like, it might be just like, I don't know if I've read this before, or like it's just like, if it's sure it up, like, I think there was something where like The Rock was like, I'm not, I'm not calling my character, I'm not playing a guy named Buford Pusser. So they renamed his character to Chris Vaughn.
00:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, you know what it is? Maybe it was that maybe it was they really didn't want to confuse people with the original Walking Tall movie. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's a remake of their they call it. They were going to they were calling a remake of the original version. But and same sort of plot or like idea. Same idea plot is varies. Yeah.
00:03:13
Speaker
especially with like a love interest part. But yeah, so, but yeah, the rockets of the rockets, Chris Vaughn, who is a special army, special forces, like, I guess that he's like an army ranger or something, I guess.
Film's Casino Setting and Characters
00:03:29
Speaker
And he's a trained guy. Yeah. Badass military guy. He's been away from home for eight years and he comes home and his dream is to work in the
00:03:40
Speaker
like Cedar Mill that his dad worked in, but then he comes home and he finds like the mill is closed. And now the entire town is like kind of funded by this sleazy casino run by his rich douchebag high school friend, Jay Hamilton, who's played by one of the best like villain character actors, Neil McDonough, who's always like, if you need like a smarmy, like douchey villain guy, like Neil McDonough is always like,
00:04:10
Speaker
He always brings it if you feel like for being that role like even if he's like he's always good even if the movies terrible like Like like let you know Charlie we play that bison like Yeah, he's probably the only part good part about that movie. Yeah, so you know the fact that he is somehow and bison He also kind of like like he like carried like long stretches of the arrow versus like Damien dark and
00:04:40
Speaker
It's just it is actually like what the what the tools for his to like kind of like, like, go to villain actors because like, Kevin Duran is also like, he's like the like, like, you know, like statistic, like, has security booth, who's like, like fucks up the rock early on in the movie. Yeah, he's I even surprised that he got like the, the like henchman dude in the beginning. And then he's never in the final fight. It's just
00:05:10
Speaker
He's in it for the beginning and then that's it. He just sort of just takes a backseat to everything. He becomes like a bumbling goon. Yeah, it is kind of odd because like he, yeah, he like, early on he's like very like, like, you know, sadistic and calculating. He was like, oh, this guy's going to be trouble. And then he gets like, like,
00:05:31
Speaker
halfway through it's just like oh yeah he's like they arrested him and he's like now he's just like a bumbling like joke now like they're like making like tons of jokes at his expense and uh like i think what's also missing about this movie is that there's no big bad either like there's no roadhouse esque big tough guy that they've been hinting at it's just like the hint the rock versus the
00:05:58
Speaker
the casino empire yeah slash of drawing it's actually i was thinking about it like it's very like this movie has like watching this again like right after watching like you know the new roadhouse we were you know we're talking last week about like total like wild total shifts and stuff like that like this walkie tall 2004 has similar like wild total chips but i like that i mean it starts with that concept and then
00:06:24
Speaker
You think it's going to be very tongue in cheek just by how it's introed. But as soon as they get to the casino part and it becomes like a horror movie. Yeah. And yeah, I definitely got Roadhouse vibes the way they presented this movie. Well, it's also because like you'll get like a I mean, you get like a some sort of like like a Johnny Knoxville who was the co-star of this movie is playing like the Rock's best friend.
00:06:50
Speaker
you know, get some scene where he's like riffing and like doing like comedy stuff and they cut to like, your nephew was dying from crystal meth. Yeah. Oh my god, the the giant axle parts are great. It just reminds me of this character also from The Last Stand. It's almost the same character. Well, I feel like this period like this, like the early 2000 period, I feel it was like a
00:07:17
Speaker
I feel like Hollywood was doing an experiment of can Johnny Knox be a star outside of Jackass? Because he was into a ton of stuff that wasn't Jackass stuff. He was like Men in Black 2, and Tukes of Hazzard, and this. I think Men in Black 2 was like 2001? 2002 maybe? 2002, yeah.
00:07:40
Speaker
Yeah, he was in like a bunch of stuff and he was like the star and it's just like, I guess maybe just go back to Jackass for a while. I think my 2004 Jackass was like almost over. Well, Jackass number two was 2006 and then after that, if you look at Giant-X was like filmography, it's like the last like, he was in like the wringer and then it was like 2006 was like Jackass number two and then after that it's like pretty much all just like,
00:08:10
Speaker
Jackass or Metro Circus until like last stand. I was like 10 years ago, so. Wow. I mean, I don't think you can act. I like Johnny Knoxville in this. Yeah, it definitely felt like like this, like, yeah, the early 2000s were like kick like they were like, hey, can we can we make Johnny Knoxville like like like an actual like movie star, not like like this like guy who like hurts himself in Jackass movies.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, they just don't want a client like they want him to be more of a serious role, even though this is the right move where Jack Giant Oxville is pretty much doing Jack has like stunts for a little bit, but slowly eases into more of the action and more Spencer him.
00:09:00
Speaker
No, but yeah, you can definitely tell they just let him, like, all of his scenes, they just let him just go off and just riff. Like, I'm sure he was just improvising everything he was saying.
The Rock's Dramatic Role Shift
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. And the physical comedy, just like, all right, what's my thing? Like, oh, I need to goof around on this car? OK.
00:09:21
Speaker
Did you did you get sense too that like the rock was like like was trying like I feel like this is like one of the first like Like he was trying to be like hit like you hit his first So he had the scorpion king in the rundown and this one like I feel like he was like trying to be like alright I'm gonna be like a little more dramatic in this one like this is gonna be like my like first like Dramatic pretty roll. Oh, yeah, I got that vibe as soon as he was doing that courtroom speech
00:09:45
Speaker
That plus like and then like like he's not really like he's not really a jokey character I mean he has a couple jokes, but like he's a lot more serious like he's a lot more like Grounded I guess especially coming off the like the movie reports with the rundown which is like, you know super crazy over tops like Peter Berg like super stylish like Oh like adventure in the Jones and then like this one's just like wow, it's like a Crazy like 180 like away from that movie
00:10:15
Speaker
I always thought this rundown came out after this, but I get what you mean. Like it's less fun and it's more like, Oh shit, this could happen in my town too. I can relate to the rock. And it's, it's, it's, you know, it's like the ravages of like crystal meth and like small towns and like the, like, like what happens when like a town's industry collapses. Yeah. It's when the economy is run by basically the same guy that did Roadhouse.
00:10:41
Speaker
You could tell me that this is the same universe as Roadhouse, and it makes sense. Yeah, it's like, where is Dalton? They didn't bring Dalton. It's like the head security for that, the wild cherry casino. Where's the wild cherry? We'll talk about that place.
00:10:58
Speaker
When I get into that, I want to finish more about the serious rock. Well, I remember we were talking about the rundown. Like I remember because I love the rundown. Like it's it's like when I was still awesome. And I remember like going this like the walked out was like, oh, shit, yes, next rock movie. Bring it on. I'm like this. It's OK. It's it's this is good, but it's not as good as like the rundown. Like I feel like this is like a step down for like the rundown where it's like,
00:11:27
Speaker
Because that there was like that right now it's like firing on all cylinders like Christopher Walken and all the action and everything in that movie. I give you that this is definitely a different version of The Rock. Yes. So pretty realistic if some military guy came back and like I don't know like find a new path in life and all that like it's good.
00:11:58
Speaker
But yeah, Rundown is more intensity and escalation. This has a lot of moment pauses, and then you could feel when the music changes, and that's when the rock's gonna say some sort of dramatic beat. There's scenes where it's like, I need to show off my acting chops. I need to have these dramatics, or not even dramatics, just non-action, just acting scenes with characters, just doing dialogue with other characters.
00:12:26
Speaker
I mean, it's fine when him and his family because he's trying to understand his nephew. That's where it really starts coming out to when he has like a heart to heart to his like ex girlfriend and all that. Yeah. That gets up there.
00:12:40
Speaker
You know, one thing I did appreciate to like going back to this after like, you know, like recent recent rock movies is like, I appreciate this one had like a little bit of like some grit to it with like, you know, the drugs and like the rocket fucked up. Yeah. Yeah. Because like, because like Kurt, like Kurt Rock is like so sterilized, like family friendly. It's like, you know, it's all Disney movies or like whatever, like he's very like playing it safe currently. And it's fun to go back to like, oh man, this is like some like, you know, some
00:13:09
Speaker
some grit, some like, uh, some rough edges on it. Well, I do like in this one, they didn't work in wrestling moves yet.
Pivotal Casino Confrontation Scene
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah. It's one, one of the few rock movies where he doesn't try to do some sort of like people's elbow. I mean, that was, that was like, that was like the first thing in like the rundown and like the awesome like opening like club fight. He does. He basically does like a rock bottom. Does like a guy? Yep. Oh, it was also this movie before Dune.
00:13:36
Speaker
Doom was the next year. The year after this was Be Cool and Doom. Wow. All right. So with Doom and then this, it's out of order for me. If you had to show the escalation of the rock, yeah, you would say this definitely is more... It feels like this should be the first one. This feels like the earliest one. Introducing the rock as this.
00:14:04
Speaker
There are some times where this feels just like a WWE movie. And they just want to highlight like the acting roles and then the almost like budgeted things. So that's why there's a lot of like downbeat scenes where you see the rock just hang out at home or like fixing a porch, you know, very basic things.
00:14:28
Speaker
Um, that don't really push anything in the story, but just to show that the rock is just like fed up with waiting. Uh, yeah, the, the heart to heart moments, it's like, it's like break in. It's like, okay, you got that part with like him and his family, him and his sister, which I don't think like.
00:14:53
Speaker
I think the sisters are trying to act like that actress was just going to be the girlfriend role. All right. Yeah. There's weird tension between them. Uh, and then you get the girlfriend, which not bad, like fun introduction. Well, that's, that's, that's at the casino, which we were talking about, like, let's, let's, let's like jump in. It takes a while to get to the casino. Well, yeah. So, so like, yeah, so the rock comes home and then, um,
00:15:22
Speaker
He finds out the mills close and there's a casino, but then he gets, he gets back with, like he meets all his old friends and they have like, there's like the top gun style, like football game they play. It's like, it's our weekly, it's our weekly football game. And it's like a montage of like red hot chili peppers. Yeah. I totally forgot what the soundtrack was like for this movie. So I was surprised to hear a hot chili pepper song in there.
00:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's it even though that's not it's like Portland that they're in not like, California. Yeah, they're in like, like Washington. It's like, it's like Pacific Northwest, like Washington somewhere. They're right next to like, the pine shack, like the Mr. Shack. Yeah.
00:16:08
Speaker
And then that football game is like the first indication of like, you know, like, uh, that like Neil McDonough is like, he has like nefarious nature, even though it's like, it's like, he's like, go for the knee, he's bad. Like, I want to win at any cost. But then he's like, Oh man. Yeah, that was a fun game. Hey, yeah, she got to come, come to the casino. It's on me. Like, well you'll have like, you know, free drinks or whatever.
00:16:32
Speaker
So yeah, so the rock giant knocks on all his friends who disappear shortly after the scene. After what happens to the rock, all those guys are just like, well, this is too much for us, we're out. But yeah, this casino, I mean, I think you go to more casinos than me, Chris. Have you ever seen a casino that's also a strip club? No. Especially not like this.
00:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, like Vegas doesn't even have like a strip club casino. I think it's just like it's like there's two separate things. It's like your strip club or your casino. You're not both. It's because like liquor licenses are weird. Like a lot of places in America can't be like a casino, strip club liquor like
00:17:22
Speaker
Like I've been to places where if you want to go like to see like the dancing ladies, which is fine. Like I feel like a lot of the other parts of the main building is fine. But then it's like, oh, in our back room VIP jerk off room. What is with like with like the.
00:17:39
Speaker
like it's like a dollar like arcade feeder. It's like you feed you're feeding dollars into like this like like it's like an arcade machine. Yeah. Yeah. Like that's not if I see that in a place I'm like this isn't high class like this is weird. No. Let alone what they sit in is like a leather lounge chair from Ikea and like you're not the first guy to sit in that. And who knows what they've the guys before you've done it that chair. Yeah.
00:18:07
Speaker
I mean, that that town is Roadhouse Town again. So these people are just fighting any excuse to fight and then drink and then do something crazy. And but that's what they moved beyond drinking. Now everyone's got a meth problem. Yeah. Well, there's also there's also like it's like the shower towers where it's like it's like a carnival game. But you're like you're like hitting like these like it's like the hammer smash game. But you're like smashing it. So like girls like rise to the ceiling and get like like what T-shirt showers on.
00:18:37
Speaker
That is all sorts of OSHA violations. I can tell you that. Like an open shower head just flowing into the middle of a casino.
00:18:50
Speaker
middle of a casino with girls who are not secure to a moving elevator and it's like two stories up three stories up like they're going pretty high in that casino like they're like two stories at least two stories then it's operated by how fast you smash the paddle yeah
00:19:09
Speaker
You know, like it's very bizarre. I don't know if that's real or that was like a thing. Yeah. Or they just totally built it. I don't think anything. I don't think any of these movies tie to anything real. Like we'll get to the courtroom scene too. Like it's like the most ridiculous courtroom scene in movie history. Yeah. Speaking of like ridiculous, like this movie is a span of like six months.
00:19:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I was going to talk about that a few. It's like there's no sense of like how long things take to happen in this movie. Because people will talk about things where like it just happened. Then like you get to also get the sense like later on where it's like months between what happened. I feel like some scenes are like vignettes of things that happened in the past or going to happen. Well, there's like there's like several montages. There's montages that like are like trying to like show the passage of time and it's like
00:20:03
Speaker
How long is this? Is this weeks? Is this days? Months? Like, you know, they really want it to speed up the movie and really focus in the middle where the part where at some point Dwayne, the rock becomes a cop. Like start with the casino scene. Start with like an introduction where he shows up and he's like, Hey man, it's good to be home. Hang on my friends. Oh, our old friend runs the casino, blah, blah, blah. And then like, then go from there, but they really had to show you,
00:20:31
Speaker
the town and the drug use than the the like like every every store the town is like either like it's like a porn store or like a like a cash checking pawn shop kind of thing and all the actual all the actual stores in the hardware store like the supermarket all closed
00:20:53
Speaker
So it's like it's like this like apocalyptic it's like the like everything everything that was like good about this town is like closed and gone and now it's just like like Methodics and like cash checking stores and like porn shops and then like the weird casino ship club Which you know going back to casino
00:21:18
Speaker
We get to see, we get to see, I think it's, there's somewhere seen in the original, like the, like the 73 movie as well, where like the rock, like one of his friends is like playing craps. And then the rock usually, I guess using his like special forces skills sees, is able to see like the, like the, the dealer squished dice with lower dice. He incense, like, I don't know, like illegal.
00:21:43
Speaker
Moved in in dice moving. Maybe that's like a special force training. Yeah, he sees like the sleight of hand they the guy uses and then his friend loses but then the rocks like I'm gonna bet give me I'm gonna bet like Give me all your money. I'm a bet on seven because it's come up seven. He makes it makes a whole scene And then but then he gets into a fight with all security guys and then they basically They just like take him down and then they like basically like Robert De Niro casino him and drag into the back room and
00:22:15
Speaker
And this is where Kevin Durant shows off his sadistic villain's life, where he's just like, I'm gonna cut this guy with a box knife. He says special forces mean special treatment. Yeah.
00:22:31
Speaker
And no one stops him. It's something crazy in that town. Well, it's crazy. He's like one of the guys, like, hey, this guy is friends with our boss. He's like, hey, this guy knows Jay. Or like, he's just like, Kevin Red played football with The Rock like fucking like, what, two hours ago? All of them did. They all did. And he's like, well, I played football with this guy. I know this is like my boss's friend. But I'm like, like, like caught him to the point where he's like almost left for dead, like.
00:23:00
Speaker
And the zenior thing is that they drop him off at the edge of town. And then he gets found by a trucker who I, then it's like, I guess he's barely alive or he's just really messed up. Yeah. The doctor says they basically let them for dead. And then if, if, if he wasn't the rock, he would have been dead because he's the rock. Like, so he, like he survived, but someone else wouldn't have survived.
00:23:28
Speaker
So they weren't even gonna like fuck him up. They were trying to kill him basically. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. And then no one investigates it. Not even the next hound over, not even the state, just whatever. Well, because the sheriff is like, you know, totally like,
00:23:46
Speaker
We learned pretty quickly is like totally in the pocket of Neil McDonough and is like a loser. We're just like, is like, and then, um, is like, well, the casino did an internal investigation. So like, we're, we're good. Like, I'm not going to, we're not going to do anything. Which another like fantasy town where you complain to the police and they're like, nope. And then that's it. Like there's no, yeah.
00:24:10
Speaker
any follow up or any kind of like, Hey, this hospital is a record of finding this man like this. Like we should probably submit it to something just like, no. Well, that's, that's one of the crazy like time frame things that we were talking about where it's, you have a, you have a montage of like, you know, the rock recovering after like, like recovering from his injuries. And then, which is that weeks? Is that months? We don't know. But then
00:24:33
Speaker
After that, he goes to the police station. He's like, hey, I want to press charges. And then the sheriff's like, oh, that thing that happened, like, months ago at the casino? And it's like, well,
Courtroom Speech and Outcome
00:24:45
Speaker
we're not going to do anything. And then that's, and then, uh, I think that pretty much immediate for that, like the rock, the rock is like, hey, your nephew almost died for crystal meth. Like, yeah, then that's what kind of drives, uh,
00:25:00
Speaker
the rock to kind of do something. Yeah. Cause cause he finds out like that the guys at the guys at casino are selling crystal meth. And there's also like, we find out later is like a, like a, they have like a full like meth lab somewhere in town with that. The rock is defined. But yeah, the, the, the, the, the, the big, uh,
00:25:19
Speaker
He drives the casino, he pulls out two, like, at first he's gonna go in the shotgun, he's like, alright, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna like, kill anybody, I'm just gonna go away. I'm gonna go on a shooting spree. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna grab everybody's two by fours to back my truck, and then use that to just like, smash guys arms to pieces, like smash the casino. Which we move. I mean, everyone, even his dad's like, don't use the gun. Like, you gotta get, you're gonna be like, even if you're on the right, you're gonna be super like, on the wrong.
00:25:50
Speaker
Well, as far as he did, he, like, you know, like, in like Con Air, where they're like, like, the niggas cage defends himself from the guys, like, literally going to stab him to death, and then, like, the judge is like, because you're a trained soldier, you're a lethal weapon, your hands are lethal weapons, so that you're getting, like, the maximum sentence. It's like, an army ranger has a, like, a two by four, like, Axon Jim Duggan-style is, like, going to, like, smash you guys' arms to pieces.
00:26:20
Speaker
But yeah, he tears to the casino, causes a bunch of damage, but then he gets arrested, and then we get one of the most unrealistic court scenes in the movie history, where it's like every single person that works in the casino is like testifying against the rock and saying he's like a crazy monster, and then his lawyer's not doing anything.
00:26:41
Speaker
Because I think the idea is that the lawyer is also on Nimitz's payroll. Nimitz does bribing every single person in town, owns every single person in town. So the rock fires him, then he gives this huge election speech, basically. And then it's like, no one's stopping him. It's not how you
00:27:05
Speaker
you know, try a case or like, like, present your case. But he's like, basically like, is like giving this like whole, like, I grew up in this town, we gotta be this town great again. Like, all the regular townsfolk though, they understand that they're in a, like a town of corruption. So that makes sense that as soon as you can get like a public electric official that I guess Neil McDonough hasn't had his fingers on yet. It's easy.
00:27:35
Speaker
But it's kind of, if you think about it, I mean, The Rock was in the ROM because he just stormed like a scene and started smashing things and beating guys down. Like, I mean, he was provoked, but like, you could argue it was unprovoked. He just like started just like drove up there and started smashing everything. But then the jury's like, well, I like the speech, so we're going to make him not guilty. We're going to forget the basic rules of breaking and entering. Yeah.
00:28:05
Speaker
I wasn't even a casino. I think it was still open, right? I think so. He put it. But it was it was like noon. So it was like, there's like no one there basically comes in. It was like, like, literally no one's there. But yeah, I think it was it was it was still open because it was like a waitress was there and stuff. But it was like the middle of the day. So no one's like, I guess no one's there. Like like the afternoon or the morning.
00:28:31
Speaker
It would have been a whole different time if he showed up at night and was crowded. And he threw this poop before into that dumb shower thing. Then the Rock has to be like, oh, yeah, I was angry. I didn't mean to do all that. Yeah, I have PTSD. He's actually pretty calm without it. It was more like he was anti-killing until it was like, that's it.
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah. Time for the killing to come back. Kind of like, I guess, kind of throw it back to like the rundown where you like refuse to use guns until the end. Until the end, until he uses basically... Double two, two shotguns at the same time, yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
But yeah, because of his speech, he gets elected. Now he's elected sheriff. He fires all the other cops. He gets Johnny Knoxville to be his deputy. And then they go on like a two man war on drugs. And I'm surprised they didn't try to go after Johnny Knoxville. Like actually being deputy. Yeah. Yeah. They really just went after the Rock.
00:29:41
Speaker
In a typical like 80s movie, Giant Oxle would have been dead. He's like too good of a guy. He's like likable. And then that just puts like an X on your back. But like right before like the final fight, like they were like he would have got killed or like they would have killed him. And then the Roxas is like, oh, now it's it's personal. Now it's like revenge. Like, yeah, I will avenge you. I hated that guy, but now I really hate him. Or or the Rock would have discovered Giant Oxle's body.
00:30:11
Speaker
somewhere. Yep. And then that would have done it. They would have like, make it look like it, make it look like he like overdosed on the crystal meth or something. But the movie actually points out that giant knife still like got sober. He's actually a good guy. Yep. I like his character. He has a lot of growth for just the brief things in him.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, he knows he fucked up earlier in his life, but now he's trying to be better. But he still has his sense of humor. And then there's another montage where it's like the drug takedown montage, going around town, trying to
00:31:00
Speaker
Which, it's like, it doesn't seem like a dude that much. They arrest a couple users or tweakers and then they find one guy supplying them and then they get Kevin Durand who's one dealer. And then they find a burrito-sized thing of, I guess, meth or heroin or something in his leg.
00:31:25
Speaker
And then we get we get like the pretty fun scene where like they tear apart his car like truck, which is like like one of the like the like the big like that's like the giant Knoxville like like humor showcase, which is like he's constantly just like like playing with like steering wheels like like doing like one liners and like like making fun of Kevin Durand. Yeah. Who I you know, like the richest man in this town is just going to buy another truck. Like don't sweat over. And I guess that was his mindset. He was like,
00:31:55
Speaker
Whatever, like we just buy more. Oh, well, speaking of which, I want to mention like, so there's, right after the Rock is elected sheriff, like there's a scene where like he pulls over Neil McDonough and he's like, and basically have like, they're like, well, I'm not, I'm coming after you.
Cobie Smulders' Cameo
00:32:09
Speaker
And then like, well, you better watch out because I'm coming after you.
00:32:13
Speaker
and then we get the there's a crazy like the like silent kobe smolders like cameo i wait so i didn't know that was her because i was like yeah that looks awfully like her yes she has to be like
00:32:27
Speaker
20 in that scene i i think this is like literally the year before how you mentioned butter started so it's like no like like a year later she'd be like co-starring like uh this like huge cvs sick uh but like what what year what year before she's a silent like girlfriend of neil mcdonough and rocky tall wait was it 2005 yeah yeah yep
00:32:52
Speaker
I remember it was... September 2005 is when The Huddom and Your Mother started, so... Holy shit! It's nuts. It's like a year later, she would be like one of the most recognizable people on TV. It's just like... I barely could recognize her in the car. Yeah. She plays exotic beauty. That's her credit in the movie. No offense to Kobe. It's like she's not that exotic.
00:33:18
Speaker
I would say like Sunglasses Woman or something would be a better credit. Or just like a car lady or a car date exotic woman. No, she's not like mixed of like multicultural or something. She's not wearing like any headdress. It's like she's Canadian, that's exotic. I know, it's like, I mean, 10 of his movies filmed in Canada.
00:33:47
Speaker
Oh yeah. Or like Canada adjacent. Like you drive like an hour and you're in Canada. Yep. You just cross over late by accident, you know, somehow and you're in Toronto. But yeah, that, that, that Neil McDonough, like the close motor scene is like the last time the rock uses like, cause there's this whole thing where he uses the two by four, the two by four is like used for evidence, the court. And then he takes it like, it's like acquitted. He takes the like two or four back and he's like, this is mine.
00:34:16
Speaker
And then he turns it into a club, but then the only time he uses the club is to smash them with tail lights, and he's like, tail lights out, get them fixed. And then he never uses that club again. Which I guess they had to do some sort of acknowledgement of Buford Pusser used these hickory clubs in his vigilante crime fighting.
00:34:41
Speaker
So it's like, well, we got to have a club, but then they couldn't figure out any way to use it or they didn't want to use it for the rest of the movie. Because he basically reverts like shotguns and his fists for the movie, which not bad. When it gets to like the the time to get serious parts. Yeah.
00:35:08
Speaker
Which is when after they strip down Kevin Duran's truck and they don't find anything, he's locked up in jail. But then The Rock thinks that they're going to send guys after him and his family. So then he sends Johnny Knoxville to go protect his family. And then he's going to stay at the jail with Kevin Duran and guard him. And then that's when Ashley Scott shows up.
00:35:34
Speaker
Hey, I made you dinner and also let's fuck in the police station. Like, right next to, right next to where Kevin DeRay is, like, stay in his cell, which they had to be super awkward for him. Like, just like, I'm sure, I'm sure you could hear that through the window. It wasn't like, uh, I'm sure it was like very thick walls in the police station. No. So I totally forgot that, um, Ashley Scott was in birds of prey. Well, I didn't realize I was looking, I was looking up what she was doing for like, before we,
00:36:02
Speaker
because she's obviously in this movie and then it's like, I didn't know she was like Maria in The Last of Us. Yeah. That part was cool. Which is like one of the most recent things she's done. It's cool she's still doing stuff and it's a really awesome thing to be in.
00:36:23
Speaker
It's also funny that she was in, I think she was also kind of like the girlfriend love interest in like 12 rounds, which is like, you know, a John Cena, like another like wrestler movie. It was also like a love interest girl in SWAT. So she was just in movies as like the attractive female. But this one, she does a little bit more ish. Sort of. Yeah. She gets to like help out a little bit in the like the big like shootout at the police station.
00:36:55
Speaker
That's not even the final scene. Like that's her three scenes in this movie, I think. Yeah. One of them is the super awkward like strip T seed. Where it's like, she's like, she's a sexy firefighter. I'm for that. That's fine.
00:37:19
Speaker
But yeah, there's two huge shootouts. There's a shootout at the police station, there's a shootout at the Vaughn family house. The Vaughn house is like, it has this really weird comedic thing to it, where it's like Johnny Knoxville is trying to defend the house, and then he is shot in the leg, and then he and one of the guys have this really crazy, like, there's like, jumping up, like, punching it, diving behind stuff, shooting shotguns at each other, and missing, constantly.
00:37:47
Speaker
And there's like, uh, like hoedown music playing. Yeah. That's the movie kind of gets to like a silly level again. Again, it has moments where it's super serious. A home invasion just happened. And then it just funny music. Yeah. Well, even, even within that scene, it changes. Cause like, yeah, all the giant stuff is like wacky. Like he's like standing up to like potato peelers. Like there's the whole, like, yeah, there's like shock, super close range shotgun thing where they need to hit each other and like diving around the entire house.
00:38:14
Speaker
But then it ends with like the Rock's dad like shooting a guy in cold blood or like shooting a guy and it's like, it's like super serious. It's like, I've never, I had to kill a man like to defend my family. I didn't, I never had to do that. Like, so that's not seen ads, but everything lead up to that was like a wacky, like Joey Knoxville, like action sequence. True. True. Yeah. I mean, I guess the, the family was like anti-gun, but then.
00:38:41
Speaker
Uh, so the dad was like, Oh, I w I, we kept like the rock was like, I thought we're gonna get rid of this shotgun. And the dad's like, yeah, we'll see what happens. Like it was such a check off. And I think, and I think he, like it was part two where like the dad's like, why I didn't really agree with your career choice. I didn't think you should have gone to the army. But yeah. So the dad is weird. I thought, is he pro guns, but anti army. Yeah. And he knew that the rock was kind of affected by the war he was in.
00:39:12
Speaker
Which, so then he's like, yeah, I want you to also like, uh, maintain the shotgun. That would help you. And then at the police station, like, I, I, I'm assuming like, like Neil McDonough bought it for them, but like the, like, cause it's the shirt, it's the former sheriff and all the elder like fire deputies show up and they're like, but they have like,
Police Station Shootout
00:39:34
Speaker
military former deputies I think or just like dudes that like the like Michael Bowen that the sheriff like found it's like hey come with me like kill a new sheriff like I think that's what it was I think it was just the former deputy and then a bunch of mercenaries because for a lot of those guys they are terrible shots yes cop enforcement
00:39:56
Speaker
Well, like I'm assuming like, like, you must have bought their guns for them because it's like they have like military grade like giant machine guns. They're machine saws, the ones that you mount on Humvee or something. Like 50 Kales and like, yeah. The fact that they're not just shooting into the air and being pushed back is already like a thing. And then like these bullets are armor piercing and go through the wall. Like they're going through the building. Yeah.
00:40:25
Speaker
So they're not just some pop shotting it. But yeah, that's why I was surprised. I didn't mind because the deputy was an asshole. Like he's true colors was still with Neil McDonald's, you know, tourism. Yep.
00:40:42
Speaker
But it seems like the whole town should have done that where they like, rebelled. As soon as the sheriff was in danger, the town, like, rocked friends and other people should have just all came to the rescue. That's what I was saying earlier, like, all of his other, like, football friends just disappeared, or it's like, we don't want to, we're not going to be part of this, like... Like, where are those guys? Like, make all the deputies, like...
00:41:06
Speaker
Yeah, but I guess some of them can't, like just because they're out of shape. I guess out of the bunch, only Johnny Naxos ready, like prepared to be a sheriff. Well, he didn't even want to be a sheriff, like he's like, I hate cops. But then that makes him the best sheriff of the all, like the best deputy. The one who doesn't want it is the best. Yeah. And there's a cool like rock tactics where like he like
00:41:33
Speaker
He's like hiding underneath the building and then like he like pops out and like shoots the sheriff like the old sheriff after like tricking him. He's like he's like shooting guys so like the like the like the foundation when they try to like come into like the police station. Yeah. Does the also the sheriff place not have weapons?
00:41:56
Speaker
Yeah, you think they would have like, you know, machine guns or like some sort of arsenal, but like it's like he's like a pistol and a shotgun. That's all he has. Or like smoke grenades or like flashbacks. I get why the town is just the police stations are terrible and they're funny. It is like it's a small town like that, like lost its like main source of income. So.
00:42:21
Speaker
So I get why they just don't have tactical stuff because crime is controlled by that casino. So there's no outside mob or anything. Because everyone just loves to go to this town and get drugs and then stare at the water. Which, you know, it's funny. I think all besides the lumber mill set piece, they don't really utilize the woods.
00:42:47
Speaker
Well, I was going to say, I was going to say it's the opposite. Like, cause like, if we, if we, if we get to like, so like after, after these like two shootouts, like it's, we're in like the final showdown, which is at, which is at the lumber mill, which you find out that like, uh, you know, Jay Hamilton, Neil McDonough turned into, which it was his family's saw mill and he sold it to build the casino.
Climactic Forest Battle
00:43:08
Speaker
So he basically destroyed a town to make a casino, but then he turned a saw mill into a meth lab. That's where they're making all the math.
00:43:16
Speaker
And then you, you would think like, Oh, we got this awesome location for this final fight where it's like, you get, there's, there's saws and all this machinery. We could have this like big fight and it's like sawmill, but then it just spills out. It's like the woods and they had the final place in the woods. And then it's just literally places where sticks are everywhere. And yeah, like the rock strength, it's like, Oh, is this a stick? Great. This is my weapon.
00:43:42
Speaker
Cause it starts out, it's like, oh, you look down, it's like, he's turning all the machines, like the rocks hanging off a saw, like we're going to get some, like, some crazy, like, is he going to throw the open down into a saw and kill him? Like, are they going to like jump around and like dodge like logs and stuff? But it's like, no, they, they, they fall down a shoot and like they're in the woods now. And now they're outside. Yeah. Let's throw each other against trees.
00:44:06
Speaker
and then Milkdon does have an axe which like he like when he gets the axe like he just turns his like full on like he's like no jokes no banter just like I'm gonna fucking murder you with his axe like he just gets like so serious and like murderous when he gets that axe
00:44:24
Speaker
But yeah, they have this big knockdown drag-out fight in the woods, and then The Rock beats him by breaking his leg with a giant branch, which I guess is also another wooden club throwback. It's like the original, or the Walking Tall kind of club thing. And almost every version of Walking Tall, even the unfortunate Kevin Sorbo one. The two sequels to this movie.
00:44:52
Speaker
And I think also the Walking Tall TV show that was also like in the 70s. Yeah. Yeah. Throwing the club is like a thing or throwing the piece of wood. Yeah. Not only is it not just using it as like a like a bashing tool, but just hucking. Yeah. Which I like we were talking about that, like how ridiculous the rocks trial was. I would love to see like the trial for like like convicting Neil McDonough.
00:45:21
Speaker
Yeah, I want to see like what speech he has to give to tell him to keep him in jail. And also just like like how it's like, well, you know, I was I was able to arrest him and I I shattered his like femur with a tree branch after we had this like fight in the woods like
00:45:40
Speaker
Uh, I mean, I think it was justified. He had an ass. He went through like a gauntlet of things. Equal, equal, equal, equal force to like, and you have a guy that wasn't there to like, like cripple the rock or doing that. He was there to like murder him. Yeah. But it's also like, no witnesses. It's just a rock, a rock in the woods. You know, there has to be a joke about like wood.
00:46:09
Speaker
rock, paper, like. Oh, my God. If he made some sort of like rock beats would or something joke. Yeah, something like that. Or what would beats like, you know, would rock beats like, you know, would be casino. You'd have to have like they would have to be like Jaystone or something. It is like a rock based like pun name. Yeah, Hamilton is like a regal last name. So yeah. Yeah, it should have been like.
00:46:38
Speaker
J Marvel or or or or you should or you should have made like they're actually made some sort of like like casino like like yeah because it kind of ties back to the casino at the end where they closed the casino but yeah I I thought the set piece could be at the casino the casino the the lumber mill like miles apart I think well it's weird because like you you see that final scene like you can see the sawmill from the casino
00:47:08
Speaker
because like they like they said like they like go away and they're like, Oh yeah. Yeah. And it's like, you can hear like the lunch bell. It's like, Oh, let's go pick up dad. He's like, he's back in the sawmill working. Like down the road. Yeah. It's weird because you're right. The, the rock makes us seem like
00:47:26
Speaker
uh oh the lumber mill is should be by the forest but then the casino is also by the mountain forest because they it's something giant i still mentions early in the movie when they go there he's like oh yeah like it sort of blends right into the mountain this needed casino like he points out that this casino looks ugly it's tacked out here but considering that the if you remove the the like terrible short club part about it and the you know
00:47:55
Speaker
the town drug problem that's coming through the casino. It's just a regular casino. It's not a problem these days. Maybe in these days, but back then, that was just like, oh, a den of vices. They really could have beat you over the head of this one building is just like sin. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's got the weird strippers in there. There's a little scene like Kevin Durant is slipping someone drugs.
00:48:22
Speaker
Like this town isn't just going to be fixed by the one thing, like it's going to be a lot of things that revitalize the business. But I'm surprised this town doesn't have like a tourist thing. It's a looks like a beautiful town. Yeah, like some sort of like, you know, hiking or something or Airbnb combination, hike trails, nature. You know, it just it's so like a town in nature that it's not a regular city.
00:48:51
Speaker
But then they treat it as if it's like another world or another like part of America where you only can get in by boat. And then yes, yeah. And then the only thing to do at night is to go to this casino. I love like opening the opening scene where like the rock just like walks for miles. So I got I got what you mean where we watched Roadhouse the 2024 version and
00:49:17
Speaker
It's more of that where this guy wanders in and fixes the town. Yeah. But it's grounded in reality because you see like it's high school. They mentioned his like leg injury, his his kind of like roots here. He like he he was a college football player. He washed out and then he joined the army. You washed out because of a knee injury. Yeah. Which I think is is it the rocks like actual like that happened to him? I think so too.
00:49:46
Speaker
Cause like he was, he was in like, was he like a Canadian football player? And then like he got injured and then there's like, Oh, I'm a wrestler now. Like, I think, I think he didn't, he didn't get drafted. I don't think he was going to be in the NFL, but he didn't get drafted. And then it's like, Oh, I guess I'll be a wrestler now. Cause like, I didn't get drafted in the NFL. And yeah, you found his calling. Isn't that the same plot as ballers?
00:50:13
Speaker
I think yeah, there's a lot of like, like true rock stuff in like the rocks character and ballers. It's like, oh yeah, I was gonna be in the NFL, but I didn't get drat like, um, I didn't make it to the next round. There's some, a lot of details from like the rocks, like football career there in like the baller's character. I would have loved that every other movie that the rock is in is something like that. It's like Scorpion King. He couldn't be,
00:50:41
Speaker
the football player of that era because of a leg injury and then Hobbs was going to be a football player. Hobbs was going to be a football player. Well, I mean, a couple of years after Waukee Tall, he was in Greedire Gang, just straight up football. See what I mean? Like there's a rock pattern to it.
00:51:07
Speaker
But yeah, Walking Tall, it's still pretty fun. I would put it mid-tier Rock. He's definitely had better movies after this. But this is the worst, it's not the best. It's a very solid middle-tier Rock movie.
00:51:30
Speaker
I feel like it's a good introduction to rock action movies. It's a good showcase of his action paralysis, but not so much his comedic side just yet. And then, like I said, it's out of order. You see this movie first as your first rock movie, and then you see where it goes from here. He doesn't have the eyebrow thing he does as much. He doesn't do
00:51:54
Speaker
flirting well, which I think, which I think a lot of that is in like the rundown, which is the movie that came out before this. I'm like, it's so weird. It's so like, like the, like, like the rundown is more like the rock. And then this one's like, he's this, like the walk-in-towel is like, he started, he's like trying to turn into Dwayne Johnson. That's maybe that's what it was too. He wanted to get away from it.
00:52:16
Speaker
Yeah, but I also feel if you knew the rock from just the movies, this is fine.
The Rock's Career Evolution
00:52:22
Speaker
But if you're the rock from wrestling, then this is weird. Yeah, because it's a it's a much more subdued rock. Like he's not like, yeah, he's not smack talking. He's not like, yeah, like I said, I wrote that he's not like doing over top like wrestling moves. Like he's just like trying to be more serious, trying to be more dramatic, trying to like be a serious actor.
00:52:47
Speaker
within like a movie that sells a ridiculous scene. But yeah, check it out if you haven't seen it. It's on Max, if you want to watch it.
Teaser for Next Week's Discussion
00:53:06
Speaker
And yes, I think that'll do this for this week's podcast. Come back next week. We're going to be talking about the original Med Max, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary.
00:53:15
Speaker
And it also kind of ties into Fallout, because Fallout started next week on Amazon Prime. And so it's apocalyptic. We'll talk about one apocalyptic movie as another thing starts up. So yeah, come back for all your OG Mad Max. We'll dive into how weird that is compared to the rest of the series, especially now that we got Fury Road and Fury Road coming up and watching those compared to the original Mad Max. It's very jarring.
00:53:44
Speaker
It's not a stylize. Yes. It's very, it's a, it's like, uh, kind of like Evil Dead, like Army of Darkness. Yeah, you can see the, I guess, gritty filmmaking in the original Mad Max. We can't talk about it. I want to watch it and forget about certain scenes again.
00:54:07
Speaker
So yeah, so go back next week for that. Check out all the rest of our episodes. We're actually, they're on YouTube now. So if you go on YouTube, search for everything in action, you can check out all the previous episodes and actually get commentaries and all the podcast episodes on there. Head over to site, check all that stuff out too. If you head over to site, we also have, I have a review of Godzilla X Kong, if you want to read my review of that movie. And we have our PAX East 24 article up, so you can check out
00:54:32
Speaker
Everything we saw and did at PAX East a couple of weeks ago in Boston. We have all the games we played, all the stuff we saw. So check that out as well. And yeah, it's safe for all of our usual features as well. And yes, of course, I am Zach and we will see you next week. For more Everything Action, head to www.EverythingAction.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at EVAction on Facebook by searching for Everything Action.
00:55:01
Speaker
and follow us on Instagram at everything.action. You can also subscribe and get more episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.