Bobby Dennis
Nov 3 · 2 min read

Mr. Vashaw,

As a young teen,I remember when the movie was released. It aired at our local drive-in theater. However, I was too young due to it’s rating. In the 45 years since it’s release, I never saw the movie, until last night. I was somewhat bored and a bit sleepless, and was thinking about a movie to watch….I pulled up some movies on my Amazon prime, and saw this one. Knowing I had never seen it before, I decided to watch it.

My first impression was the setting in the rural deep south in the mid-1950’s . My second impression was, it appeared to be low budget, which IMO was perfectly suited for the setting and plot. I’m not sure where you are from,or how old you are, but unless one has lived in the deep south during that time, it would be easy for the someone to have a “pedestrian” point of view.

Although the movie may not have portrayed the actual events as it happened, I did find the characters portrayal of the life and times in the south very accurate. Where you consider it “Just another Southern Fried Road Movie”, I found it to be organic in it’s low budget way which is more accurate than any pre-packaged, synthesized, and “good guy always wins” product that came out of Hollywood. My family came from poor “white trash” as it’s called now,with my maternal grandmother whoring with half the soldiers in Ft. Benning, Ga. in the late 1950'’s and early 1960’s. I grew up in the George Wallace south. When seeing the characters and setting, I saw people I knew growing up and places I’ve lived and seen,because that’s exactly what it was like.

I’m not suggesting it was good, bad, but what I am suggesting,unless you’ve traveled 100 miles one night with your parents to visit with your grandmother who was shacked up in a roadside inn with a foot solider to have Christmas dinner at the roadside diner, I would not be quick to throw shade with the “Just Another”. IMO, it’s because of it’s absolutely pure and uncut budget, it more accurately portrayed everyday culture in the deep south than the handsomely packaged hero Buford Pusser.

    Bobby Dennis

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