Review of A Real American Hero

Burly Brian Dennehy, despite his failure to maintain the local dialectic condiment in his speech, nonetheless makes for a believable physical personification of the real life Buford Pusser of Selmer, Tennessee, the sheriff who finds it easier to follow his own rules while contending with the local criminal element than to abide by the constraints of probable cause. This particular entry in the series relating of Pusser's deeds was made for television with its original title being "Letter of the Law", and chronicles how Buford decides to use very old county laws and statutes which have not been revoked or superseded in order to keep control of his office against the opposition of well meaning citizens and of lawbreakers. The script is actually rather leisurely in spirit with a number of scenes written in the main to supply local colour, including some humourous and musical moments, and there is some opportunity for character development, but the film's mass media lineage has infected its climactic minutes, with formulaic actions abounding as Pusser singlehandedly attempts to vanquish a surfeit of felons. Ken Howard dominates his scenes as bootlegging Danny Boy Mitchell, primary adversary of the freewheeling sheriff, while Sheree North gives us an effective turn as an aging ex-harlot freshly released from prison after seven years for killing her procurer, and who subsequently meets resistance from local bluenoses who wish for her to go elsewhere, and Forrest Tucker produces a smooth performance as Buford's father, but Lane Bradbury as a blemished sheriff's office employee, sinks 'neath the freight of her mawkish lines.