Ranking Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s 5 Best Movies

HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 29: (L-R) Actors Ashley Scott, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and his wife Dany Garcia Johnson attend the film premiere of ‘Walking Tall’ at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on March 29, 2004 in Hollywood, California. The film ‘Walking Tall’ opens in theaters nationwide on April 2, 2004. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images).

3. Walking Tall

Hollywood loves remakes. Take a film that people haven’t thought about in a few decades, polish it up with fresh actors, add some updated special effects and/or action sequences, and you’ve got a potential hit. Case in point, the 1973 semi-biopic film Walking Tall, which tells the story of a Tennessee sheriff named Buford Pusser who has unconventional methods of law enforcement that mostly involve a 2×4. Fun fact: the back story of the Buford Pusser in the original film was that he was a retired professional wrestler-turned-lawman so perhaps Johnson was destined to play the role after all.

The original film spawned two sequels, a TV movie, and a TV series well before Johnson came on board for the remake in 2004. This is one of Rock’s earliest (though not his first) leading roles as the title character renamed Chris Vaughn. While the film itself is little more than standard Hollywood remake fare, Walking Tall is an early example of Johnson’s leading man capabilities. The original film starred Joe Don Baker as the tall, broad-shouldered, and no-nonsense Pusser, so the remake required a man of equal size and attitude which made it a perfect vehicle for The Rock.

As Chris Vaughn, Johnson goes on a crusade against organized crime and corruption in Kitsap County, Washington. Even though the character from the original was a retired pro wrestler, such an on-the-nose backstory for The Rock would have been ridiculous even for a Hollywood film, so the character of Chris Vaughn was instead made into a former Special Forces soldier. Johnny Knoxville provides the comic relief and the always-reliable Neil McDonough plays the villain, casino owner Jay Hamilton. In addition to rigged gambling, Hamilton has been using his operation to smuggle drugs into the town (instead of moonshine as in the original), which doesn’t sit well with Vaughn.

The film received little praise from critics and did only moderately well at the box office but ranks highly on this list for Johnson’s range. His acting career was just starting and taking a role like this was a small but important step in showing that he was more than just a big man who belongs in big movies. Despite a poor showing at the box office, the film did well enough to produce two sequels of its own in 2007, both starring Kevin Sorbo and both were absolutely terrible so stay far away from them.