Jason Guerrasio

This is a film that, you know, a little small drama, not made for a lot of money.

And at its peak, when it came out in theaters, it was making more money in theaters, especially in the South, than The Godfather was, which at the time was still a sensation and had just won the Oscar for Best Picture.

You know, generations since, people joined law enforcement because of what they saw on screen.

He drove back home and was at a fair in

and got in his car, his Corvette that he had just bought, and he sped down the highway, and he got into a fiery wreck and died.

Mike was someone who loved Buford Pusser, loved the movie, loved the book.

But then he started doing some digging and he found Louise Hathcock's autopsy.

And inside that autopsy, it showed that her wounds were not to the front of her.

They were to the back.

Two shots in the back, one shot in the back of the head.

That is very different than what Buford said happened in that room when supposedly she pulled a gun on him.

What they both found out independently that was a major red flag to both of these people who had careers in law enforcement was that there was too much blood on the outside of the car.

Then there was also Buford's statement about how fast they were going on New Hope Road, how far away the other car was, how far away he went the second time he pulled over to check on Pauline.

All these things, when Mike Elam actually went and drove the whole route, he did exactly what Buford said he did that night.

None of it added up.

None of it made sense.

And the first thing they have to do, because it wasn't done 50 or so years before, was to give Pauline an autopsy.

That autopsy reveals that her gunshot wound is in the back of her head, which completely just throws away Buford's statement that he's looking right at her when she's shot in the forehead.

The autopsy also reveals that Pauline had bruising in her nasal passage, which was thought to be that she had suffered domestic violence before her death.

So when you go to Adamsville, Tennessee, which is in McNary County, which is where Buford lived and where he patrolled, the legend of Buford Pusser is everywhere.