I need to find a movie with a similar plot to Walking Tall 2004, that was made EARLIER THAN 1984, not including the original movie that this was a remake of. The basic premise of Walking Tall: ex soldier returns to his home town to resume civilian life, to find the mill that was the main employer of the townsfolk has shut down, the town has decayed into crime and it all seems to be run out of the casino that is now the main industry in the town. The ex soldier falls foul of the bad guy casino owner, is beat up by his henchmen, and the local cops refuse to assist due to corruption. The ex soldier then decides to run for sheriff and methodically sets about cleaning up the town. The exact characters can vary as long as the plot echoes this one fairly closely, which should not be hard as it is a pretty standard plot. I must also be able to track it down on DVD in Australia. Any suggestions appreciated.

There are a couple of movies based on Buford Pusser -the first Walking Tall movie came out in '73,here's a snip of the plot:

Pusser, at his wife Pauline's behest, retires from the professional wrestling ring and moves back to Tennessee to start a logging business with his father, Carl Pusser. With a friend, he visits a gambling and prostitution establishment, the Lucky Spot, and is beaten up after catching them cheating at craps. Pusser is seriously injured with a knife and receives over 200 stitches. He complains to the sheriff but is ignored, and soon becomes aware of the rampant corruption in McNairy County. Pusser decides to clean up the county and runs for sheriff. Buford Pusser wins, and becomes famous for being incorruptible, intolerant of crime, and for his array of four foot hickory clubs which he uses to great effect in destroying clandestine gambling dens and illegal distilleries, and even against criminals.

I love the Walking Tall movie from 2004 - when I found out the story was based (loosely!) on a real person, I found the movie from '73 and watched it with my son - interesting show, quite long and kind of draggy, but I think it's more true to what actually happened. Here's the IMDB info on it as well:

Walking Tall (1973) - IMDb

How about Rolling Thunder (1977) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076637