The Rock Sets Town On Track

In his new movie, "Walking Tall," Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays Chris Vaughn, a soldier who returns home after a distinguished service career in Iraq. Unfortunately, poverty, drugs, and a corrupt casino owner have ravaged the home he once knew.

The first big-screen version of "Walking Tall," starring Joe Don Baker as real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser, debuted in 1973 and was a huge grassroots hit with moviegoers. Its two sequels, "Walking Tall Part II" (1975) and "Final Chapter: Walking Tall" (1977), starred Bo Svenson as Sheriff Pusser and were also popular, memorable versions of the lawman's heroic stand against crime in his small, rural Southern town.

"I was always a big fan of the original in '73, but I didn't see it in '73. I saw it later, when I was about 8," The Rock tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "I wanted to, not necessarily make a remake, but keep the title because it's such an inspiring, moving title. Keep elements of the original that made that movie a classic: Its intensity, its realness, its rawness, and it is a great story. And also get a chance to introduce it to a whole new generation."

The story is really about one man overcoming evil. While Vaughn was away, his wealthy high school rival, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough), closed the lumber mill, once the area's largest employer, and turned the town's resources towards criminal gains.

Enlisting the help of his old pal, Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville), Vaughn gets elected sheriff and vows to shut down Hamilton's operations. His actions endanger his family and threaten his own life, but Vaughn refuses to back down until his hometown once again feels like home.

At the start of the story, there is an element of vigilante justice. And thought The Rock says he was aware of it, it didn't bother him.

He says, "It didn't bother me, because I think when you're in a situation like this, where he goes back into this casino, I think he's forced into this situation. For me, that's a true sign of a really reluctant hero. He's forced into this situation - the drugs, the fact that it has affected his family. These are guys who, in real life 40 years ago, cut him up, stomped him and left him for dead and they threw him in a ditch and he didn't die. So this was all justified, to me. Street justice."

About The Rock:

• Of African-American and Samoan descent, The Rock was born Dwayne Johnson into a family of wrestlers and fight promoters. His father (Rocky Johnson) and maternal grandfather (Chief Peter Maivia) were both professional wrestlers in the WWF.
• He is the first-ever seven-time WWE World Champion and first man to ever win the WWF title record six times. At age 24, he became the youngest Intercontinental Champion in WWF history.
• First person to ever kick out of the "Stone Cold Stunner" while fighting Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania XV.
• In 1990, was a member of Miami's NCAA National Championship team.
• In 2000, he was the WWF Royal Rumble Champion. And in an episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," he proved his acting and singing abilities by performing in various skits throughout the show. The following year he was named one of E!'s "Top 20 Entertainers Of 2001."
• In 2002, his $5.5 million paycheck for "The Scorpion King," earned him a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, as his salary was the highest for any actor receiving top billing for the first time.
• In 2003, he had his last match against Bill Goldberg at the 2003 Backlash Pay-Per-View in the WWE before leaving to film "The Rundown."
• He is a member of the elite group of wrestlers, such as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair to hold the WWF and WCW world titles on several different occasions.
• He has a wax figure likeness of himself at Madame Tussaud's museum
• He owns the rights to name "The Rock" (including logos, phrases, etc.). The rights to the name "The Rock" were previously owned by WWE, Inc. (which is the main reason that Vince McMahon has received executive producer credits in some of Rock's films).