The film writers Brian Abrams and Will Sloan return to the podcast for a salute to one of our favourite screen presences, the great American character actor Joe Don Baker, who passed away this month at the age of 89. 

We discuss the full arc of Joe Don’s career, thrust into leading man status in the early seventies playing Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser who waged war against the Dixie Mob in 1973’s populist smash hit Walking Tall, and the less financially successful followup with the same director (Phil Karlson), the brutal, sweaty noir thriller Framed, to the role that (like it or not) defined him for so many in the culture as a scuzzy cop in 1975’s Mitchell (immortalized on one of the funniest episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000) to his comeback in the eighties in the masterful BBC miniseries Edge of Darkness (where he received the most acclaim he ever got as an actor), his several appearances in the Bond series (where he played both a good guy and a bad guy), and his notable supporting role in Scorsese’s remake of Cape Fear. 

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Follow Brian Abrams on Twitter and Letterboxd.

Brian and Liz Charboneau have a new film podcast: It Gets Better.

Follow Will Sloan on Twitter and Bluesky and subscribe to his substack and his podcasts The Important Cinema Club and Michael and Us.

Will’s new book Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA (OR Books) can be purchased now! 

“RIP JDB”, from Will’s substack, May 19, 2025

Trailer gallery:

Walking Tall (Phil Karlson, 1973)

Golden Needles (Robert Clouse, 1974)

Mitchell (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1975)

Checkered Flag or Crash (Alan Gibson, 1977)

Joysticks (Greydon Clark, 1983)

German trailer for Getting Even (Dwight H. Little, 1986)