To show pride and self-confidence. This twentieth-century Americanism, transferring an upright posture to a sense of pride, gained currency in the 1970s from the motion picture Walking Tall (1973), a film so popular that three sequels were made. It was based on a real-life legendary southern sheriff, Buford Pusser, who rid his county of gambling, prostitution, and other crime. The term was current in Britain as well. In 1970, the Manchester Guardian had “Walk tall, sisters . . . One woman’s distinction adds a tiny bit to the stature of every other woman.”