When the movie producer comes to the Pusser house to talk to Buford about making a movie, the old red 1968 Chevy truck that was used in the chase scene in Walking Tall (1973) can be seen.
The previous entry had been suitably watered down not to secure an R rating. This final sequel redresses that by returning the series to its more violent roots.
It was in Part 2 that the real-life Sheriff Pusser would have portrayed himself, but he was killed in the car accident in 1974.
Not the first time that a character in a biopic has a meta moment where he watches himself in a screen adaptation of his life. Following the success of The Jolson Story (1946), the sequel Jolson Sings Again (1949) included a plot thread where Al Jolson is involved with a Hollywood biopic about him. Similarly, in the Doris Day comedy spy caper Caprice (1967), Day's character goes to the cinema to watch a film called Caprice (1967) starring Doris Day.
A fourth entry was planned but never came to fruition.