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Billy Jack is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centered around a fictional character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin. The film was released in 1971.

Billy Jack is a Native American Green Beret veteran, hapkido master, and gunslinger. The character made his début in The Born Losers (1967), a so-called "biker film" about motorcycle gangs terrorizing a California town; Billy Jack rises to the occasion to defeat the gang by defending from their wrath a college student who has evidence against them. The first film was considered the typical drive-in theater fare of the period, described by Entertainment Insiders reviewer Rusty White as "pure exploitation, but with something extra."

This changes with the second film, Billy Jack, in which the hero must defend the hippie-themed Freedom School and its students from the machinations of racists. The school is organized by Jean Roberts, played by Laughlin's wife, Delores Taylor, who also appears in each subsequent film.

The movies go to some length to explain how the anti-establishment pacifist philosophy of the Freedom School can be reconciled with the martial arts and gunplay featured prominently in the plots of the films. Billy Jack hit on a potent formula with this message in 1971, and the film went on to become one of the highest grossing of its time, and remains among the top 100 when the list is adjusted for inflation.

This film helped to launch the martial arts craze that swept the United States in the 1970s. It was arguably the first American film to feature a non-asian lead character that used the martial arts as his primary weapon of defeating the villians. The style of martial arts used in Billy Jack was the Korean art of Hapkido. Though Laughlin, a Brown Belt in the art, performed many of his own fighting stunts, it was Hapkido Master Bong Soo Han, who performed the advanced techniques.

Later films in the series tended to emphasize message over martial arts, featured increasingly implausible plots, and the message was less and less welcome as the 1970s wore on; the franchise eventually faded into obscurity after two more sequels. The theme song of the films, "One Tin Soldier" by Coven, became a Top 40 hit in 1971, and featured the chorus:

Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend.

Do it in the name of heaven — you can justify it in the end.

There won't be any trumpets blowin' come the judgement day.

On the bloody morning after — one tin soldier rides away.

Films in the series

• The Born Losers (1967)
• Billy Jack (1971)
• The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
• Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977)

Billy Jack was the first movie to be marketed with the "BlockBuster" technique: To release a movie at thousands of theaters on the same day. Before Billy Jack, movies would test the market at a few theaters and blossom to more if the reaction proved positive. BlockBusters would get a much stronger reaction and result in a more popular acceptance. This marketing got Billy Jack its top grossing credit. Today, virtually all major releases open in thousands of theaters at the same time.

Laughlin's website mentions plans to make another sequel entitled "Billy Jack’s Crusade to End the Iraq War and Restore America to Its Moral Purpose by the only way possible - Impeaching Bush & Cheney." However, it would be difficult to get funding for a film with such an absurdist title and over political message.

Trivia

• Billy Jack's wardrobe (black T-shirt, blue denim jacket, blue jeans, black hat with a beadwork band) would become nearly as iconic as the character.

• The film included a controversial scene in which the corrupt businessman's corrupt son (David Roya), while sitting with a woman in his car at a lake, uses a switchblade to cut her bra and demands she take it "all the way off." Several theatres intentionally pointed the projector slightly low to keep the actress's nipple area off the screen. Conversely, other theatres intentionally pointed the projector slightly high.

See also

• List of Counterculture Films

External links

• Official site
• Review of Billy Jack at badmovies.org
• Entry for Billy Jack at the IMDB.

• 1971 films
• Film series
• Cult films