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Billy Jack

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For the album by honeyhoney, see Billy Jack (album).

Billy Jack
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Laughlin
(as T.C. Frank)
Written byTom Laughlin
(as Frank Christina)
Delores Taylor
(as Theresa Christina)
Produced byTom Laughlin
(as Mary Rose Solti)
StarringTom Laughlin
Delores Taylor
CinematographyFred J. Koenekamp
John M. Stephens
Edited byLarry Heath
Marion Rothman
Music byMundell Lowe
Dennis Lambert
Brian Potter
Production
company
National Student Film Corporation
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • May 1, 1971 (1971-05-01)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$800,000
Box office$32.5 million (rentals)[1]

Billy Jack is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie The Born Losers (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in the fall of 1969, but the movie was not completed until 1971. American International Pictures pulled out, halting filming. 20th Century Fox came forward and filming eventually resumed but when that studio refused to distribute the film, Warner Bros. stepped forward.

Still, the film lacked distribution, so Laughlin booked it into theaters himself in 1971.[1] The film grossed $10 million in its initial run, but eventually added close to $50 million in its re-release,[2] with distribution supervised by Laughlin.

Plot

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Billy Jack, a mixed-race Navajo,[3] is a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran and a hapkido master. He defends the hippie-themed Freedom School (inspired by Prescott College) and its students from townspeople who do not understand or like the counterculture students. The school is organized by its director, Jean Roberts.

One of the troubled youths is a girl named Barbara, who became pregnant while in San Francisco and has an abusive father. A group of children of various races from the school goes to town for ice cream but are refused service. They are then abused and humiliated by Bernard Posner, the son of the county's corrupt political boss Stuart Posner, and his gang. This prompts a violent outburst by Billy.

Billy undergoes a Navajo initiation in which he is deliberately bitten by a large rattlesnake, intending to become the blood brother to the snake. Meanwhile, Barbara loses her unborn child when the horse she is riding stumbles on a rock, leading to her falling off the horse.

Bernard attempts to sexually assault a woman in his car, but is stopped by Jean and Billy, who give Bernard a choice: either receive a dislocated elbow or drive his Corvette into the lake. Bernard chooses the latter. Later, Bernard kidnaps and rapes Jean, and also murders a Native American student, Martin.

Billy confronts Bernard, whom he catches in bed with a 13-year-old girl, and sustains a gunshot wound before killing him with a hand strike to the throat. After barricading himself following a climactic shootout with the police and pleading from Jean, Billy Jack surrenders to the authorities in exchange for a decade-long guarantee that the school will be allowed to continue running with Jean as its head.

As Billy is driven away in handcuffs, a large crowd of supporters raises their fists in a show of defiance and support.

Cast

[edit]

Box-office and critical reception

[edit]

Billy Jack holds a "Fresh" rating of 63% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews, with an average grade of 5.4/10.[4] The website The Grindhouse Database, and the book Search and Clear: Critical Responses to Selected Literature and Films of the Vietnam War list this movie as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre.[5][6]

Film critic Leonard Maltin at first gave Billy Jack 3.5 stars out of 4, calling it "Uneven in spots but tremendously powerful." Later, he downgraded it to 1.5 stars, writing, "Seen today, its politics are highly questionable, and its 'message' of peace looks ridiculous, considering the amount of violence in the film."[7] Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and also saw the message of the film as self-contradictory, writing: "I'm also somewhat disturbed by the central theme of the movie. Billy Jack seems to be saying the same thing as Born Losers: that a gun is better than a constitution in the enforcement of justice."[8] Howard Thompson, writing for The New York Times, agreed, calling the film "well-aimed but misguided" as he wrote, "For a picture that preaches pacifism, Billy Jack seems fascinated by its violence, of which it is full." He added that "some of the non-professional delivery of lines in the script by Mr. Frank and Teresa Christina is incredibly awful."[9] Variety magazine opined that "the action frequently drags" and at nearly two hours' running length, "The message is rammed down the spectators" throats and is sorely in need of considerable editing to tell a straightforward story."[10] Gene Siskel gave Billy Jack 3.5 stars out of 4, calling it "a film that tries to say too many things in too many ways within an adequate story line, but it has such freshness, original humor and compassion that one is frequently moved to genuine emotion".[11] Kevin Thomas, in the Los Angeles Times, also liked Billy Jack, praising its "searing tension that sustains it through careening unevenness to a smash finish. Crude and sensational yet urgent and pertinent, this provocative Warners release is in its unique, awkward way one of the year's important pictures."[12]

Gary Arnold, writing for The Washington Post, panned Billy Jack as "horrendously self-righteous and devious", explaining, "Every social issue is dramatized in terms of absolute, apolitical good and evil. The good guys... are next to angelic, while the bad guys are, according to the needs of the moment, utter buffoons or utter devils. Anyone with the slightest trace of skepticism or sophistication would tend to reject the movie out of hand and with good reason, since this kind of simplification is dramatically and socially deceitful."[13] David Wilson, in The Monthly Film Bulletin, wrote: "If in the end Billy Jack is as much a sell-out as any glossier version of commercialized iconoclasm (Billy Jack is persuaded to accept guarantees which a hundred years of Indian history have repudiated), there is enough innocent sincerity in the film to demonstrate that Tom Laughlin at least has the courage of his convictions, even if those convictions are scarcely thought out."[14]

Delores Taylor received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcoming Actress. Tom Laughlin won the grand prize for Billy Jack at the 1971 Taormina Film Fest in Italy.

Accolades

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The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Sequels

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A direct sequel followed with The Trial of Billy Jack (1974). Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) followed three years later, but without a formal release. Plans for The Return of Billy Jack came and went in the mid-1980s.

Soundtrack

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Billy Jack
Soundtrack album by
Mundell Lowe
Released1972
Recorded1971
GenreFilm score
LabelWarner Bros.
WS 1926
ProducerMundell Lowe
Mundell Lowe chronology
Satan in High Heels
(1961) 		Billy Jack
(1972) 		California Guitar
(1974)

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Mundell Lowe and the soundtrack album was originally released on the Warner Bros. label.[16]

Reception

[edit]

The AllMusic review states "a strange and striking combination of styles that somehow is effective ... a listenable disc whose flaws only add to the warmth".[17] A cover of Canadian band The Original Caste, the film's theme song, "One Tin Soldier" was recorded by Jinx Dawson, of the band Coven, with session musicians providing the backing and later a re-recording, renamed as "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)", credited to the band Coven, became a Top 40 hit in 1971 and again in 1973.

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]

Track listing

[edit]

All compositions by Mundell Lowe, except as indicated.

  1. "One Tin Soldier" (Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter) – 3:18
  2. "Hello Billy Jack" – 0:45
  3. "Old and the New" – 1:00
  4. "Johnnie" (Teresa Kelly) – 2:35
  5. "Look, Look to the Mountain" (Kelly) – 1:40
  6. "When Will Billy Love Me" (Lynn Baker) – 3:24
  7. "Freedom Over Me" (Gwen Smith) – 0:35
  8. "All Forked Tongue Talk Alike" – 2:54
  9. "Challenge" – 2:20
  10. "Rainbow Made of Children" (Baker) – 3:50
  11. "Most Beautiful Day" – 0:30
  12. "An Indian Dance" – 1:15
  13. "Ceremonial Dance" – 1:59
  14. "Flick of the Wrist" – 2:15
  15. "It's All She Left Me" – 1:56
  16. "You Shouldn't Do That" – 3:21
  17. "Ring Song" (Katy Moffatt) – 4:25
  18. "Thy Loving Hand" – 1:35
  19. "Say Goodbye 'Cause You're Leavin'" – 2:36
  20. "The Theme from Billy Jack" – 2:21
  21. "One Tin Soldier (End Title)" (Lambert, Potter) – 1:06

Personnel

[edit]
  • Mundell Lowe: arranger, conductor
  • Coven featuring Jinx Dawson (tracks 1 & 21), Teresa Kelly (tracks 4 & 5), Lynn Baker (tracks 6 & 10), Gwen Smith (track 7), Katy Moffatt (track 17): vocals
  • Other unidentified musicians

Influence

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Marketed as an action film, the story focuses on the plight of Native Americans during the civil rights era. It attained a cult following among younger audiences due to its youth-oriented, anti-authority message and the then-novel martial arts fight scenes, which predate the Bruce Lee/kung fu movie trend that followed.[18] The centerpiece of the film features Billy Jack, enraged over the mistreatment of his Native American friends, fighting racist thugs using hapkido techniques.[19]

In 2019, it was revealed that writer-director Quentin Tarantino and actor Brad Pitt used the film and Laughlin's performance as an influence while developing Pitt's character Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Waxman, Sharon (June 20, 2005). "Billy Jack Is Ready to Fight the Good Fight Again". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
  2. ^ Klady, Leonard (November 11, 1996). "Revival of the fittest a Hollywood tradition". Variety. p. 75.
  3. ^ "'Billy Jack' Star Tom Laughlin Dead at 82". Indian Country Today Media Network. December 17, 2013. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  4. ^ "Billy Jack". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  5. ^ "Category. Vetsploitation. From The Grindhouse Cinema Database". The Grindhouse Cinema Database. February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
  6. ^ Kern, Louis J. (1988). "MIAs, Myth, and Macho Magic: Post-Apocalyptic Cinematic Visions of Vietnam". In Searle, William J. (ed.). Search and Clear: Critical Responses to Selected Literature and Films of the Vietnam War. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 43, 51, 52. ISBN 0-87972-429-3. [p.52] The Billy Jack cycle - Billy Jack (1971), The Trial of Billy Jack (1974), and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) - about a half-breed vet who struggles against social evil and political corruption, is a more polished Vetsploitation venture. (...) The Billy Jack character (played by Tom Laughlin) had been introduced in one of the Vetsploitation motorcycle epics, The Born Losers (1967), which Laughlin had also directed.
  7. ^ Maltin, Leonard, ed. (1995). Leonard Maltin's 1996 Movie & Video Guide. Signet. p. 116. ISBN 0-451-18505-6.
  8. ^ Ebert, Roger (August 2, 1971). "Billy Jack". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  9. ^ Thompson, Howard (July 29, 1971). "A Misguided "Billy Jack"". The New York Times: 42.
  10. ^ "Billy Jack". Variety. May 5, 1971. p. 22.
  11. ^ Siskel, Gene (July 29, 1971). "Billy Jack". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 14.
  12. ^ Thomas, Kevin (August 13, 1971). "Loner Theme in 'Billy Jack'". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 10.
  13. ^ Arnold, Gary (August 7, 1971). "Cowboys, Bigots, Kids and Indians". The Washington Post. p. B6.
  14. ^ Wilson, David (September 1972). "Billy Jack". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 39 (464): 184.
  15. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains Nominees" (PDF). American Film Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 21, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  16. ^ "Mundell Lowe discography". mundelllowe.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  17. ^ a b Viglione, J. "Billy Jack Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  18. ^ Stewart, Jocelyn Y. (January 14, 2007). "Bong Soo Han, 73; grand master of hapkido won film fans for martial arts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
  19. ^ MacLaughlin, Bob (March 1972). "Those Fabulous Fight Scenes of Billy Jack". Black Belt. Vol. 10, no. 3. Active Interest Media. p. 20. ISSN 0277-3066. Retrieved March 7, 2022 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ Collis, Clark (July 3, 2019). "Quentin Tarantino talks Once Upon a Time in Hollywood inspiration on podcast". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
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