Billy Jack

This article is about the 1971 film.

Billy Jack
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Tom Laughlin as T.C. Frank
Produced by	Tom Laughlin as Mary Rose Solti
Written by	Tom Laughlin (as Frank Christina) Delores Taylor (as Theresa Christina)
Starring	Tom Laughlin Delores Taylor
Music by	Mundell Lowe, Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter
Cinematography	Fred Koenekamp John M. Stephens
Edited by	Larry Heath Marion Rothman
Production company	National Student Film Corporation
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	May 1, 1971 (1971-05-01)
Running time	114 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$800,000
Box office	$32.5 million

Billy Jack is a 1971 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 in to theaters himself in 1971. The film died at the box office in its initial run, but eventually took in more than $40 million in its 1973 re-release, with distribution supervised by Laughlin.

Plot

Billy Jack is a "half-breed" American Navajo Indian, a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran, and a hapkido master. The character made his début in The Born Losers (1967), a "biker film" about a motorcycle gang terrorizing a California town. Billy Jack rises to the occasion to defeat the gang when defending a college student with evidence against them for gang rape.

In the second film, Billy Jack, the hero defends the hippie-themed Freedom School and students from townspeople who do not understand or like the counterculture students. The school is organized by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor).

In one scene, a group of Indian children from the school go to town for ice cream and are refused service and then abused and humiliated by Bernard Posner and his gang. This prompts a violent outburst by Billy. Later, the director of the Freedom School, Jean, is raped and an Indian student is then murdered by Bernard (David Roya), the son of the county's corrupt political boss (Bert Freed). Billy confronts Bernard and sustains a gunshot wound before killing him with a hand strike to the throat, after Bernard was caught in bed with a 13-year-old girl. After a climactic shootout with the police, and pleading from Jean, Billy Jack surrenders to the authorities and is arrested. As he is driven away, a large crowd of supporters raise their fists as a show of defiance and support. The plot continues in the sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack.

Cast

• Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack
• Delores Taylor as Jean Roberts
• Clark Howat as Sheriff Cole
• Victor Izay as Doctor
• Julie Webb as Barbara
• Debbie Schock as Kit
• Teresa Kelly as Carol
• Lynn Baker as Sarah
• Stan Rice as Martin
• David Roya as Bernard Posner
• John McClure as Dinosaur
• Susan Foster as Cindy
• Susan Sosa as Sunshine
• Bert Freed as Mr. Stuart Posner
• Kenneth Tobey as Deputy Mike
• Howard Hesseman as Howard

Box-office and critical reception

Billy Jack holds a "Fresh" rating of 62% at Rotten Tomatoes. As of February 2014 it has a score of 6.1 on IMDB.

In his Movie and Video Guide, film critic Leonard Maltin writes: "Seen today, its politics are highly questionable, and its 'message' of peace looks ridiculous, considering the amount of violence in the film."

Roger Ebert 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."

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

Soundtrack

Billy Jack
Soundtrack album by Mundell Lowe
Released	1972
Recorded	1971
Genre	Film score
Label	Warner Bros. WS 1926
Producer	Mundell Lowe
Mundell Lowe chronology
Satan in High Heels (1961)Satan in High Heels1961 Billy Jack (1971) California Guitar (1974)California Guitar1974

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

Reception

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". The film's theme song, "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)" by the band 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 judgment day
On the bloody morning after, one tin soldier rides away

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Track listing

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

• 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

Marketed as an action film, the story focuses on the plight of Native Americans during the civil rights movement. 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. The centerpiece of the film features Billy Jack, enraged over the mistreatment of his Indian friends, fighting racist thugs using hapkido techniques.

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

The second major movie to make use of the word "fuck" (MASH being the first). A black student says the words "fucked up" during the scene where the Freedom school students are talking about the "Second Coming".

Billy Jack in popular culture

• In 1975 (release date 12/30/1974), The Firesign Theatre, an American comedy group, made reference to Billy Jack on their album, "In the Next World, You're on Your Own," in the form of "Billy Jack Dog Food", and "I'm not Billy Jacking you," among other thematic references.
• In 1975, musician Curtis Mayfield recorded and released a song titled, "Billy Jack" on his album There's No Place Like America Today.
• In 1976 musician Paul Simon played "Billy Paul" (a parody of Billy Jack, unrelated to musician Billy Paul) in a sketch on the second season of the NBC comedy show Saturday Night Live, after the film Billy Jack aired earlier that evening on NBC.
• In 1982, a professional wrestler, Billy Jack Haynes, debuted as "Billy Jack" wearing a hat like Billy Jack. He changed his wrestling name from "Billy Jack" to "Billy Jack Haynes" after Tom Laughlin threatened to sue.
• In the series Mystery Science Theater 3000, at least two episodes reference Billy Jack: on the episode Werewolf, after a fight breaks out between a racist dig supervisor and his Indian help, Tom Servo says, "This is where Billy Jack should come riding up."; on the episode Track of the Moon Beast, after the Native American professor finishes telling a story, Crow says, "Uh huh...do you know Billy Jack?"
• In an episode of The Simpsons ("Bart of War"), Bart joins a Boy Scouts of America-like group called the "Pre-Teen Braves", and they engage in a rivalry with "the Cavalry Kids". A montage of the two groups fighting each other is set to Coven's version of One Tin Soldier.
• The song "Kooler than Jesus" by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult features samples from the film.
• Billy Jack is referenced in an episode of Gilmore Girls ("Red Light on the Wedding Night") while Lorelai and Rory are watching the movie in their living room. At the line "Billy Jack, I'm gonna kill you if it's the last thing I do!", Lorelai responds, "Ugh, he so jinxed himself with that one." Rory replies, "Yeah, he should've said 'Billy Jack, I'm gonna kill you or buy myself a lovely chenille sweater.'"
• Upon meeting serial killer Cary Stayner—then considered a possible material witness to a 1999 murder in Yosemite National Park—FBI Agent Jeff Rinek asked if Stayner had ever seen the movie Billy Jack, noting Stayner's resemblance to the film's hero. Initially, Stayner denied seeing the movie. However, 90 minutes later, after building rapport during the drive to the FBI headquarters in Sacramento from the nudist resort where he was picked up, Stayner surprised Rinek by reciting several of Billy Jack's lines.
• In the motion picture Major Payne, Damon Wayans as the title character references the iconic fight scene quote "Now, what I'm goin' do is take this right foot and I'm 'a put it 'cross the left side your face."
• In season three of the television series Sabrina the Teenage Witch, principal Mr. Kraft reveals that Billy Jack is his favorite film.
• Billy Jack was referenced by Jim Carrey in Yes Man.
• Metal band Goblin Cock have a song entitled "Ode to Billy Jack" on their 2009 album Come with Me if You Want to Live, which is a tribute to him.
• In the movie Drillbit Taylor, actor Owen Wilson references Billy Jack by saying to a cast mate "I am gonna Billy Jack your ass."
• In the episode of the animated show Pinky and the Brain, titled "Brainy Jack," Brain assumes the role of the titular Brainy Jack to trick a commune of hippies into helping him take over the world. Brain's wardrobe is a direct reference to Billy Jack, especially the hat with a beaded hat-band. Likewise, the song Pinky sings in the episode is a parody of "One Tin Soldier".
• British electro band Relaxed Muscle (fronted by Jarvis Cocker, from Pulp) released a song called "Billy Jack" on their only album A Heavy Nite With... in 2003. It was released as a single with a music video that featured Cocker (as alter ego, Darren Spooner) in Western garb reminiscent of Billy Jack's trademark outfit.
• In the Warehouse 13 Season 2 episode "13.1", the brain damaged Hugo Miller shouts "Billy Jack!" excitedly after Myka Bering kicks a gas station attendant who had pulled a gun.
• In the book "The Berlin Blues", a play by Drew Hayden Taylor, the character named Trailer references Billy Jack when he says on page 92, "No Cirque du Billy Jack?" when the plan for Ojibway World which was supposed to be opening on the reserve falls through.
• Bill Maher referenced Billy Jack in a July 2012 blog post about fundamentalist Mormons.
• The film was mentioned in The Cinema Snob's October 4, 2014 review of Jack the Ripper Goes West.

External links

• Laughlin's official Billy Jack web site
• Billy Jack at IMDb
• The Man Who Made Billy Jack Go Berserk: A Conversation with David Roya—Interview with Billy Jack co-star David "Bernard Posner" Roya
• DVD review of the Billy Jack series and production history
• A vision of American multiplicity, The Village Voice review, August 19, 1971