# Billy Jack - Have you seen it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317 "2011-05-26T16:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/61 "2011-05-26T23:12:56Z")
I’m in the minority: I actually have fond memories of _One Tin Soldier._ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/62 "2011-05-26T23:26:15Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I’m in the minority: I actually have fond memories of _One Tin Soldier._ Did you lose your virginity to it? For that’s the only possible way you could have fond memories of it. (This isn’t my opinion- it’s been proven in government studies.) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/63 "2011-05-26T23:48:49Z")
I saw it in college in the early 1970s. Cheesy but the fight scenes were fun. I wouldn’t watch it again though. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/64 "2011-05-27T00:11:50Z")
I’m 55 and I fucking _love_ Billy Jack! The hilarious school town meeting, the flour on the innocent adorable native girl’s head, the purple plot developments, the creepy sheriff’s kid with the 'Vette, the absolutely god awful acting, the speechifying, the going berserk, the foot in the face for peace? Tell me, _what’s not to love_?! It’s a great movie for gathering friends together for an evening of nostalgic, back-in-the-day high comedy. Come to think of it, someone ought to suggest it to Rifftrax. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/65 "2011-05-27T00:21:29Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > - > > Billy Jack\* really doesn’t have a “female lead.” Quite likely I’m confusing it with another movie. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/66 "2011-05-27T00:59:02Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Quite likely I’m confusing it with another movie. I think Argent Towers was making a joke. Tom Laughlin was the director and star (and title character) of _Billy Jack_ but Delores Taylor, who co-wrote and co-produced the movie and played Jean, is clearly the female lead. Laughlin and Taylor worked together on _The Born Losers_, _Billy Jack_, _The Trial of Billy Jack_, and _Billy Jack Goes to Washington_, and have been married for fifty-six years. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/67 "2011-05-27T01:02:49Z")
It’s not that, it’s that I genuinely don’t think the movie has a female lead. Dolores Taylor’s character is not really a lead character. The young girl who gets pregnant and runs away from her father (the sheriff’s deputy) is probably the closest to a female lead, but she’s pretty poorly acted (like most of the film) and also not conventionally attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/68 "2011-05-27T01:08:46Z")
I’m 47, and Billy Jack is actually the first movie I ever saw in a theater. I was obsessed with it for a little while, but eventually forgot about it. Then in college my roommate and I were discussing an argument I’d had with my girlfriend, and without preamble or us having ever discussed the movie he said something like “When I see this girl, man…who has such a beautiful spirit… so degraded…” and I think I laughed so hard I hurt myself. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/69 "2011-05-27T01:14:19Z")
I’m 56, saw the movie when I was in high school, and thought it was rotten even then. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/70 "2011-05-27T01:37:49Z")
43 and I saw it NUMEROUS times during the late '70s on my dad’s soldered-together HBO unscrambling TV downstairs. I loved the fight scenes (as a young’un), but even then I loathed the parts inbetween. That blond-headed granola hippy-chick with the sanctimonious voice just grates on my nerves. Just leave her staked to the ground, guys, maybe some vultures will come and get rid of the evidence… ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/71 "2011-05-27T01:49:06Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > [“You know what I’m going to do then…”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v325wdgoFH4) I’ve seen it many times, but I was interested in the martial arts scenes, which are better than it deserves. A Hapkido master named Bong Soo Han (probably best known for playing “Dr. Klahn” in _Kentucky Fried Movie_) is Laughlin’s stunt double and does a lot of the fight scenes; if you freeze frame on the above clips you can see that the guy doing the kicking is several inches shorter and has sideburns. If you like _Billy Jack_, by the way, keep your fingers crossed for the next one to one day be released: > [@](#): > > Laughlin has been seeking funding for a fifth Billy Jack film since at least 1996, when he spoke about it during a lawsuit against a man who Laughlin said had illegally changed his name to “Billy Jack”,[51] and at one point Laughlin had plans to make a Billy Jack television series.[52] In 2004 he announced that the film would be entitled Billy Jack’s Crusade to End the War in Iraq and Restore America to Its Moral Purpose; this was shortened to Billy Jack’s Moral Revolution in 2006. In 2008, the film’s title was changed to was Billy Jack for President.[5] Recently, it has been re-titled Billy Jack and Jean.[53] Laughlin says it will be a “new genre of film” and a great deal of social commentary on politics, religion, and psychology will be discussed,[54] and a debate will take place between Billy Jack and President George W. Bush via computer manipulation of archived speeches.[42] In 2009, Laughlin released plot details of this film on a video on his website. The video also contained several scenes from the film.[55] > **[Tom Laughlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Laughlin)** > > Thomas Robert Laughlin Jr. (August 10, 1931 – December 12, 2013) was an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, educator, and activist. > Laughlin was best known for co-producing and starring in the four Billy Jack films, His unique promotion of The Trial of Billy Jack (TV trailers during national news and an "opening day" nationwide release) was a major influence on the way films are marketed. > He was married to actress Delores Taylor from 1954 until his death. A little out of date now, but hey, they got “Duke Nukem Forever” out eventually, right? ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/72 "2011-05-27T02:14:04Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > If you like _Billy Jack_, by the way, keep your fingers crossed for the next one to one day be released: > > [Tom Laughlin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Laughlin) > > A little out of date now, but hey, they got “Duke Nukem Forever” out eventually, right? I have a feeling that _Billy Jack’s Crusade to End the War in Iraq and Restore America to Its Moral Purpose_ will be released around ten years after the war in Iraq is over. He’s been filming this since 2004? Great, nothing keeps fresh like “social commentary on politics, religion, and psychology.” But I seriously don’t understand the hold-up. Billy Jack, you have a camcorder, a $1,000 hat, and a YouTube account: just make the damn movie. It can’t possibly be worse than anything you’ve already made in your career. Does he really think he’s getting a real film distributor? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/73 "2011-05-27T02:31:22Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I have a feeling that _Billy Jack’s Crusade to End the War in Iraq and Restore America to Its Moral Purpose_ will be released around ten years after the war in Iraq is over. > > He’s been filming this since 2004? Great, nothing keeps fresh like “social commentary on politics, religion, and psychology.” > > But I seriously don’t understand the hold-up. Billy Jack, you have a camcorder, a $1,000 hat, and a YouTube account: just make the damn movie. It can’t possibly be worse than anything you’ve already made in your career. Does he really think he’s getting a real film distributor? Checking out his website and [updates on the Billy Jack sequel](http://www.billyjack.com/index.php?menuID=Page&pid=235), I think he thinks he’s getting an Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/74 "2011-05-27T03:12:18Z")
a) _The Trial of Billy Jack_ b) _“It is one of the longest, slowest, most pretentious and self-congratulatory ego trips ever put on film.” Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times._ Guess which one has withstood the test of time as an insightful observation of the human condition? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/75 "2011-05-27T17:25:47Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > …It was a very bad movie, but it came out in a time filled with even worse movies, and at least there were people being booted in the head… This. The [“people being booted in the head”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVX-voqWuwY&feature=related) thing. Now in HD. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/76 "2011-05-27T17:43:19Z")
As much fun as it is to mock this movie, I’d still rather watch it than _The Postman_. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/77 "2011-05-27T17:59:11Z")
> [@digs](#): > > This. The [“people being booted in the head”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVX-voqWuwY&feature=related) thing. Now in HD. My wife’s parents grew up in Prescott AZ, where Billy Jack was filmed, and she still has some relatives there who we go visit every year or two. I have actually had the honor of spending time in the square where that very scene took place. It’s always hard to resist the urge to take off my shoes and kick people in the head. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/78 "2011-05-27T18:26:39Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > As much fun as it is to mock this movie, I’d still rather watch it than _The Postman_. Another great movie, which I have seen at least a dozen times. This might be Costner’s best, in my opinion, although Will Patton really steals the show. Actually, Costner’s best is _No Way Out_ (also featuring Will Patton.) Those two are a damn good team. _Postman_ is one of the most underrated movies ever and I will never tire of defending it when others put it down. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/79 "2011-05-27T18:44:41Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > …Actually, Costner’s best is _No Way Out_ (also featuring Will Patton.) … On this we agree, although I liked _Open Range_. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317/80 "2011-05-27T19:05:16Z")
Saw them all in the 70’s and like them for the most part. _Trial of …_ was too over the top to enjoy, even if you were a pinko hippie type. Just saw part of \*Born Losers \*the other day. It didn’t age well at all, but then “the Wild One” is similar IMO, didn’t age well either yet is critically acclaimed. Interestingly, I saw a documentary that claimed the _Billy Jack_ movies were instrumental in opening the doors for independent movie distributors. As in, up unto Billy Jack you either played by the studio rules or you couldn’t get your film shown to a wide audience. I don’t know how true that is, but it fits nicely into the “rebel against authority” motif. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billy-jack-have-you-seen-it/583317.md?page=5)