Laughlin was part of the independent movie boom but he came in pretty late. People like James Nicholson, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Roger Corman, Russ Meyer, Herschell Gordon Lewis, William Castle, and George Romero were making independent movies before Billy Jack - in some cases twenty years before.
- And a half. And I came in here to say this. My old Mad Magazine collection has got to be stashed somewhere in Mom’s house.
I’m 57, a former Quaker and early '70s San Francisco hippie who was way ahead of the pacifist pack when the films were released. The Trial of Billy Jack is far and away my favorite bad movie–but when I watch it, I’m self-deprecatingly laughing at the parts of my past that stick out all over it like a baby born with its organs on the outside of its body…
The next best thing is this novelization-style “RazzTrak” for Trial:
I’m 43 and I saw it. On HBO in the early 80’s. I also saw Born Losers and The Trial of Billy Jack. Never did see Billy Jack Goes to Washington and I’m glad. I’d probably miss the brain cells that would’ve killed.
The only part I remember is his chat with his “inner self”, who was covered in blue paint for some reason. That and the evil army/cops shooting the peaceful hippies full of holes, which I found incredibly cool. I think that was the first movie I had seen that had exploding blood bag bullet hits.
The movie I’m thinking of had a girl with short dark hair that rode a Honda 50 type thing into town, was harassed by some ruffians and rescued by the male lead. I think later in the movie some guy gets shot right through the bridge of his sunglasses by the hero.
Any idea what movie I’m thinking of?
mid 50’s seen it. thought it was great as a kid, and think it’s horrible as an adult.
That’s Born Losers.
Also, the curious should be warned that Billy Jack Goes to Washington is not the internal hemorrhage - inducing laughfest that Trial was, but a boring, too-faithful remake of Mr. Smith with just enough tweaking to shoehorn the character in.
Yes, 54.
I taught myself to play that on the guitar in around 1973 and thought it was so cool–groovy even (kidding, even when it was popular I would have never used that word)–that I could play and sing it. But church hymnals? Really?
I’m 62 and a martial artist. The fight scene in the park is nice. The rest of the movie sucks yak wang.
I was a little bit taken aback by that one. Especially about an actual entry in a church hymnal.
OTOH, I seem to recall that locally, in the decade following Vatican II’s release, “Hey Jude” featured in at least one folk mass.
BTW,*** Mad ***had a field day with Billy Jack’s claim to be slow to anger.
- Jack, but not Billy
49, saw it when it first came out. It seemed pretty cool at the time, like the ‘Kung Fu’ TV series. It hasn’t aged well.
I liked the original Kung Fu movie. I prefer action scenes that are plausible versus today’s ridiculous stuff. I still remember the bar scene in the movie where he’s holding a glass of milk and knocks some guy senseless without spilling it. If I remember it correctly he does it with the arm that’s holding the glass.
I’m 49 and have seen Billy Jack numerous times. I hold films like that up to my kids as a greatly exaggerated example of what the early 70s were like.
I remember “One Tin Soldier” in the songbooks that we’d use in Sunday school and youth group sort of stuff; the actual hymnal for official big people services was considerably more traditional.
28, and I saw The Trial of Billy Jack after reading about it on Jabootu’s Bad Movie Dimension. I haven’t seen the other films in the series, yet.
I actually built a 3D model of Trial’s Freedom School, so I could use it as flight simulator scenery…um, on a bombing range. The “dirty commie-land” themed section of the range. [insert “nervous sweatdrop smiley face” icon, here]
Nervous sweatdrop nothing! You deserve every one of your Freedom School Hero Hugs. Right there, on the right side of your face.
Pure Awesomeness.
ORIGINAL BILLY JACK HAT REPLICA (Retail Price $575! )
Code:PCBJ6ORIG
Price: $585.00
Um, ok. The “retail price” is an outrageous $575, but I can get it straight from the Billy Jack website for only $10 more? Wow. Sign me up for two!
Now that you bring it up, I wonder how much influence Billy Jack had on Kung Fu getting on the Television. Billy Jack was 1971 and Kung Fu started in 1972.
I saw Billy Jack in High School and I thought it was cool, but I couldn’t get through it the last time I watched it. I had the same problem when I tried to watch a rerun of The Man From UNCLE. Now The Avengers, are still cool, although the stunt doubles are laughably obvious on DVD.