{"id":86784,"date":"2022-09-04T12:43:43","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T19:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=86784"},"modified":"2024-05-13T23:30:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T06:30:52","slug":"billy-jack-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=86784","title":{"rendered":"Billy Jack (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;On this reservation, I am the law.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Poster-195x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-86785\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Poster-195x300.png 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Poster-83x128.png 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Poster-176x270.png 176w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Poster.png 617w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA half-Indian Green Beret vet named Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) &#8212; who runs a progressive boarding school with his pacifist wife (Delores Taylor) &#8212; provides safe haven for a pregnant runaway teen (Julie Webb) abused by her father (Kenneth Tobey), and protects wild horses from slaughter by the town&#8217;s bullying head honcho (Bert Freed) and equally toxic son (David Roya).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Boarding Schools<\/li>\n<li>Counterculture<\/li>\n<li>Native Americans<\/li>\n<li>Racism and Race Relations<\/li>\n<li>Tom Laughlin Films<\/li>\n<li>Veterans<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary writes, &#8220;Tom Laughlin introduced us to his title character&#8230; in 1967&#8217;s successful &#8216;biker&#8217; film, <em>Born Losers<\/em>,&#8221; and then went on to make this lucrative cult film &#8212; a &#8220;phenomenon at the box office&#8221; &#8220;designed to entice the enormous alienated-youth audience.&#8221; He points out that this &#8220;uncontroversial film is for justice and equality, yoga, the creative arts, meditation, role-play therapy, wild horses, and gun control; it is against bigotry, bullies, childbeaters and formal education.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86792\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Freedom-School-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But he notes that &#8220;the eerie part&#8221; about this film&#8217;s success &#8220;is that its nonviolent audience most enjoyed the violence perpetrated by Billy Jack on the conservative types who are threatening the children at pacifist Taylor&#8217;s school,&#8221; and he points out that &#8220;it&#8217;s particularly disturbing when the kids in the film give Billy Jack a &#8216;power&#8217; salute, signifying that he is their savior.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Power-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Peary adds that &#8220;it&#8217;s clear that Laughlin wanted viewers to think of him and his character as one and the same.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Laughlin2-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He concedes that the &#8220;picture isn&#8217;t badly made: [the] hapkido scenes are exciting, Taylor gives a very moving account of what it feels like to be raped&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Taylor-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; &#8220;and Laughlin makes a good, charismatic action hero.&#8221; However, it is also &#8220;pretentious and badly flawed&#8221; in many ways. <\/p>\n<p>Peary elaborates upon the film&#8217;s success and challenges in his <em>Cult Movies<\/em> book, where he notes that the husband-wife filmmaking team of Laughlin and Taylor themselves referred to the production as &#8220;one of the weirdest success stories in modern cinema history.&#8221; In a nutshell, the couple amicably withdrew from their initial contract with AIP, eventually getting 20th Century Fox to provide financial backing &#8212; but when Laughlin found out that Richard &#8220;Zanuck had taken the print of the film from the studio vault before Laughlin finished editing it and was planning to cut it on his own,&#8221; &#8220;Laughlin sneaked the soundtrack out of the lab and left Zanuck with an expensive film that had no sound,&#8221; eventually resulting in Zanuck agreeing &#8220;to sell Laughlin his picture.&#8221; (To be honest, I think a film about all these shenanigans sounds more interesting than the movie in its current form.)  <\/p>\n<p>Eventually, &#8220;the Laughlins took their $650,000 completed film to Warners, which bought it for 1.8 million&#8221; and released it &#8220;almost three years after production began&#8221; &#8212; at which point &#8220;it quickly became known as the sleeper of the year, with people (mostly juveniles and college students) going back to see it four and five times&#8221;, and the film eventually earning &#8220;a phenomenal $30 million.&#8221; However, &#8220;the Laughlins were not satisfied&#8221; and after bringing a &#8220;suit against Warners for improperly publicizing the film,&#8221; it was re-released in 1973 through a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Four_wall_distribution\">&#8220;four-walling&#8221;<\/a> distribution scheme and &#8220;went on to rake in another fortune.&#8221; Two sequels were then made (both listed in <em>GFTFF<\/em>) but the phenomenon eventually blew over. <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not a fan of this film, which may have been well-intentioned but comes across as extremely muddled and pretentious &#8212; and very much a product of its times. There is <em>one<\/em> powerful scene, in which anti-Indian racism is enacted explicitly (in the ice cream store): <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Ice-Cream-Store-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; but this leads to &#8212; violence. It&#8217;s also nice seeing Kenneth Tobey on screen, serving as a bridge to earlier cinematic history. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Tobey-Daughter-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, Taylor&#8217;s non-acting skills (in spite of her obvious earnestness) is a major detriment to the film, and it&#8217;s infuriating seeing a lack of any &#8220;real&#8221; Indians with grit or nuance. As Peary writes, &#8220;Most Indians are kept in the film&#8217;s background &#8212; except for the nebbish Martin [Stan Rice], who carries around a saying by St. Francis of Assisi and allows the girl he loves to learn to ride a horse while she&#8217;s pregnant.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86798\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Rice2-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Speaking of Rice and the other presumably Indigenous actors in the cast, one wonders how much money they made from its success &#8212; if anything.) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Laughlin&#8217;s impressive <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hapkido\"><em>hapkido<\/em> skills<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86789\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Hapkido-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Mustangs-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Billy-Jack-Shaman-480x270.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s worth a one-time look simply for its historical significance. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0066832\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/16610\/billy-jack#articles-reviews?articleId=296735\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/review\/1549\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=7553&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2982jack.html\">DVD Savant Review (scroll to second review)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/review\/38412\">DVD Talk Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/billy-jack\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;On this reservation, I am the law.&#8221; Synopsis: A half-Indian Green Beret vet named Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) &#8212; who runs a progressive boarding school with his pacifist wife (Delores Taylor) &#8212; provides safe haven for a pregnant runaway teen (Julie Webb) abused by her father (Kenneth Tobey), and protects wild horses from slaughter by the town&#8217;s bullying head honcho (Bert Freed) and equally toxic son (David Roya). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Boarding Schools Counterculture Native Americans Racism and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=86784\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86784"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96679,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86784\/revisions\/96679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}