Billy Jack

source: Billy Jack

Trailer—Billy Jack

Billy Jack

Ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert "freedom school" for runaways. Why this movie matters: Before "Billy Jack", movies contained at most brief references to martial arts, with fights portrayed by actors who had little training. With "Billy Jack", Han Bong Soo introduced authentic hapkido techniques to Western audiences. So there's that. But the film is bogged down by a weird hippie school and politics that nobody seems to understand (what is "violent pacifism"?). Interestingly, Delores Taylor received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcoming Actress. And yet, aside from the "Billy Jack" films, that promise was not followed through on.

Seeing this film back in '71 when it first came out did very much to change my attitudes and commentaries. Only in the old days would a movie like this create such a great change in a persons psyche. I'm very glad I discovered this film when I did and even though the production and acting qualities are pretty 'low' this movie definitely is a 'must see' for everyone. Enjoy.

But I sat through the whole thing. Mind you, it's living proof why the hippy movement of the 1960s lost.. they had no clue what they were really fighting then.. or now. But Tom Laughlin and his downer of a wife honestly thought they were "exposing" the "truth" up till their dying day.. that's what makes this movie almost watchable..just to see how absurd their stance on life actually was.

What good things can I say about this movie. At least I didn't pay the rental fee; someone else did and that's bad enough. This movie is film making at its absolute worst. The acting is terrible and the script is about as well thought out as an 8th Grade research paper. The picture quality is horrid not to mention you can't hear some of the dialogue in "potentially key" scenes. This film looks like a 8mm home movie of a hippie commune in Oregon. I don't know how this movie got any financing whatsoever let alone the revenue it brought in. Just let me some up this movie in one word. . . DUMB!!!!!

I was twelve years old when I saw this on the big screen and loved every minute of it. Today I feel a trickle of cold sweat whenever the movie is mentioned, and when I recently had occasion to see the film again I cringed to think that I had ever been enthusiastic about it in my childhood. It isn't so much that BILLY JACK is a bad movie as it is an awesomely pretentious one rife with glaring bouts of hypocrisy. The story of non-violent native Americans and flower children saved from hysterical cowboys by Billy Jack (who wants to be non-violent but always has to kick butt) is well-intended, but from a modern standpoint it is acutely embarrassing. The production values are so-so, and the cast is merely adequate at best. If you have fond memories of this film, keep them by leaving BILLY JACK in the past: don't see it again. And if you have never seen it... leave well enough alone. Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I recall seeing this movie at the theater. At the time I was a teenager ripe for the anti-establishment theme (and thrilled with the "cool " violence in the movie). I thought it was the greatest movie ever made. On re-viewing it recently, I couldn't believe how stupid I was. This movie is so bad it is laughable. You can almost feel the characters straining to get their point across. The plot is simplistic and the acting is. Of course, things have changed in nearly 30 years. My taste in movies is one of them.

I never thought I'd see the day that I'd watch a hippie inflected action movie, but here we are. "Billy Jack" basically assembles a small town with young hippie kids, black people and Native Americans, and of course puts them at odds with corrupt cops and evil rich kid types. Luckily for them, the titular Billy Jack is on their side, and he is a martial arts expert and action hero. It's handy, being a pacifist with a prolifically violent friend. You don't have to get your hands dirty yourself. I don't know what to say about "Billy Jack". It doesn't work as a movie. Scenes and characters totally fail to build. I guess it does get its message across, if that message is that the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. But it's completely forgettable. And boring.