Billy Jack (1971)

Directed by

Tom Laughlin

Genre

drama film, Western film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 54m

Rated

PG

Rating

6.0 of 10 from 78 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A half-Native American former Green Beret named Billy Jack protects a progressive school on a reservation from local racist townspeople and corrupt police. He uses his martial arts skills and quiet intensity to confront the harassment and violence directed at the students and their teacher.

determinedsombergrittythoughtfullone-wolfdefiantslow-burningjustice-driven

What happens

Billy Jack is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name (played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the script) which began with the movie The Born Losers (1967). 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 into theaters himself in 1971. The film grossed $10 million in its initial run, but eventually added close to $50 million in its re-release, with distribution supervised by Laughlin. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
• The Born Losers (1967)
• Little Big Man (1970)
• Chrome and Hot Leather (1971)
• The Searchers (1956)
• Fugitive of the Plains (1943)
• The Last Picture Show (1971)
• The Beguiled (1971)