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Summary: I forgot how lame the sixties were
Review: I saw this movie for the first time in a drive-in theater during the mid-seventies, and remembered how much I loved it. Seeing it again convinced me that my teenage world was quite narrow - this movie is so sappy, it's pathetic. At first, I thought my reaction was unfair, until my kids (ages 10 and 8) started laughing at the movie's best parts! (Yes, I skipped over some scenes while they were in the room). Although most guys agree that the line about "this boot" and "your face" is the ultimate tough-guy threat, the movie definitely reminds me of how confrontational everything seemed to be back then.
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Summary: Billy Jack - A Good Movie, and that's a fact!!
Review: Billy Jack is an excellent blend of martial arts action, racial intolerance, and the counterculture movement of the late sixties.
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Summary: A DESPERATE PLEA FOR UNDERSTANDING
Review: Cease it to amaze me never, that so many people do not understand that films represent an historical archive of a given time, place, and, spirit. This testimony c. 1969 dubbed "Billy Jack", documents the tragic ambivalence that divided our nation._______________As the unannoited gaurdian of peace, justice, and the American Way, former Green Beret "Billy Jack", having recently returned from the senseless melee called "Vietnam", becomes gaurdian angel to a commune of disappointed souls. Though promoting peace, his ultimate resolution is by destruction of the enemy, @ all levels (did someone say Mai Lai?). The opening sequence of the City Fathers killing horses for sport, gives way to Billy Jack's moody rage as he tries to foster amity between the hawks and the doves. Now, there are some extemely bizarre sub-plots that are clearly out-dated, and will make little sense to those of us under 38 years old - who actually remember things like "Apollo Schools", etc. And The VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE LEADS TO PEACE tactic has lost it's message. There is much here to admire: courage, dignity, respect, honor. A powerhouse close with a catchy song as confusing as the film (and, naturally, my comment). PEACE! (or die!)
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Summary: Initials of Box Office = B.O.
Review: I, too, am one with the snake.
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Summary: Not As Ironic As It Seems
Review: People saw Billy Jack's martial abilities as ironic as an indictment against violence. But to whom are you going to preach anti-violence? To people who cannot fight? They don't have any choice but to be pacifists. Or are you going to preach to people who are extraordinarily good at violence and, thus, will rely upon it as a problem solving tool? Thus, what at first seems ironic really makes perfect sense. The main character SHOULD be someone who is good at committing violence. Thematically, Billy could be the United States or the former Soviet Union, or any of the armed super-powers. They carry vast power to destroy, even in self-defense. The film examines whether it is wise to use this power at all.But more than this, Billy's character is used to examine the source of this violence: the angry voice within us all that wants to use violence for any reason ... even to gain justice for legitimate reasons. The difference is that - unlike most of us - Billy is empowered, with his whip-crack Hapkido moves. Not only does he have that normal, angry voice, he can really do something about it! It is to this human trait that this movie speaks and says, "Tell that voice 'no.' Try a different approach." The key to the movie, to me, is in Billy's one statement: "Show me the one place in the world, just the ONE place, where men really love each other," and he would turn the other cheek. This is the central theme: It's all very well to preach non-violence, but it won't work in the real world to stop the violent ... it'll just make you a statistic. He wanted to be shown the one place where it would really work, and he'd try it. Billy was the person in the movie who needed to learn this lesson ... and he is us. The ultimate answer the movie seems to present is that Billy shouldn't look elsewhere for that one place, he himself should try to be the first to create that one place as an example to others of restraint. But the film had to present this solution to people who use violence, even good people who use it. If it presented this solution to Ghandi-like pacifists, it would not be directing its message to where it is most needed. Would it?
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Summary: Outstanding Movie!
Review: The first Billy Jack movie that I ever saw was the Born Losers when I was at San Marcos Military academy during the summer that I was 14 years old. That had already made me a Billy Jack fan. This movie was released when I was a high school senior. It was a very good movie. Billy Jack(an ex green beret) used violent methods to protect the school that was run by Delores Taylor.She being a pacifist, does not approve of Billy Jack's methods.The movie is very touching as well as being action packed. Laughlin plays his role very well as does Taylor. The villains in this movie are very bad guys. The scenery in this film is excellent as well. See this movie. You will like it.
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Summary: Billy Jackoff
Review: What is the worst movie ever made? It's a tie between Billy Jack and the Trial of Billy Jack. Jackoff abhors violence until it's time to save the children and then he attacks the establishment with the relish of pit bull smelling blood. Full of bovine blather about Flower Power and Death to the Pigs. Unless you're a Nazi skip this and watch a nature film on the sex life of a sea slug.
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Summary: DON'T DISS BILLY JACK!
Review: Billy Jack was the first movie that I ever saw in a theatre. Maybe the production of this movie looks dated but the message to be learned about tolerance is still very relevant. See Billy Jack with an open mind and look past the shortcomings in production. Billy Jack is a classic!!
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Summary: It's all about The HAT!!!
Review: Violence is golden in this, the first and best of the Billy Jack films. However, you can't dismiss this as empty-headed blood and guts,although the action is superb. If you watch all 3 movies you can see the evolution of the character Billy Jack from a guy who solves his problems with his fists to a man who uses his intellect and wisdom to overcome obstacles. Also, if your in support of Indie film makers then you should see all of Laughlin's work. The film also introduced Hapkido to America, a martial art that combines elements of Akido and Tae kwon do.The fight scenes are GREAT, some of the best ever. The hippie kids are a scream and Howard Hessman is pretty funny. The troupe he works with was a pretty infamous underground comedy group back in the 70's. But above all, it's about The HAT!!!!!!!!
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Summary: Great film, awesome message, average DVD...
Review: Billy Jack is the cornerstone of our modern day "One Man against the World" film genre. Yet this film goes a little further in it's portrayl of a man with a tendency toward violence living in a world of pacifists. As a testimonial of the times, when the equal rights movement, hippies and spiritualists were in full swing, this film shows us a glimpse of how much things have changed (and yet remain the same). Before the term 'Hate Crime' ever existed, Billy Jack had captured the essence of what it was and how it started - ignorence and small mindedness. While the DVD does not offer much in the range of extras, the film itself is worthwhile. The commentary could have been better, and I would have liked more supplimental material. The film itself is as wonderful as I remembered it from my youth, and the message of tolerance speaks true to today's society. I love this movie for what it represents and what it tries to accomplish and when I was a very small boy I was awestruck by it and the man it portrays. So much in fact, that I once asked a total stranger on the street, a man wearing a black hat, if he was Billy Jack. He looked down on me, smiled and said, "I think we all have a little of him in each of us."
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