Billy, el defensor

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.

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.

Well, Billy Jack was not at all what I had expected. I had heard of the movie and thought it was some kind of kung fu cult movie, but really didn't know what to expect. The movie blew me away! OK, so the acting can be a little cheesy at times, but how many movies from that era are not cheesy in some way? At any rate, Billy Jack is a true American hero. What I love about the movie is that it is focused on very important subject matter, but portrays it in such an unconventional and unique way. Billy Jack is a character of all characters. His mannerisms are hysterical. He shows such intense frustration when he knows he's going to have to kick someone's butt, and that makes his character what it is. He's an ex-green beret and he can surely kick some serious bad guy butt if he has to, but he is also a man with a big heart and his life's mission is to protect the native Americans and hippies who are either too weak or too peaceful to fight for themselves. And he loves Jean, loves her with all his heart and knows that he is the only one who can protect her and protect what is important to her. His character is portrayed in such a way that you can see the internal struggle in his eyes and hear it in his voice when he is faced with a situation where some biggot butts need kickin'. Billy Jack is a true classic and a movie that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

Before the smug heroics of Steven Segal's characters there was Billy Jack, the original self proclaimed savior with an attitude. If you like to see self-righteous jerks stylishly beating up even bigger jerks then this is your movie. Each fight scene is setup explicitly for Jack to do an affected restraint merely as a taunt before dispensing his own brand of justice. The spoiled, morally depraved Bernard seems to exist only for the purpose of angering the audience and thus justifying his punishments at the hands and feet of Jack.

Ostensibly about taking a stand against a corrupt authority and abusive bigots 'Billy Jack' is mostly a guilty pleasure for pacifists who feel they've been pushed around long enough. Jack's own claims of trying to be less violent seem hollow as he relishes every punishment he dishes out. He functions as the darker id or alter ego of the peace-love generation.

If not taken nearly as seriously as it wants to be 'Billy Jack' can be enjoyed for it's low budget earnestness, in spite of its somewhat conflicted messages.

"Billy Jack," eponymously titled for the lead character, is an entertaining movie, but without much substance -- that is what you get when you have caricatures -- a peace-loving, basically American Indian "Freedom School" versus the conservative redneck bad guys.

Billy Jack is played by Tom Laughlin, who does not look much like a half Indian. Also, altho he has martial arts fluidity against the villains, he is quite rigid in posture, the white man that he is. Like his split background, I thought his acting performance was uneven -- at times good, at times wooden. Let me comment that he was not impressive in the final scene, which was not moving to me. Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor), sort of Billy's love interest, runs the Freedom School. She is the passionate figure of the movie, but certainly only platonically.

One curiousity is what the director is trying to do with the character of Sheriff Cole, a compromising personality, but who overall seems to be presented favorably. A good man rather than bad like the rest of the town, he is unable and unwilling to mount an effective resistance to the bad guys tho he serves as a go-between, helps Billy and the Freedom Schoolers behind the scenes, and yes, once, rescues Billy, by, sort of, standing up against the beaters. Like Billy, he is totally outnumbered by pretty much an entirely bad white community, like the prosecutor in the Mississippi civil rights murder cases trying to convince the jury. But I say, his is a refreshing role to me, because he is, well, the most normal person.

So, American Indians have been mistreated? We all know that, but what does this movie tell us about it, the background, the problem as it exists today (OK, 30 years ago), the solution? So we have peace-loving hippies and Indians, whining, whining, directed at the bad guys, nothing else. So?

What was the Freedom School all about? Well, it opposes the establishment. We know. But what does it do, what do you learn, what do you accomplish, what are you prepared for? Well, we hear diatribes, but where are we going? Maybe inherently nowhere.

Thus, "Billy Jack" mainly functions for its superficial visual (and audio) images, spirit of the '60s. But the storyline still captures the viewer. There are the abusive bad guys, we are worked up against them, the guy in the white hat (sort of) comes to the rescue. And if we don't totally understand what the Freedom School is all about, we at least know some of its political stances, and something of its style, even if the way the movie presents them is silly.

This all adds up to an annoying sanctimoniousness that serves as a turnoff. Tho the conservative characters are stereotyped, they are developed better than the Freedom Schoolers, who are poorly acted, cheesy, and certainly not compelling.

The true irony of "Billy Jack" is that the pacifist Freedom School contradicts what made people go see the movie. How many went, or would go, to see it, and how many went to see the fight scenes? Anyway, the score is quite good.