Disc 1: The Born
Losers
The Born Losers
introduces the character of Billy Jack (played by Tom Laughlin, who also
directs the series), the first shot showing him bathing, almost triumphantly,
at the bottom of a waterfall. A bit of voice-over narration describes him as a
trained killer who has Indian blood. And, as further introduction to his
character, we see him among other animals of the natural terrain, giving us an
idea of his preferred element. That then is in contrast to the shots in the
city, where a guy gets into an altercation with a biker gang. No one will come
to the guy’s aid. No one, that is, except Billy Jack, who is promptly arrested
for his troubles. What I love about this is that it causes Billy Jack to be a
reluctant hero. He’s not eager to get involved any further with this gang, but
eventually feels he has no choice, after the gang takes an unwanted interest in
Vicky Barrington (Elizabeth James), and it is left to Billy Jack to keep her
safe until she can testify against the bikers.
The film contains some surprising shots, like Vicky
coming across a dead seal on the beach, which helps keep this from being your
typical biker movie. Another surprising shot is that of one biker asking for
(and receiving) a kiss from another biker (remember, this movie came out in
1967). There is a fantastic shot of Vicky on her bike at a dead end street. The
camera is behind her, and we see her left leg, clad in a white boot, in the
foreground. And the entire biker gang suddenly appears riding toward her (and
toward us). It’s such an interesting shot because it’s sexy, like she’s in
control, but then as the bikers begin to fill the screen, even as she maintains
the pose, we begin to feel that it is false bravado on her part.
This film has a much more serious tone than a lot of
biker films have. The scene where Vicky is brought to the bikers’ pad and told
about her initiation is intense. And the scene between Vicky and the nurse is
excellent. What’s also surprising about this film is that most characters are
complex. It is not simply a case of a hero and some villains. The film puts in
the effort to show us another side of Danny (Jeremy Slate), the leader of the
gang. Early on, we see him rescuing his little brother from their abusive
father, and at other times in the movie we see his love for his brother. We also
get a shot of him acting lovingly toward his young daughter. So he is put into
a more normal, familiar context, which actually works to make his bad deeds all
the more terrible.
Disc 1 Special
Features
The first disc contains two commentary tracks. The first
is with Tom Laughlin and executive producer Delores Taylor. Tom and Delores
co-wrote the script, and Tom directed it under a fake name. On this commentary
track, they talk about how they got the idea after seeing a news story about
the Hell’s Angels raping a girl and then threatening her to keep her from
testifying. Some of the bikers used in the film were actual members of a biker
gang. They also talk about getting Jane Russell to do the film, and they tell a
great anecdote about Haskell Wexler helping them get the shots in the airport. By
the way, the seal was something they simply found on the beach. The second
commentary track is with Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor and Frank Laughlin (Frank
is the son of Tom and Delores, and also appears in the movie).
The first disc also has the film’s trailer, three radio
spots, and a photo gallery that includes various film posters and lobby cards.
Disc 2: Billy Jack
I have a CD titled Protest
Rock, which contains some great tunes from the 1960s and 1970s, including “One
Tin Soldier (The Legend Of Billy Jack).” That song, which is by Coven, plays
during the film’s opening credits, but – as is pointed out in one of the
commentary tracks – was not written for this film. In fact, the song’s title is
simply “One Tin Soldier,” and now I’m curious where the “(The Legend Of Billy
Jack)” part of the title on that compilation came from. Anyway, this film tells
quite a different story from the first one. At the beginning of the film, a
deputy and some other scoundrels round up wild horses on Indian-held land,
planning on slaughtering them for meat, until Billy Jack shows up to stop them.
They tell him, “You’re making a mistake.”
He replies, “I’ve made them before.”
As with the first film, this one contains a bit of narration at the beginning,
telling us that Billy Jack was a war hero who hated the war, and decided to
turn his back on society and live on the reservation, protecting the Indians,
the wild horses, and the kids at a school located on the land.
When the deputy beats his daughter (after she has
revealed that she’s pregnant), Billy takes her to the hospital. Interestingly,
the sheriff (played by Clark Howat) is sympathetic and doesn’t want to bring
the girl home. Sheriff Cole is a great character, not the typical law
enforcement character at all. He even has a good sense of humor. His line in
the barbershop scene made me burst out laughing. Anyway, it is decided that the
deputy’s daughter will stay at the school on the reservation, and we soon see
that this is no typical school. At Freedom School, run by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor), the children are
taught horseback riding, yoga, drama and so on. But the daughter’s presence
draws unwanted attention to the school, especially after it is shown that many
of the town’s people are bigots and are against anything done on the
reservation anyway.
This film is quite different from the first film, but is
just as powerful. That scene where the little girl sings a song about her
brother is incredibly moving, as is the scene when the children are harassed by
people in the town. Billy Jack says to one of the kids, “A lot of stupid people in this world, aren’t there?” Yes, and that
hasn’t changed, sad to say. There is a good fight scene, and though violence is
in the backdrop of this world, it’s not the heart of it, not the focus. Like
the first film, this one does a decent job of creating complete characters
rather than just heroes and villains. Bernard Posner, who proves to be
something less than a good person, is first shown as a somewhat sympathetic
character, not wanting to shoot the horses that his father has helped round up.
It is interesting that the filmmakers have us side with him before showing us
his bad qualities; after all, before Billy Jack shows up, Bernard seems to be
the only sensible person there. Perhaps it’s to make us look inward at our own
questionable and lesser attributes.
By the way, Howard Hesseman is in the film, though
credited under the name Don Sturdy. He is excellent, as always. (Two cast
members of WKRP In Cincinnati are in
the Billy Jack series; Richard
Sanders appears in Billy Jack Goes To
Washington.)
Disc 2 Special Features
The second disc contains two commentary tracks. The first
is by Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor, who mention that the film was a work of
love, a project they’d been trying to bring to the screen for years. And the
girl who sings that song is their daughter. Wow, she actually wrote that song,
as well as the other song she sings in the film. That’s incredible. And the
song that Lynn Baker sings in the film is one that Lynn herself wrote. Also,
the information on the snake scene given in the commentary is wild. The second
commentary track is by Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor and Frank Laughlin.
This disc also contains the film’s trailer, as well as a
photo gallery of publicity stills, poster art and lobby cards.
Disc 3: The Trial
Of Billy Jack
At the beginning of The
Trial Of Billy Jack, as we see a bird fly over a beautiful but desolate
landscape, titles appear on screen, about various colleges where students were
shot. For example: “Kent State, May 1970, 4 Dead, 9 Wounded.” After listing
several schools, this title appears: “Freedom School, 3 Dead, 39 Wounded.” We
then see Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor), the woman who runs Freedom School, in
the hospital, giving a press conference, and we learn this is several years
after Billy Jack’s trial. So essentially the film is Jean’s tale of what
happened, as told to a reporter in her hospital room. So, yes, there is a lot more
voice over in this film than in the previous two. And there are flashbacks
within the flashback, as we see some of the events described by Billy Jack
during his trial – stuff from his time in the military, with soldiers murdering
civilians. But Billy Jack’s real trial isn’t the courtroom proceedings that
take up only a small portion of screen time, but rather his more personal trial
in a battle against himself, as shown by his vision during his inner quest.
Meanwhile, the children have become determined to expand
the school, and get involved with journalism and exposing corruption. Jean
tells us in voice over: “The fantastic
reader response made the kids determined to bring these exposés to a wider
public, so they decided to build their own TV station. They put on a fourth of
July-type fundraising drive, which they called ‘1984 Is Closer Than You Think.’”
While it might be a bit unbelievable that these kids could suddenly own and
operate a television station, it certainly is interesting that they chose to
refer to the George Orwell book, particularly for us today, when that novel
seems more frighteningly relevant than perhaps ever before. When Billy gets out
of prison, he sees there have been some changes to the school. The kids now
learn martial arts, which surprises him. In that scene, there is what seems to
be a flubbed line, flubbed and then corrected by the actor. I wonder why that
was left in, why they didn’t do another take. The commentary tracks don’t
address it.
This film isn’t as focused as the previous films. It
seems to be tackling too many issues – child abuse, government violence against
students, corruption, police brutality, the rights of Indians, poaching,
racism. And there are lots of scenes of meetings of tribal councils to discuss
some of these issues. And at one point suddenly the film is about rescuing some
missing Indians from a mountain during a storm. There are some gorgeous shots
in this sequence, but it all seems a bit off the track and unnecessary, and the
missing Indians are found without much trouble. Also, the sequence doesn’t
quite work because they keep mentioning how it’s a blizzard, yet in many of the
shots it’s a clear day, and in none of the shots does there seem to be anything
even remotely resembling a blizzard.
Yet there are some very touching moments, and you can’t
help but become emotionally invested in the film by the end. And I appreciate
the question about whether non-violence can ever be effective against dumb
brutes. At the end, there is a title that reads, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
Disc 3 Special
Features
The third disc, like the first two, contains two
commentary tracks. The first is by Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor. They talk
about how this film was a labor of love, made after – and in response to – the shootings
at different colleges. Tom talks about Rolling Thunder, who is in the film, and
mentions briefly his relationship to the Grateful Dead. He tells a crazy
anecdote about the mountain scene. Tom occasionally mentions running for
President in 1992. He gets into the idea of a person’s shadow, of how the
faults that upset you in others exist in you too, one of the strong messages of
this film, and one I need to remind myself of daily as I get angry at Donald
Trump and his supporters.
The second commentary track is done by Tom Laughlin,
Delores Taylor and Frank Laughlin. Tom talks about how they hadn’t considered
sequels at first, and that originally he had intended to have Billy die at the
end of Billy Jack, but Delores had
argued against that. They talk about the policy in Vietnam, the U.S. government
ordering the killing of civilians. In both commentary tracks, they talk about
Delores’ hatred of exposition.
The special features also include a photo gallery and six
radio spots.
Disc 4: Billy Jack
Goes To Washington
The fourth, and final, Billy Jack film is actually a remake of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, in which Billy Jack is chosen as a
temporary replacement after a senator has a heart attack and dies. The governor
believes he can use Billy’s image for his own gain. When the senator has his
heart attack, his secret files on the nuclear contracts are taken by a man
named Dan who thinks this theft will be his ticket to a better government job
and higher salary. He is sorely mistaken, of course. The other senator of Billy
Jack’s state, Senator Payne (in an excellent performance by E.G. Marshall), was
once an ally of Billy’s uncle, but now seems to have lost his way. Learning
that the two once fought for lost causes is great, because it gives us the
sense of Payne’s better qualities, that perhaps he is a good man at heart. Before
this, we’ve only seen his corrupt side. I like that these filmmakers continue
to make well rounded characters in these films.
Billy Jack’s pet project is the creation of a national
youth camp, and Payne urges him to occupy himself with that in order to keep
him away from the politics and dealing. But when Billy Jack chooses as the site
for his camp the exact spot that has been secretly chosen for a nuclear plant,
he begins to gain some enemies. This film tells an intriguing and unsettling
story, giving us a serious look at the way bills are passed, and the way politics
are played in this country. There is some very natural and believable dialogue,
delivered by a good cast. In addition to that fantastic performance by E.G.
Marshall, this film features the talents of Sam Wanamaker, Pat O’Brien, Richard
Sanders (in a role very different from the one he played on WKRP In Cincinnati) and Lucie Arnaz
(Arnaz is particularly good in the scene where she clues Billy Jack in about
the nuclear plant). And of course Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor and Teresa
Laughlin turn in good performances. Billy
Jack Goes To Washington was produced by Frank Capra, Jr., son of Frank
Capra, who directed Mr. Smith Goes To
Washington.
Disc 4 Special
Features
The fourth disc contains two commentary tracks. The first
is by Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor, and they talk about the troubles of
shooting in Washington, D.C., the harassment they received, even though they
had permits. They tell some crazy anecdotes. They ended up shooting some scenes
at their own home, including the tennis court scene. Interestingly, Joe Klein –
the author of Primary Colors –
appears in an early scene. Tom Laughlin mentions the then-current presidential
race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, so this commentary track was recorded
in 2000.
The second commentary track is by Tom Laughlin, Delores
Taylor and Frank Laughlin. They begin by talking about how this film was a
departure from the earlier films, as they didn’t come up with the original
story for this one. They talk about the Senate set that was built in Studio
City, and about how Tom Laughlin was nervous about directing Pat O’Brien,
unable to sleep the night before. In this commentary track, they talk again
about some of the troubles they faced shooting in D.C. Crazily, at the
Jefferson Memorial, they were told they could have actors or the camera there,
but not both at the same time.
Billy Jack: The
Complete Collection was released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 25, 2017
through Shout! Factory as part of the Shout Select series.
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