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Billy Jack
Average Customer Review : 3.5/5 based on 111 reviews
List Price : $9.98
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Editorial Reviews
This time-capsule film from 1971 is a perfect example of having one's cake and eating it, too. Written and directed by filmmaker Tom Laughlin--and starring him in the title role--Billy Jack concerns a half-white, half-Indian karate expert who protects a free school built on principles of pacifism by kicking hell out of pesky rednecks. The story actually embraces that tension between Billy Jack's way of doing things and that of the school's founder (Delores Taylor), but their tension doesn't so much lead to an examination of principles as it leads to an excuse for Laughlin to incorporate fight scenes between hippie politics. Crude and brutal, the film is pretty exploitative of a viewer's torn sympathies, and in that way Billy Jack actually anticipates much of the simple-minded, violent fare that followed in the movies of the '70s and '80s. --Tom Keogh
Spotlight Reviews
movie is ok; many of the reviews say more about the reviewer than the movie (2008-11-24)
Customer Review : 3
Yes, the movie was done on a shoestring budget, and some of the acting is very average. But there are a few things people miss. There is about three minutes total of nongun violence. This is NOT a kick-fest.
The townies vs the commune people conflict is a bit simple, but things like this really do happen, especially in small towns. Heck, look at the civil rights demonstrations in the 50's and 60's if you want to see real examples of "good folk" who will kill and bully people who look different. Even today, someone in Texas occasionally chains and drags a black man to his death for the crime of.....being black.
The people who think this is drivel or whatever are either so far out of reality they do not know what really happens or they are so in synch with their "fellow townies" in the movie that they feel oblidged to stand up for them. Pathetic.
Movie is ok but most people will find it slow by today's editing standards.
Billy Jack is NOT a peacenik, though at the end he sacrifices himself to further the message rather than goes down in a hail of bullets.
Like Elvis Costello said, "What's so funny about peace, love and understanding."
very good (2008-09-29)
Customer Review : 5
the video I recieved was very good quality. It came in perfect condition and played perfectly when put in my machine.
Received it in no time (2008-09-12)
Customer Review : 5
I first watched Billy Jack when I was a teenager ( when it first came out ). The DVD arrived in no time in perfect condition. Watching Billy Jack again after all these years was great, I enjoyed it as much as I first did, although being an adult now I saw it from a more adult perspective rather than from a teens perspective. It was great.
Entertaining (2008-05-08)
Customer Review : 4
Some reviewers are lambasting this film as being "pretentious", and otherwise unreal. Well...it IS unreal, it's a MOVIE. If it's politically incorrect, so what??? I watch movies for the entertainment factor, not the reality factor. If you want reality just turn on the 6 o'clock news. As for the karate, it must be a popular thing considering the success of Bruce Lee's films (and now Jet Li). Yeah, it's a movie about an ex Green Beret who defends the school kids because he wants them to live without having to fight the way he does...so that makes him a big brother figure trying to change the future for the kids. Come to think of it, isn't that what our government is always doing...bomb the heck out of somebody so we can live in peace??? Maybe Billy Jack should have run for president! Then he would have had political immunity and not had to go to jail.
One of the best movies ever made (2008-01-24)
Customer Review : 5
You don't get/watch this movie for the production values. You don't get this movie for the 70's nostalgia or the flower-power hippie esque themes.
You get this movie because of a very simple thing. Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. This movie is about having the courage to do what's right - no matter the cost.
Billy Jack is the archetype of the great protector who turns to violence because sometimes it's the only way. And this movie is the 300 of the seventies.
Ironic how true it all rings when we look at the battles Tom Laughlin had with hollywood and with the government when it came to making and screening the Billy Jack Movies.
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