This was a ten-year cinematic political movement that also gave us some big screen martial arts action worthy of the moniker, ‘iconic’. Read on as we revisit the saga that is Billy Jack through his movies in this Action Special!
Billy Jack is an enigmatic half-Native American and Vietnam veteran who lives as a recluse away from the nearby town of Big Rock, California. He incurs the anger of biker gang ‘The Born Losers’ by intervening in the senseless beating of a resident at the hands of the gang and their leader Danny Carmody (played by Jeremy Slate).
When the gang kidnap and rape four local girls, Billy ignores the authorities’ calls and goes out on a mission of vengeance against the violent gang.
Billy continues his reclusive life away from town protecting the land owned by his Navajo tribesman on which the ‘Freedom School’ headed by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor) operates a progressive education program.
Billy has the job of fending off poachers hunting Mustang (free roaming horses) on tribal lands. Generally shunned by the nearby town, the school becomes the focus of corrupt politician Stuart Posner (Bert Freed) and his son Bernard (David Roya) when the pregnant daughter of a local deputy takes refuge at the school. Billy steps in to protect the school and its students from the bullying tactics of Posner and his crooked entourage.
Once again the stoic hero with a temper is pitted against the town and its authorities in his bid to protect the school and the sacred land it inhabits.
Following the events of the previous film, Billy Jack is on trial, found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
When he is released early he tries to reconnect with his spiritual beliefs, and Jean Roberts’ Freedom School which has turned into a guerrilla news outlet. The school’s budding journalists are investigating the dubious activities of the town’s local politicians including Stuart Posner (Riley Hill) looking to acquire the local tribes’ sacred lands and turn them over to local developers.
Billy, the school, and visiting Hapkido instructor Mr Han (Master Bong Soo Han) team up to protect native lands from the greedy clutches of Posner and his corrupt band of local officials.
In this updated retelling of the classic ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ Billy Jack, back in prison is pardoned and released to take up the vacant seat of a Senator who suddenly dies after completing (and sealing) an investigation into the nuclear power industry. Billy, and Jean head up to Washington to investigate the suspicious plans to build a nuclear power station and this time battle the corrupt powers that be of Washington, DC.
The ‘Billy Jack’ series was never meant to be just action-packed fight films, rather cinematic platforms for writer/director Tom Laughlin’s and wife Delores Taylor’s political activism.
In four films spanning 10 years and over 10 hours’ running time, the total duration of the action scenes amounts to just under half an hour. Yet that is plenty for the films’ core messages, and depiction of reluctant warrior Billy Jack as the ultimate underdog fighting social injustices bravely and sometimes without his shoes.
Drawing on real-life unjust treatment of Native Americans and tragic events in American history, be it the brutal rape of two young women, or the shooting of students at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard, the Billy Jack films embody the ultimate battle; one man, on the side of right, against the mighty and corrupt establishment, a battle with which Laughlin was well-acquainted.
Whilst the films ultimately aim for a call for unity through peace and understanding, they do at times require our hero to cast off his boots and fight injustice, quite literally, with his feet.
Although “The Born Losers” introduced ‘Billy Jack’ to unsuspecting audiences, it wasn’t until the second film that Laughlin gave western audiences their first taste of proper big-screen martial arts action. Billy’s fight in the town square, choreographed by Hapkido Master Bong Soo Han (who also doubled for Laughlin), plays out like a showdown in an old Western. The toe-to-toe standoff between Billy Jack and Posner exudes all the tension of a gun fight, waiting to see who draws first.
The stylish slo-mo of what is famously known as the “Billy Jack kick” remains a veritable crowd-pleasing opening salvo, with plenty more in store where that came from. Watching this scene again, the homages paid to it by TV series “Kung-Fu”, and John Woo’s, first Hollywood venture “Hard Target”, with their similarities of style and execution quickly become apparent.
To this day, it leaves other action films of the day in the shade with its realistic close-contact action that was a little too close for comfort. Whilst the remainder of the film has little action, its success for a bigger film meant upping both the political and action ante.
“The Trial of Billy Jack” again sees Billy take off his boots and socks to fight evil, only this time Master Han steps in front of the camera to strut his Hapkido stuff. The second outing is a much heavier film drawing on the darker events of American history and with a near three-hour running time makes for intense viewing.
Thankfully some levity comes in the form of a lighthearted outdoor Hapkido class featuring Master Han teaching a once passive Jean Roberts to leap and kick, much to Billy’s amusement. The lighthearted one-upmanship between Han and Billy sees the two warriors show off their kicking abilities and skills with the ‘Don jong’ (cane). Whilst Laughlin is more than capable, watching Master Han is literally seeing a ‘master’ at work with his flawless execution and graceful poise.
More action follows near the end and it’s obvious that Laughlin and Han were looking to not only capitalize on the popularity of “Enter the Dragon” but to outdo “Billy Jack” with an epic battle as the two men take on the town bullies at a local dance.
The dial certainly cranks up to the max on the action scale with a flurry of near-perfect kicks mixed in with some painful-looking locks and throws. Some of it might look a little dated now, but at the time, seeing this sort of martial arts action on-screen was new, with the stylish filming and cameras zooming in close for the audience to actually see feet sweeping heads, and knees up to the face, not to mention the bone-crunching arm-bars.
There’s no denying that the groundbreaking edge these scenes had in their day, not only dazzled audiences with spectacular kung fu action but the illusion of close up contact made these iconic moments that much more memorable.
It’s a little sad that so much has been forgotten about how the Billy Jack saga impacted the movie industry, shook America’s political outlook and to top it off, gave us some unforgettable fight action.
With the exception of “Billy Jack Goes to Washington” which only features a brief fight midway, the saga changed the face of martial arts cinema whose influence can be seen in films such as Jackie Chan’s “The Big Brawl”, “Road House”, “China O’Brien” (Keith Cooke’s character being a nod to ‘Billy Jack’) and Steven Seagal’s eco-warrior thrillers, “On Deadly Ground” and “Fire Down Below”.
In Billy Jack, the progressive movement of the day found its own action hero, the perfect antithesis to Clint Eastwood’s ‘Dirty Harry’. The Billy Jack series defined the phrase ‘game-changer’ in every respect and whilst the film’s subject matter and quality might leave many divided, and may even be dismissed, the fight scenes and their influence remain an integral part of action cinema to this day.
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