Billy Jack (1971)
“When policemen break the law, then there isn't any law - just a fight for survival.”
We are big fans of Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood (and owe a review on it). One of our favorite things in that film is Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth character.
So what does that have to do with Billy Jack?
Pitt and Tarantino based Cliff Booth’s speech, personality, and appearance off Billy Jack’s. Watch both movies. You’ll see it immediately.
So what’s this movie about anyway?
At first glance, Billy Jack seems like a pretty straightforward 70s exploitation film. The title character, created and played by Tom Laughlin, is a mixed-race (Native and White) Vietnam veteran and former Green Beret who has settled on a reservation in Arizona. Billy is seeking peace and a spiritual path, but increasingly finds himself forced to employ violence in defense of the people on the reservation, particularly the students and teachers of the Freedom School, a progressive “Hippie” school/commune/community where kids can “study whatever turns them on.”
The school is led by Jean (Delores Taylor, Laughlin’s real life wife), who is a strict pacifist and works to help Billy control his rage at the injustice they encounter. Jean makes progress with that, as well as building bridges with the nearby community, but things remain fragile. We won’t spoil the film, but a series of incidents take place triggering a dangerous cycle of revenge and a violent showdown that challenges the beliefs of Jean, Billy, and the townspeople.
So what kind of movie is this? Is it a martial arts flick? A western? Is it a precursor Stallone’s scarred Vietnam vet trope in First Blood? A classic revenge fest? A study in racism? Or just an early 1970s action film?
It is all of that…and none of it.
Billy Jack is, at its core, an examination of identity and whether it is possible for us to reconcile our different parts. Can we, as individuals or communities, exist peacefully if those parts conflict? Does diversity inevitably lead to division and destruction, or is integration and coexistence possible? The film does not offer a clear answer, but does argue that people must remain true to their principles - even it others do not - and that the one essential for there to be any hope of peace is trust.
Editor’s Note: While Tom Laughlin portrays a mixed Native and White character, he was not Native American. Nor did he ever represent himself as one. Billy Jack was inspired by the rampant anti-Native racism his wife, Delores, witnessed growing up in South Dakota. Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor were lifelong advocates for Native American rights. While Laughlin was not Native, several of the people in the film were. Most were not professional actors and Billy Jack was their only big screen appearance.
In addition to being important for its content, Billy Jack was a commercially significant film. Following its release, it became the most successful independent film in U.S. history - a position it would hold for more than two decades.
Billy Jack is a solid drive-in movie. It is not hard - or wrong - to simply watch it as entertainment. But it can be more. Billy was Laughlin’s effort to personalize the tensions of racial identify, pacifism and violence, and generational change. He wasn’t able to translate that perfectly on the screen, but he did a pretty good job and the questions and concerns he raised remain as relevant in 2020 as they did in 1971.
You can catch Billy Jack HERE.
Three out of Five Mustangs.
🐴🐴🐴
Have a recommendation for a Saturday Night Drive-In Review? Drop us a line in the Comments box!
Post Credit Bonus!
Get a kick out of Billy Jack? You may dig one of these.
