Nice effects though.

Good concept, poorly executed.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Four years after making his initial debut in the movie "The Born Losers", the former Green Beret soldier named "Billy Jack" (Tom Loughlin) returns to help defend the people of a counterculture school on the Indian reservation from being bullied and harassed by a rich businessman named "Stuart Posner" (Bert Freed) and other like-minded individuals from a nearby town. Although the hatred coming from the townspeople toward them is quite obvious, those in the school refuse to retaliate in kind and this pushes Stuart's insane son, "Bernard" (David Roya) to take even more violent actions. What he doesn't quite realize is just how deadly Billy Jack can become when he is forced to react. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that this film was definitely a product of its time. Unfortunately, the movie hasn't aged very well and as a result there will probably be many viewers who will consider the overall theme of the film to be rather laughable--and to a large extent I have to agree. Again, having watched this movie just recently I can honestly say that some of the scenes are indeed quite ridiculous. Even so I suppose this wasn't necessarily a bad movie overall and for the sake of nostalgia I have rated it accordingly. Average.

BILLY JACK is the quintessential '70s film detailing the hippie movement and depicting their struggles against small-town narrow mindedness and bigotry in the American south. Tom Laughlin, who directs as well as stars as the eponymous hero (he's playing the character in the second of five films here, although the last remains unreleased), is in many ways an early version of Rambo in FIRST BLOOD, a highly skilled loner who just wants to be left alone. Unfortunately, as in FIRST BLOOD, the corrupt authorities have other ideas, and that's where the film comes in.I'm no fan of political polemics in films. I believe they have their place, and that place is not being thrust down your throat in a piece of entertainment. Sadly, a lot of the running time of this overlong film is spent in depicting the hippie movement in a positive light, which in essence means lots of preaching, lots of happy-clappy nonsense and plenty of amateur theatre. BILLY JACK is in reality a didactic film that aims to educate its audience rather than entertain, which is a shame, as all of the subtext stuff is rather dull. Remove all of the 'messages' and you'd have an hour-long film.Still, the thriller aspects are well-handled even if they're overshadowed by the rest of the film, and it's fun to see a hero using martial arts before Bruce Lee hit the scene in ENTER THE DRAGON. There are the standard elements of many a '70s thriller, including rape scenes, humiliation, ass-kicking, car chases and a siege that doesn't disappointment. Laughlin is excellent in the titular role and his supporting cast, especially the Native Americans, are very good too, but it's just hard to get worked up about a film so intent on spreading the message that it loses focus of what it's all about.

I've given this a low rating for one good reason: I did what someone else suggested I do and that's not compare "Billy Jack" to films of today but compare it to the films of 1971. Gosh... lessee... OK, compare it to "Fiddler on the Roof," "A Clockwork Orange," "The French Connection," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Should I go on? Those of you who were 14-21 back in 1971 need to face a simple fact and that is "Billy Jack" was a low-budget "message" film that managed to resonate with your age group. My sons stumbled on me watching this today and one remarked "the acting and dialog are terrible." They are majoring in media in college and know the difference between good and bad film-making.I was 9 when "Billy Jack" came out and the whole hippie thing was already becoming nostalgia by the time I was old enough to have been a part. Consequently, the movie felt more like watching old clichés come to life than anything either nostalgic or inspiring.That said, the movie isn't really a train wreck. I thought it was worth watching to see the sketches done by Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever from "WKRP") and his friends from the Committee. The hold-up scene felt like "who's on first?" collided with the Monty Python crew.

As a kid, I marveled at the martial arts on display in BILLY JACK- although, even back then, I realized that that wasn't Tom Laughlin doing the kicking up there on screen. What I marvel at these days is the fact that the late Tom Laughlin managed to get a "message movie" of this caliber up on The Big Screen at all; there weren't a lot of movies, even back then, that came close to reflecting the Harsh Reality of the times. What BILLY JACK did was rub our noses in our own hypocrisy. Laughlin made us take a nice, long (and uncomfortable) look at ourselves as we really are- to this day. (Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they stay the same...) I used to take great comfort in the fact that Tom Laughlin was still Out There, somewhere; it meant a lot to me personally; and, although he's gone, now, his movies remain and that's not a bad legacy at all.