Well, we finally did it. We blew it all to...we reviewed "The Trial of Billy Jack." The "we" would be Ken Begg and myself. Of all the movies that I have ever watched, this is the film that jumps to mind when someone asks about the worst of the worst. All of the other Marines bailed when I put this in to begin working on the review. Of course, what kind of fun is it to listen to the SSgt scream in pain every ten minutes?
I must say, Ken's review is exactly what you would expect, considering the material. The movie also inspired him to hit somewhere around 35,000 words or so. Heck, I think mine is around 3000.
Not only is this a really, really bad movie, but it is three hours long. THREE HOURS LONG!
The Trial of Billy Jack (http://www.badmovies.org/movies/trialbilly)
My heart goes out to you. Not only is it three hours long, which seems to be 2 hours and 59 minutes too long, or the length of the film minus the film clip used in the review, but you had to watch it four times. That is twelve hours you'll never get back again.
I finally found something that mentions the fake Hitler quote:
http://www.angelfire.com/mn/nn/BillyJack.html
Man, reading all of this Billy Jack stuff has me thinking that I used to have an Archie comic with a character based on him, named Jimmy Jack or Chilli Mac or something. Now that's going to haunt me.
I remember one night on Joe Bob Briggs "Monstervision" on TNT when they ran BILLY JACK and THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK. Joe Bob even had Tom Laughlin on the phone to talk about the films during the host segments. I slogged through BILLY JACK. Not exactly a good movie but hardly the worst thing in the world. Can't help but to love the line, "Careful! He can kill you with his feet!"
But then TRIAL OF BILLY JACK began and I gave up on it after a 15 minutes. Not just because even that quickly into it I was able to discern how terrible it was but also because between the movie's running time, commercial breaks, and host segments it was scheduled to run somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 1/2 hours, and, mind you, it didn't even begin until 11 PM. Needless to say I found other more worthwhile things to do with my life that evening and I've never looked back since.
All right, not only Andrew has returend but it sounds like Ken ,and Jabootu, are back in business!
And it at last a review that is skull worthy. Ouch!
I didn't mind Billy Jack too much but the Trial was downright painful. I don't know how you could've sat through this so many times to watch it and do a review. You are a strong man.
Wow, to have not one but two reviewers willing to sit through this movie more than once, just to warn and entertain us, that is truly amazing.
Well done - I take my hat off to you, I still want to thank you for your review of Nine Deaths of the Ninja too - I waited years for your "uniquely styled" review of it -- and then, I finally got it.
Well done.
Andrew, you realise of corse....this is the film waiting Al Quaida and Saddam and Bin Laden....in Hell....on instant loop replay....That make ya feel better?
Take it easy Marine...You've served your time in Hell.
HIKEEBA!
P.S. could ya shoot me you snail mail address...i forgot it, and i got a welcome home card i wanna send you.
Went to a nearby shopping centre the other day and lo and behold, I see before my eyes at a stall, all of the Billy Jack series on VHS for a 'bargain' price of AU$9.95!
Needless to say, I sort of avoided making an impulse purchase.
Ken and Andrew are certainly two brave fellows.
Now I wonder who went insane first?
Lucky you! After reading both "Trial" reviews, I'lve been looking everywhere for the Billy Jack "saga" lol. Today I went to Best Buy, two different Circuit Cities, and I have yet to find any of the Billy Jack films. I guess I'll just order them from eBay. And, I'm gonna watch "Trial" first. Pray for me/wish me luck!
I would think maybe the Born Losers would be the most entertaining Billy Jack movie. I mean at least there's bikers and some Davie Allan music, even though the bikers are pretty lame in comparison to other movies. I'm not really tempted to see the other movies- 3 minutes of BIlly Jack is enough for me, not 3 hours.
Post Edited (05-28-05 02:21)
Just an awful, awful film. I am just glad that it is now behind me. The series does start out okay, with "Born Losers." And I can sit through "Billy Jack," it just has a few weird problems. However, "The Trial of Billy Jack" is just amazingly awful. I was tempted to create a new rating, a blue skull or something. I have heard others say that "Billy Jack Goes to Washington" is even worse, but must disagree. It is shorter, being about 2 hours, and not so random. Though, there is the fact that you watch Billy's own little filibuster in real time.
Oh, and it looks like Ken has a fan. Just look in the comments section for the review.
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