THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK

[The Burgomaster]

I was in a "Billy Jack" mood a few nights ago, so I decided to pop in my DVD of this 1970s trash classic.  First of all, a movie like this has NO BUSINESS being almost 3 hours long!  Apparently, Tom Laughlin was trying to make an epic.  What he ended up with is a drawn out, preachy, "in your face" piece of propaganda.  Much of the dialogue consists of rambling speeches about how rotten and crooked the government is, how the police and the National Guard are trigger-happy and bloodthirsty, and how the American Indians (or, to be politically correct, the Native Americans) have been screwed out of their land and their heritage.  I do believe that some of the movie's arguments have merit.  However, the script slaps you in the face and beats you over the head with these arguments for 171 minutes.  We get to see scene after scene of Dolores Taylor crying and pouting about how evil the government is.  We get to see more scenes of Billy Jack philosophising about how evil the government is.  We get to see even more scenes of the supporting cast shaking their fists and yelling about how evil the government is.  Every once in a while, Billy Jack (and guest star Master Bong Soo Han) take off their shoes and, using Hapkido, kick the s**t out of some rednecks.  Laughlin also tortures us with numerous scenes of his daughter (who has a larger role in this movie than she had in the original BILLY JACK) overacting, weeping, playing the guitar, and singing.  In one amazing scene, Billy goes into the desert to engage in a Native American soul-cleansing ritual (or something like that).  Someone says that "he has not had food or water for seven days."  Then, they cut to a scene of Billy sitting on a plateau, SWEATING PROFUSELY.  Excuse me, but if he did not have water for seven days, he would be DEAD (about 3 days is the limit for a human being, I believe . . . you can live longer without food, but WATER is essential).  Not only that, but if he did miraculously survive without water for seven days, he would be COMPLETELY DEHYDRATED.  So where the hell did the sweat come from??????  This movie is a massive load of poop.  So, why do I enjoy watching it?  Why?  What is wrong with me?  I actually paid to see this in the theater when I was a kid.  Then I watched it on TV a few times.  Then I bought the damned BILLY JACK DVD boxed set.  This should be called THE TRIAL OF THE BURGOMASTER.  I should be found guilty and shot!!!!!



Post Edited (07-14-04 18:01)

[Ash]

I believe Andrew's upcoming review will be of this film.  
In parentheses he typed, "God have mercy on me".

It must be pretty bad!



Post Edited (07-14-04 16:51)

[odinn7]

Don't hurt yourself over this too much Burgo. I saw this when I was a kid and didn't know any better at the time and I really liked it. I then watched it whenever it was on TV. I know better now but it still holds fond memories for me from the early days when things were simpler and more confused.

[Yaddo42]

At least Tom Laughlin's runs for president never panned out, can you imagine those State of the Union addresses? They would go on for days, and he might declare martial law and have the military enforce curfews to make us all watch them. Or maybe he'd just beat us all up one at a time to win us over.

Have yet to see this one all the way, the earlier Billy Jack flicks were hard enough to get through. Still hard for me to believe they were the phenomeon they were, must have really been "right place at the right time" or all those drugs from the 70s floating around. Plus it sounds like it makes Steven Seagal's epic on behalf of the environment, "On Deadly Ground", seem like competent, reasoned filmmaking by comparison.