Billy Jack 35th Anniversary Ultimate Collection (Born Losers/Billy Jack/ Trial of Billy Jack/ Billy Jack Goes to Washington)

Description

Born Losers: The first film in which the character Billy Jack ever appeared. Tom Laughlin had written Billy Jack back in the 1950's, but couldn't get anyone interested in a film about Indians - half-breed or otherwise. Tom Laughlin toned down the Indian and political themes in order to get Born Losers made. It became a very successful independent film! Billy Jack: The film that broke the mold. Billy Jack was, once again, the largest grossing independent film of all time. People saw Billy Jack 25 times or more than any movie in history until Star Wars. From the karate to the Native American spirituality, to the Freedom School, to the racial tolerance, few films have ever been this successful or stuck their necks out so far. The Trial of Billy Jack: The Trial of Billy Jack not only broke every box-office record for its day, it forever changed the way motion pictures were distributed. It was for the release of The Trial of Billy Jack that Tom Laughlin created the mega-multiple release that included the first-ever use of national TV advertising for a motion picture. Billy Jack Goes To Washington: Perhaps the most controversial film of all. Twenty years before Senators like Bradley, Rudman, Cohen, and Pell quit saying the U.S. Senate is so corrupt it doesn't work anymore, Billy Jack Goes to Washington told a story straight out of the headlines. At the Washington premiere one Senator exploded, vowing to do everything in his power to make sure Billy Jack Goes to Washington was never released.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Set.......2007-08-14

Supposing that you want a set of Billy Jack Movies, this is a good one. For a while, in that era of sartorial horrors known as the 70s, Billy Jack was a very popular film franchise. This collection of all four movies is a great boon for fans. Those who are not fans would have no interest anyway.

The series morphed a great deal over its run. BORN LOSERS took place in Southern California and involved a man protecting a rape victim from bikers. The rest move the story to Arizona and add Indian mysticism to the basic plot of an honest guy protecting others.

The series also varies quite a bit in quality. Production values were worse early on but the films were better. That too is a familiar story.

Individual Synopses appear below:

BORN LOSERS
This was the movie that started the Billy Jack franchise of the early 70s and it is definitely a product of that era in everything from costume to style to dialog to location.

Tom Laughlin plays Billy Jack, a mysterious loner who is part Indian and recently released from the Special Forces in Vietnam. He is trying to get along in southern California but is handicapped with such traits as a conscience. He gets arrested on "vigilante" charges when he saves a young boy from being beaten to death by a biker gang. This puts him off of the good citizenship ideal.

This same motorcycle gang mentioned before has more to its activities than just beating kids bloody. It also like such recreational pastimes as rape. When a group of girls is hospitalized after a particularly brutal rape, the DA desperately wants at least one of them to press charges but all of the girls are frightened of retaliation. The gang victimizes each one further to ensure their silence.

On of the girls is spunkier than the rest. She decides to prosecute and the gang comes after her. She runs straight into Billy Jack's arms and Billy Jack stiffens her resolve and helps to protect her when the local sheriff proves unable to do so.

The action in this movie is understated by today's standards and the fights are really laughable. They do make their points, though and the point of the movie is not action but justice.

BILLY JACK
This is the second of the Billy Jack Series.

It is a few years later (than BORN LOSERS) and Billy Jack is now living on an Indian reservation in Arizona. On the same reservation, there is an experimental school that is short on rules, long on the counter-culture and even longer on hacking off the officials of the local town.

Billy Jack acts as sort of an unofficial protector for the school. He makes a strange compatriot for the head of the school. She is a pacifist who will endure practically anything, including rape, to keep from using violence. Billy Jack, on the other hand, is a former green beret and doesn't hesitate to use violence when necessary.

Tensions build between the school and the town and things come to a head when the runaway daughter of a corrupt deputy sheriff funs off to the school. The deputy wants her back and is willing to do anything to get her, including frame and/or kill innocent people. While Billy tries to protect and, occasionally, avenge, he becomes the target of officialdom and a fugitive.

This story is no more complex than that of the first movie. Neither is it any better acted. Even so, there is something compelling about it.

THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK
BILLY JACK closed with Billy being arrested for manslaughter. This film opens with an extremely long sequence featuring the director of the school Billy was protecting in the last installment, recounting a long list of grievances to a reporter. In this sequence, virtually every hippie stereotype and left wing cause is aired. Intermingled with this retrospective diatribe are flashbacks of Billy Jack's legal trial and prison sentence.

The "trial" referred to in the title does not seem to be the legal one mentioned above. After being released from prison, Billy undergoes a personal trial, replete with Indian mysticism. He is seeking to become a less violent person. This is the backdrop for the real point of the film.

All events lead up to staging a massacre at the school similar in nature to the historic one at Kent State University. The movie is virtually a tribute to those who lost their lives. Little else is accomplished in terms of story or drama.

The movie makes some valid and even good points about the politics of the day and indicts justs about everything associated with "The Establishment". It also back a few losing points of view. Whether these points of view are agreed with or not, however, the film could have been much stronger and made its point better.

This is a very long film. That made it proportionally more difficult to sit through. It is propaganda of its time. It has germs of truth within but those germs are lost with the sledgehammer method of delivering the message.

BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON
The basic story is right out of the Jimmy Stewart classic. A senator dies and, in a politically pandering move, Billy Jack is appointed as the replacement. The Senior senator wants to make sure that nothing remotely political gets put on his plate. Billy Jack decides to sponsor a bill for a youth camp and the senior senator encourages him, thinking it will keep him out of his hair. Everything falls to pieces, though, when Billy reveals the location of his proposed camp. A nuclear power plant is secretly being proposed for the site. This puts him at odd with the powers that be and results in a titanic struggle of good vs. evil. It just gets nastier when Billy refuses to knuckle under to intimidation.

There are a few differences from the original movie. The bogeyman here is nuclear power and, more generally, politicians. Also, this being a Billy Jack movie, there are the obligatory martial arts scenes starring the newly minted senator.

The movie gets some things right. It is appropriately cynical about Washington and politicians. It portrays corruption as the norm and it does so believably. It also makes an effort to use some sentimental imagery and footage to stir up patriotic feelings. It does not work with this cast.

This is nowhere near as good as the Jimmy Stewart movie but it is quite watchable. It is also much better than THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK.

A classic collection.......2007-08-10

You have to admire Laughlin's passion for this character. Just listen to the commentary on any disk. Granted the films are extremely dated, but there is an undercurrent of contemporary attitudes toward our government, war and Americans in general. While you may not agree with Laughlin's liberal leanings, you have to admire the fact that a film this critical of the establishment can be freely made in this country. Politics aside, the film Billy Jack is the best in the collection but all the films have merit. I recommend this collection especially if you like films from the seventies.

Great movies.......2007-08-01

If you're a Billy Jack fan you'll love this! It's got 4 movies and a bonus disc. It's all put together in one case. You also can't beat the price!

Billy Jack Collection.......2007-07-21

A big 'Thank you!' to Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor for putting this collection together.

Great "Ultimate"Collection!!!.......2007-05-26

The Billy Jack series ALL-in-one DVD is fantastic! I know people have complained about: Billy Jack Goes to Washington; BUT IT TOO IS A WELL WRITTEN, WELL DIRECTED, AND A WELL ACTED MOVIE! The problem is, Billy Jack's attitudes of so profoundly mis-trusting governmental authority as in his previous movies is not the same in the Washinton movie. The Washington movie has Billy Jack trusting at least one Senator because of that Senator's relationship with Billy Jack's father before he was found dead( just like in: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington), however if this trust had existed for as long as it was implied, Billy Jack would have called on this Senator's assistance in the previous movies... So its like, 'where did this come from?'. Taken by itself a wonderful remake!!!

Average customer rating:

PC Knockoff of MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
Bye Bye Billy
Not The Best Of The Billy Jack Films
One of the worst films ever made...
Billy Jack just plain RULES!

Billy Jack Goes to Washington
Starring: Sherri Ackerman , Lucie Arnaz , Cheré Bryson , Ron Cummins , and Susan Friedman
Manufacturer: Ventura Distribution
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004XPOO
Release Date: 2000-10-31

Customer Reviews:

PC Knockoff of MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON.......2007-08-14

The basic story is right out of the Jimmy Stewart classic. A senator dies and, in a politically pandering move, Billy Jack is appointed as the replacement. The Senior senator wants to make sure that nothing remotely political gets put on his plate. Billy Jack decides to sponsor a bill for a youth camp and the senior senator encourages him, thinking it will keep him out of his hair. Everything falls to pieces, though, when Billy reveals the location of his proposed camp. A nuclear power plant is secretly being proposed for the site. This puts him at odd with the powers that be and results in a titanic struggle of good vs. evil. It just gets nastier when Billy refuses to knuckle under to intimidation.

There are a few differences from the original movie. The bogeyman here is nuclear power and, more generally, politicians. Also, this being a Billy Jack movie, there are the obligatory martial arts scenes starring the newly minted senator.

The movie gets some things right. It is appropriately cynical about Washington and politicians. It portrays corruption as the norm and it does so believably. It also makes an effort to use some sentimental imagery and footage to stir up patriotic feelings. It does not work with this cast.

This is nowhere near as good as the Jimmy Stewart movie but it is quite watchable. It is also much better than THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK.

Bye Bye Billy.......2007-04-12

It's to easy to trash this movie and point out all it's flaws, so I'll try another way to review this one. The nice thing to say I guess is that by this time Billy Jack had run it's course. No one was interested in his counterculture "hippie" views by 1977. By that time it had worn very thin and people were already seeing that there was nothing left for Billy to do. With nothing new to say it was and is time for "One Tin Soldier To Ride Away". AH, but for a minute he did have his time in the sun.

Not The Best Of The Billy Jack Films.......2007-02-16

This was fourth and last of the Billy Jack Era. Tom Laughlin resumes his role as Billy Jack and Delores Taylor resumes her role as Jean Roberts. While sitting in prison from the third film a Senator suddenly dies which leaves an open spot in the Senate. After the Senator death it's revealed that he was conducting an investigation into the nuclear power industry, the remaining senator and the state governor must decide on a person who will play along with their shady deals and not cause any problems. So they decide to get Billy out of prison and give him the vacant sit. They figure by giving Billy the seat he won't give them enough trouble because he won't no anything. Billy is pardoned, released and nominated, after which he begins his duties. He soon notices that things aren't right, and starts trying to find out just what are going on. Even though it was the last of the 4 films it wasn't the best. I will give this film 7 weasel stars an also will say the second and the third films were the best.

One of the worst films ever made..........2006-06-07

When I first rented this, I thought it was simply an update of Mr. Smith, meaning that the filmmakers would retain the same basic story (naive guy goes to Washington and fights the power), but give it a sort of modern spin. Man, was I wrong. It is an actual remake of Capra's masterpiece, using many of the same scenes, the same characters, and some of the dialogue. It's just unbelievably bad and ill conceived. To see someone like Billy Jack (who was totally anti-establishment, a hippie, and a convicted felon) be appointed to Congress in an effort to "reach out to young people" (as the film's governor says) is absurd. Then we find out that Billy Jack is friends with Senator Paine (played by EG Marshall, an excellent actor that doesn't belong in this pap). McLaughlin even tries to replicate Stewart's speeches in his film! WTF?? McLaughlin is a horrible actor, and not much of a writer/director either. This is one of the worst films ever made. McLaughlin had the nerve to say that he had trouble releasing the film because the "man" didn't want it to be seen. I think it had more to do with the fact that it's absolute garbage. Don't waste your time. The worst of the Billy Jack films, and that's saying a lot, considering the first 3 films weren't that great either.

Billy Jack just plain RULES!.......2006-04-03

I get upset with all the negative comments I read regarding the violence/karate scenes 'Billy Jack'(there are only 2 karate scenes in each, 'Billy Jack' & 'Trial of B.J.') probably less than 5-6 minutes of the total movie, yet people seem to ONLY remember those scenes and not all the PEACE & LOVE demonstrated throughout the movies. Ignorant people and ignorant federal, state and local government caused any other violence portrayed in these films!

Tom Laughlin's caring, self sacrifice and contributions to the enlightenment of this country's people through his 'Billy Jack' series of movies is just staggering in my humble opinion. As relevant today in 2006, as it was back in the seventies.

I personally felt as if a bolt of lightening had just hit me in the head (and heart) as I walked out of that theatre after my first 'Billy Jack' experience so long ago. This young sophmore kid in high school determined to go out into the world and be an example myself, to try to make a personal and positive difference henceforth, no matter how large or small.
And, all those ticket sales verifying the 'Billy Jack' movie(s) popularity....just can't be wrong! 'Billy Jack' is the biggest selling independent film and on the list of the biggest selling top 20 films ever! Back in the 70's these movies literally enlightened and changed my life! And after watching them all over again in 2006 (including the 'Billy Jack Goes to Washington' which never got released) I have to say I think they are changing things yet again in my life, in ways I never imagined.

While I'm no expert on the workings and goings on of Hollywood, CA nor Washington D.C., I have no doubt that Tom Laughlin (and his wife Delores Taylor) 'hit the nail on the head' when they created these films. Writing, producing, directing and staring in them too, no small feat!

Yes......you should view (all) the 'Billy Jack' movies!!!! (Billy Jack, The Trial of Billy Jack and Billy Jack Goes to Washington).

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