Bloodtype Online
For the best of the Horror/Cult/Exploitation film experience
Volume Six
When I was growing up, there were two movies I remember hearing about that I had to see. One was The Exorcist. I don’t know anybody who’s old enough to remember, that can say there’s been a movie since that can match the publicity that The Exorcist got. Maybe The Blair Witch Project, but I don’t think even that film really comes close. With The Exorcist you had all these newspaper & television reports about the hysteria surrounding the movie. How people couldn’t go to sleep or how they had to sleep with the lights on. People running out of the theaters, having seizures, that sort of thing. It was a crazy time. And I knew I had to see it.
The second movie and the movie I want to talk about is Billy Jack. Now Billy Jack is nowhere on the scale of The Exorcist, not by any means. It didn’t cause any National panic, that’s for sure. But I remember hearing my Mom, Aunt & Uncle talking about it and that was enough for me. I’ll admit I know I’m not the only fan of the B.J. series, but I am one of only a handful, at least around these parts.
First let me tell you what I like about Billy Jack. He’s an underdog. He stands up for what he believes in, even when it seems like the worlds against him. He struggles with spirituality, discipline, love and hate. He is every man.
So, with that, ladies and gentlemen I present to you the saga of Billy Jack.
Born Losers
Contrary to what I once believed, Born Losers is our first introduction to a half-breed, former war vet named Billy Jack.
We open with a smart mouth kid running afoul of a group of bikers. At its foundation, Born Losers (I believe) is just that, a biker movie. With a twist. Anyway, the kid starts to smart off to these dudes, gets the shit kicked out of him and in turn, the bikers run into Mr. Jack. Now Billy as we’ll come to find, isn’t a fan of injustice and is the only person in town who’ll help a dumb-ass kid when he needs it. Unfortunately Billy’s methods of dealing with the gang land him in hot water with the local authorities and while he ends up with time in jail, the gang ends up out on the street.
The boys use this time to chase a young, bikini-clad motor scooter ridin’ sweetheart. When they catch up to her, they leave and lure her to an isolated stretch of road where they convince her to tag along with them. She’s going to have to turn out a little, that’s really all there is to it. Whether she likes it or not. Upon arriving at the gang’s hangout, she sees the debauchery that awaits as 3 girls are getting raped. Of course, she’s not into the rough stuff and manages to escape.
The boys are set to go on trial for the rapes, but before they do they want to intimidate the girls into not testifying against them. In the presence of Billy Jack, they kidnap the biker girl from earlier. Billy will go to her rescue, and succeed in part, by helping her escape yet again.
But all is not well as the gang goes in search of the girl once more, in the process stealing Billy Jacks money and trashing his trailer. Billy shows up at their hangout demanding his money. He will end up doling out the punishment to these cretins and leave them and everyone else knowing you don’t fuck with Billy Jack.
Billy Jack
“Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven, you can justify it in the end,
There won’t be any trumpets blowin’
Come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after…
One tin soldier rides away”
This time, we have the Freedom School, run by Jean, a good friend of Billy Jack. The school is made up of free spirited, peace loving kids who just want a place where they can fit in. The kids are encouraged to be creative, songs, poems, stories, etc.
The townspeople on the other hand don’t want their kind amongst them, and want to shut the school down. They use intimidation and humiliation against the kids when they take a trip into town. Which is a mistake, because…well you know, that whole Billy Jack thing.
The town is basically run by The Posner’s. You know the kind of people who have all the money and power they pretty much get everything the want. Well Billy will make sure they get more than they ask for. That’s the deal with these movies; you want to see some people put in their place. This however will not be Billy’s only run-in with The Posner’s, as there is a return of sorts in the next installment.
You’re eyes are not deceiving you…that is Dr. Johnny Fever…
The Trial of Billy Jack
This film clocks in at nearly 3 hours long. And I became more and more interested as the minutes ticked away. Strange to like the third movie as much as the first two, at least strange for me.
The movie starts with statistics of dead & wounded at Universities around the U.S. at the hands of the National Guard, ala Kent State. It finishes with the tally of the Freedom School.
Jean, played by Delores Taylor, is in the hospital recounting the details of the day the school is washed in blood, leaving 3 dead & 39 wounded, and the tale of Billy Jacks trial, all seen in glorious flashback sequences.
After B.J.s trial, he serves 4 years in the pen, but the school carries on. I guess at this point I should say, I didn’t tell you why Billy’s on trial, and if you really want to know you should watch Billy Jack and then you’ll be up to speed. Anyway, the school begins doing broadcasts of the problems that society is facing, i.e. child abuse, repossessed furniture, etc.
Released from prison and now a marked man, Billy returns to the school and is greeted with perhaps the biggest group hug in cinematic history. It’s back to business, though as the school is under even more scrutiny than ever. Jean has taken to studying Aikido and most of the children are grown up. If you are a fan of certain types of exploitation cinema you may recognize a face or two. And Posner is still the big deal in town.
A portion of this movie deals with townspeople hunting on Indian land, which is supposedly not Indian land anymore. Billy won’t let them hunt anyway and leads the tribe to protect their land. I won’t go deep into specifics about the sub-plot stuff.
Delores Taylor’s Jean gives a very passionate speech as violence escalates against the school and the dreaded National Guard move in. At one point she says, “To those of you who make peaceful evolution impossible, it is you and only you who will make violent revolution inevitable.”
Overall, The Trial of Billy Jack is a very good entry into the series and really shows the maturing of the story, and Billy’s never ending quest for peace.
Billy Jack Goes To Washington
Finally, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The Trial of Billy Jack; I really didn’t expect to get the same feeling from the last installment. But…
As the story evolves, we get into more current affairs. Now its nuclear reactors and building one on a stretch of land that is, and I’m not sure if I remember this correctly, Indian owned. But it is definitely land that the Freedom School wants to build on.
Billy, who at the end of part 3, is going back to prison, in a twist of fate is pardoned by the Governor, with all rights restored and is now heading to Washington as a Senator! This is, as we know, just a ploy by the pols to capture the youth and race votes for the upcoming election.
Of course Billy doesn’t want to be a lame duck politician, so he introduces a bill to acquire land to build a National Youth Camp. See above description.
What we go on to find is and I’m sure we are aware, is that Washington is a dirty place full of thieves, losers, backstabbers, puppets & puppet masters.
This time around we get to see Jean show off her skills as well as Real People’s Sarah Purcell (who, if you blink, you’ll miss) and Lucie Arnaz first film role. For those of you who don’t know, that’s Lucy & Desi’s daughter.
I know that the series isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but think that someone will agree, at least in part, that Billy Jack is a strong group of movies. Enjoy.
