Billy Jack is not completely without some merit. If the story had focused more on Billy's Indian heritage they could have had a classic action pic. But the story, such as it is, is so contrived that the film veers toward becoming a camp classic. The character of Billy Jack is still popular today and a remake with Keanu Reeves (Keanu Reeves? whoa!)is supposedly in the works. Bad Idea. This movie seems like its a product of the times. The movie features a special school where kids are free to sing songs, paint pictures and write poetry in order to express their individualism and creativity ad nauseum. None of this sits well with the townsfolk (or viewer) and a town council meeting is called that apparently was completely improvised. As scary as this might seem, this was actually one of the movie's better parts. Tom Laughlin handles the martial arts scenes very well. Delores Taylor is quite good as the school's teacher and the woman Billy obviously loves for her mind. The movie is filled with crystal clear bad guys and good guys and was made in time when idealologies between generations were vastly different. While its striking how far to the right America has moved since 1971, one could argue that there wasn't much more room on the left. Billy Jack isn't boring but could have been much better. The opening shows wild horses being rounded up and treated in an unpleasant, mean way. In order to show people being mean to horses the actors had to actually be mean to the horses who obviously had no stunt doubles. This is most uncool.
Review of Billy Jack
