The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Tom Laughlin

Writers:

Tom Laughlin (writer)
Delores Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

13 November 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Music | Thriller

Tagline:

It takes up where Billy Jack left off

Plot:

After Billy Jack in sentenced to four years in prison for the "involuntary manslaughter" of the first film...

Plot Keywords:

School | Student | Vision Quest | Freedom | Yoga

Cast

Tom Laughlin	...	Billy Jack
Delores Taylor	...	Jean Roberts
Victor Izay	...	Doc
Teresa Kelly	...	Carol (as Teresa Laughlin)
Russell Lane	...	Russell
Geo Anne Sosa	...	Joanne
Lynn Baker	...	Lynn
Riley Hill	...	Posner
Sparky Watt	...	Sheriff Cole
Gus Greymountain	...	Blue Elk
Sacheen Littlefeather	...	Patsy Littlejohn
Michael Bolland	...	Danny
Jack Stanley	...	Grandfather
Bong Soo Han	...	Master Han
Rolling Thunder	...	Thunder Mountain

Runtime:

170 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:PG | South Africa:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Bandelier National Monument - 15 Entrance Road, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Taylor-Laughlin Productions

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: There is a scene in which the Freedom School kids are watching a Freedom School TV interview with Posner on a television atop a tower of equipment. The interview footage had been grafted onto the larger image. In one shot, when the camera pans, the grafted interview footage moves completely off of the TV set and into another part of the shot, then back onto the (originally white-noised) TV screen.

Quotes:

Jean Roberts: Y'know, I really feel sorry for your children.
Prosecuting attorney: You feel sorry for *my* children?
Jean Roberts: Yes, and for you too. You know me... and you know I don't lie. It must be terrible to make it seem that way just to earn your money.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Theme from 'The Trial of Billy Jack'

Just plain bad.

It is impossible for me to describe quite the mind numbing level of badness this movie represents save without swearing. I compare to one of the abominable shifting horrors from H.P. Lovecraft's stories. How anyone can claim it was good without being an intensely close minded person who honestly believes Laughlin's (sadly not unique) brand of conspiracy theory frankly seems impossible to me.

The film is so left wing they did all but urinate on an American flag. I would go so far as to say it actively demonizes everyone who could possibly support law and order, or free market, or anyone else who stand for order in society (such as the national guard).

Even without all the political meanderings present in this flick it is horrible. With a bunch of cheesy plot threads and incomprehensible levels of continuity errors that literally make my head hurt.

I am not eloquent enough to properly describe the hideousness of this ultra-left wing piece of tripe, and so I direct you to the in depth review by Ken Bregg of jabootu.com http://www.jabootu.com/tobj1.htm He says what I cannot say here without profanity.