Scott LeBrun Director / star Tom Laughlin, who'd already debuted his title character in the film "The Born Losers", plays Billy Jack, a hapkido expert and war veteran. He supposedly does not care for violence, but finds it impossible to avoid in the white mans' world. A lawman on an Indian reservation, he makes it his mission to protect a local "progressive" school that harbors runaways of all ethnicities. The trouble in the story begins when the pregnant Barbara (Julie Webb), daughter of the nearby towns' deputy (the great Kenneth Tobey), runs away and finds a safe haven at the school.An enormous independent hit in its day, Laughlins' film would go on to spawn two more Billy Jack tales, "The Trial of Billy Jack" and "Billy Jack Goes to Washington". It will never be mistaken for high art, but it is entertaining in a visceral way, and obviously it was a real passion project for Laughlin and his wife / co-star Delores Taylor. It sheds a lot of light on the continued mistreatment of Indian people by the white establishment, and while it may seem ridiculous that a film that preaches pacifism contains so much violence, this viewer gathered this sort of thing happens because violence is the ONLY thing that some people understand. And while Billy Jack is shown to have a hot temper, much of this violence is instigated by the bigoted, reactionary townspeople. One key miscreant is Bernard Posner (David Roya), cowardly son of a local fat cat (Bert Freed); he is a racist piece of work."Billy Jack" certainly does go on for a quite a while, wasting a little too much time with performance pieces by the improvisational group The Committee. One may wish the filmmakers stayed more on point. But it begins on an impressive note, with opening credits displayed over a tableau of mild mustangs being hunted and slaughtered. The hit song "One Tin Soldier" that plays here is quite catchy.Overall, an interesting enough look at persecution, not just of indigenous peoples, but the whole hippie movement.Negligible acting by the leads is offset by a solid supporting cast. Excellent character actors like Freed and Tobey sure do have you hating their characters in short order. Clark Howat is superb as the much more understanding and easygoing sheriff, as is Victor Izay as a doctor. Howard Hesseman, a member of The Committee, has a small supporting role as a drama teacher.Some viewers may take issue with the films' politics, or the presentation of its message, but this viewer still found it compelling in its own unsubtle way.Seven out of 10.

James Bagnall Like many others who have reviewed this film, I agree that it has "issues." The acting from the supporting cast is often stiff and the plot has its own set of flaws. With that out of the way, I'd like to mention that I really liked this film even in 2016. This film had a purpose that was well executed (if not a little bit on the heavy side) and at its core, Tom Laughlin holds the film together with his own style of "cool" that few others could pull off. Steve McQueen cool is what I'm referring to. Tom Laughlin made this movie work as a message about Indian rights and the cost of living your life on your own terms. As the violence escalates, you see Billy's torment over his own desire for justice on his terms versus what it best for the tribe and the woman he loves. I really liked this film and highly recommend it. It holds up well because of the importance of the message and the compassion that Tom Laughlin brings to the role. I don't believe that much has changed since its release in 1971 and maybe it should be viewed again for that reason as well. As a post script, I was also impressed with this film as an accurate document of the attitudes in America during the late 1960s. While other films have attempted to imitate the 60s through their costuming and scripting, it often looks and feels like merely a "mirror" image of what it really was like. In this film, you get the real thing. You see the attitudes, both good and bad, by the younger and the older generation alike. It feels authentic in the way it was written and acted. See this film for that reason alone if for no other reason.

tavm After years of only reading about this movie (like in the book "Cult Movies" by Danny Peary), I finally watched Billy Jack on GetTV last night. It's quite fascinating watching this '71 period flick going through the Important issues of the time being combined with the action elements of such movies meant for more fans hungry for something to happen. Tom Laughlin plays the title character who defends the honor of some mixed-race students who are harassed by a town local at an ice cream shop. I'll stop there and just say this was quite entertaining from beginning to end with many of the good dramatic scenes especially between Laughlin and wife Dolores Taylor, co-writers of the screenplay with Tom himself directing as T. C. Frank. I especially liked some of the comedy scenes with Howard Hesseman among the players, years before becoming Dr. Johnny Fever on "WKRP in Cinncinati".

cppguy I've given this a low rating for one good reason: I did what someone else suggested I do and that's not compare "Billy Jack" to films of today but compare it to the films of 1971. Gosh... lessee... OK, compare it to "Fiddler on the Roof," "A Clockwork Orange," "The French Connection," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Should I go on? Those of you who were 14-21 back in 1971 need to face a simple fact and that is "Billy Jack" was a low-budget "message" film that managed to resonate with your age group. My sons stumbled on me watching this today and one remarked "the acting and dialog are terrible." They are majoring in media in college and know the difference between good and bad film-making.I was 9 when "Billy Jack" came out and the whole hippie thing was already becoming nostalgia by the time I was old enough to have been a part. Consequently, the movie felt more like watching old clichés come to life than anything either nostalgic or inspiring.That said, the movie isn't really a train wreck. I thought it was worth watching to see the sketches done by Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever from "WKRP") and his friends from the Committee. The hold-up scene felt like "who's on first?" collided with the Monty Python crew.