Just Billy Jacking You

I remember when Billy Jack came out, even though I didn't see it. The accepted opinion seemed to be that it was a violent vigilante action film with a little bit of Indian/hippie exploitation tacked on. Something like Walking Tall, maybe (although I haven't seen that one either).

I had it all wrong. This is a serious film about Indian/hippie non-violent philosophy, with a little action thrown in to keep up your interest. Billy Jack was played by Tom Laughlin, who also wrote and directed. You could guess that he felt it deeply.

Billy Jack is a Vietnam vet half-Indian martial artist who lives on a rez in New Mexico or Arizona. His friend Jean runs a hippy Freedom School for troubled youngsters. When the leading citizens of the small town nearby make trouble for the kids, Billy steps in to protect them. And the trouble escalates.

This would be pretty by-the-book, except:

• Most of the townspeople get to like the kids, showing a nice Western live-and-let-live attitude.
  
• The hippie school is pretty real. The kids act out psychodramas and sing songs that they wrote themselves. The songs were actually written by the kids who sing them, including a few by Laughlin's 11-year old daughter. She's very good, actually.
• The "teachers" who lead the psychodramas include members of improv comedy groups like the Committee. They have a couple of good scenes.
  
• Although Billy is the usual superhero who protects the weak, the movie has a real commitment to non-violence. SPOILER: in the end, he doesn't die in a hail of bullets.
  

Although Laughlin is a Steve-McQueen-type cutie, his girlfriend Jean, played by Delores Taylor, is a plain, unsmiling woman. Nice to see some realism in casting. The film is full of that kind of realism (as well as some Indian woo-woo and hapkido chop-socky). It is well paced and beautifully, though simply shot. It is both sincere and well told. I'm glad we watched it.