Billy Jack

Billy Jack
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Tom Laughlin as T.C. Frank
Produced by	Tom Laughlin as Mary Rose Solti
Written by	Tom Laughlin (as Frank Christina) Delores Taylor (as Theresa Christina)
Starring	Tom Laughlin Delores Taylor
Music by	Mundell Lowe, Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter
Cinematography	Fred Koenekamp John M. Stephens
Edited by	Larry Heath Marion Rothman
Production company	National Student Film Corporation
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	May 1, 1971 (1971-05-01)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$800,000
Box office	$32.5 million

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Billy Jack is a 1971 action/drama independent film; the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie The Born Losers (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in the fall of 1969, but the movie was not completed until 1971. American International Pictures pulled out, halting filming. 20th Century-Fox came forward and filming eventually resumed but when that studio refused to distribute the film, Warner Bros. stepped forward.

Still, the film lacked distribution, so Laughlin booked it into theaters himself in 1971. The film died at the box office in its initial run, but eventually took in more than $40 million in its 1973 re-release, with distribution supervised by Laughlin.

Billy Jack is a "half-breed" American Navajo Indian, a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran, and a hapkido master.

Jack defends the hippie-themed Freedom School and students from townspeople who do not understand or like the counterculture students. The school is organized by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor).

A group of children of various races from the school go to town for ice cream and are refused service and then abused and humiliated by Bernard Posner and his gang. This prompts a violent outburst by Billy. Later, the director of the Freedom School, Jean, is raped and an Indian student is then murdered by Bernard (David Roya), the son of the county's corrupt political boss (Bert Freed). Billy confronts Bernard and sustains a gunshot wound before killing him with a hand strike to the throat, after Bernard was caught in bed with a 13-year-old girl. After a climactic shootout with the police, and pleading from Jean, Billy Jack surrenders to the authorities and is arrested. As he is driven away, a large crowd of supporters raise their fists as a show of defiance and support.