The movie Billy Jack had a profound impact on me when I saw it in 1977 at the age of 18. Pacifism, rage, non-violence, violence, bravery, self-sacrifice, and a defender of the abused were all found in Billy. We need him today more than ever.
I saw Billy Jack when it was released in 1971. I was 16, and already embracing all of the ideals of the 1960s. Billy Jack was a movie that allowed me to express the rage I felt about racism, the Vietnam War, and women's liberation, unfortunately, I was unaware of what was happening to gay people and how they were fighting for their rights in San Francisco and New York. At this age, I had not embraced Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s philosophy, my thinking was Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and the revolution will not be televised outlook.
Hello there friend! Where have the years gone? I also turned 18 in ‘77. I actually turned 18 on our graduation day. That was pretty cool 😎 No idea why, but I did not see this movie back then. I wish I had. Looking for it here but I think you have to buy it or rent it. You know, doesn’t it seem like you’re 18 or 20 and then you turn around and somehow, you’re old? At least I sure feel old.😊 Hope all is well on your side of the Internet.❤❤❤✌🏻✌🏻
I too was 18. I am 70 today. I became Vegetarian the night I saw it. (The Sheriff going to shoot wild horses for 6 cents a pound... For dog food... Scene) 52 years... Still vegetarian. ❤ Thank you Tom and Delores
Thank you for this summary of the Billy Jack series and the Laughlin's story. I was a child when these movies came out and they really made an impact on me. My great grandma was Cherokee and called "half breed" by her husband of 50 years. My grandma told me not to talk about our heritage for fear of racism. Tom Laughlin shed light on some of the atrocities suffered by Native Americans and I am grateful to him for opening this wound. We can't heal what we can't see.
I never thought I would ever hear what happened to Tom Laughlin and didn't know Delores Taylor was his wife. I saw the Born Losers in a country town theatre in Queensland Australia then came BJ the Movie, and because of that movie I took up Taekwondo and taught it for 33 years. To say Tom Laughlin was a strong influence on my life would be an under statement. He and Bruce Lee were my hero's. Thank you for filling in the gaps that means a lot.
I was so moved by the movie Billy Jack that I adopted Jean’s teachings as a platform for my own practice. Her open, honest exploration of what motivates students to learn gave amazing results. I showed my students the movie in 2003 and they loved it!
Billy Jack helped me to find my identity. As part of my Native Heritage, I didn't identify with any particular tribe but then later found out about being Native and Black which throughout history have been the most mistreated and persecuted heritages in The U.S. I was and still proud of my heritage roots. Billy Jack made it ok to be Native and inspired me to contribute and help our brothers and sisters in their standoff at Wounded Knee South Dakota. Billy Jack and Delores Taylor will always have a place in my soul till my dying days and beyond. We need to have a modern version of Billy Jack like in a Netflix series to remind our brothers and sisters of the world we used to live in and how we can change it!
We're very happy that Billy Jack had a positive impact on you! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. What other types of video would you like to see?
My older Brother came by one night, in 1973, and wanted to know if I wanted to see a Movie ? Billy Jack was the one ! It was certainly different, especially with what you would see today ! And the acting was subpar at best, but for me, a teenager at the time, the Martial Arts sequences made up for any bad acting ! I had no idea that he and his Wife were so involved in the real world, with such difficult topics ! Kinda like a, " Redneck Hippie " ! Does that qualify as an, " Oxymoron " ? ✌️😎
Billy Jack, the character was a no nonsense army veteran, Martial artist, and all around good guy with rare qualities only few men carry. I'm fortunate to have known a couple.
Loved all the movies ❤ pretty violent and the Gun Violence is just like it is Today!!! Greedy Politicians and NO GUN CONTROL LAWS, BACK GROUND CHECKS TODAY IS WHAT IS STILL GOING ON TODAY SAD😢 SAD DAYS FOR AMERICA AHEAD 😥 😥😂😂😂😂
I graduated HS the year Billy Jack came out and it had a very profound influence on what the world was actually like. I had such a crush on Tom and loved all the BJ movies. So sorry to hear that they both suffered at the ends of their lives. They left us with so much they deserved better. RIP 🙏🏼❤️🙏🏼❤️
Quality of life is more important than quantity. They enjoyed many good years together. One should live life to the fullest and then hopefully can go to the next life with a smile saying it was a heck of a ride.
First saw Born Losers in my early teens and fell in love with Tom. I saw every Billy Jack movie after that. We sure do need more people like him and Dolores in this world. They were an amazing couple! This world lost 2 of the great ones. ❤ God Bless their spirits and bless their children.
He was a great actor. I fell in love with his Billy Jack movies. I love the fact that it brought up all the injustices that plague is on this earth 🌎. He was an Humanitarian. And a super guy who really cared.
I was a teenager on a date when Billy Jack came out. I only got to see the one movie & was really hoping there would be more, like a sequel, but none came to our town or theaters. I love everything about the character, Billy Jack, and what he stood for and believed in. An incredible actor whose values were the part he played. I wish we could have gotten to see all the Billy Jack series, I would have been at everyone of them.
Tom...and Billy Jack....both were stand up guys...! Billy was never afraid to tell the truth...no matter how it hurt. He stood up for justice...and for what was right. I loved his movies....and his portrayal of Billy Jack....really believable. The assinine people who fought against Billy were so real...as real as animosity is today, in 2023. That racism was accurately portrayed then...which was rare. Billy showed us how to fight what we couldn't accept...and walk away from what we could not fight. Billy taught us to look at things as they are...and not sugar-coat it. Both he, and his wife...are missed. They both left this world in a better state than when they found it....😊
I saw Billy Jack when it came out in theaters. I was only 9 years old. It changed my life in many ways. I am sad to know that Tom and his wife are no longer with us.
I watched Billy Jack in the early 70's and and have loved Billy Jack ever since! Everytime I hear the theme song One Tin Soldier I think about how much those movies meant to me
One of my personal heroes. I've always said that the world needs more Billy Jacks and less Posners. A man of courage and honor. Who's word is his bond and who stands up for those who can't stand up for themselves.
Never really thought of it. I just found the video on RU-vid and watched. These were two people that meant the world to me. Their drive and purpose made me see the world in a new light. My mother and father had the same views. That's why I identify with the roles and the people who played them. Just wish people could be more accepting and less judgmental. May the world would be a better place. "One tin soldier walks away".
My brother and I saw Billy Jack three times in the theater. Most of Born Losers was filmed in and around Seal and Huntington Beach. Most of the filming locations of Born Losers are still recognizable in downtown Seal Beach. All of Huntington Beach's locations are either gone or remodeled beyond recognition. The clubhouse, the gang comes running out of in Born Losers, was once owned by silent film star Mae Murry in Playa Del Rey California. Still having issues locating it if it still exists as of this writing.
They were great films. It was very hard to watch how racism was portrayed. Brought to light of how bad it really was. I'm sure a lot of people ignored how racism affected Native Americans. Rest in peace Billy & Deloris🙏❤
@@charlesflinnill978 And still are in the big scheme of things. Look at Cli, looking to pay african americans $$ for compensation for slavery. If that's the case they better be paying whites too. Most people disregard that a black man started slavery in Africa. Sold blacks & whites. He only cared about the mighty buck. Now if Cali really does say they are gonna pay for slavery, then i hope all American Native Indians throw a BIG protest!
One of my fondest memories of my dad was seeing Billy Jack with him when I was 9 years old. My mother was out of town and my dad was in charge of 5 children. He took us to dinner and a movie. He thought Billy Jack would be a western in the guise of Clint Eastwood. However, Billy Jack was so much more in the way of social justice. We did see the sequels as they came to the theater. We did like to tease our dad until his passed away about the time he took us to a “western.”
I saw Billy Jack when it first came out in the theaters and was privileged enough to see an advanced, rough cut screening of the Trials of Billy Jack before it was completely finished. I met Theresa Kelly Laughlin at that screening. I have a VHS boxed set of the 4 movies that was autographed by Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor, and Theresa Kelly Laughlin (still sealed). I also have the boxed set on DVD, which I watch regularly. Of the 4, Billy Jack is still my favorite.
Thanks for the great video on Tom and Delores. Loved all the Billy Jack films as a kid/teenager. Great memories of going to Drive-In Movie Marathons at the Waco Drive-In with my parents and a friend or two. We’d be in the car (with the speaker that hung on the driver’s window) for 5 or 6 hours and we loved it. “Billy Jack“, “Walking Tall“ (Tenn. Sheriff Buford Pusser) and “Planet of the Apes” are film marathons that come to mind...
Tom’s martial arts was the thing that hooked me. You know that trouble was gonna happen when Tom took off his socks and shoes…. Too bad he didn’t appear in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger…. Talk about an awesome episode.
Billy Jack is on the top of my list of favorite movies. My grandparents were Native American. Billy Jack gave me a glimpse of how my grandparents had been treated. Thank you for posting this.
Very admirable careers, both of them! I have to admit that I did find the old SNL parody the original cast did with Paul Simon - "Billy Paul" completely hilarious!
I remember seeing the first 2 Billy Jacks together at the drive in when I was around 10 or 11 years old. They made such a big impression on me and opened my eyes to many things about the world. I love the Native American culture to this day and the return of Billy Jack is what initiated all my interest. Grateful for the movies they did. After that it was A Man called horse, little big man, Dances with Wolves and Thunderheart, but it all started with Billy Jack.
Loved their movies when they were released in my early teen years, they seemed like genuine people with good values. This video motivates me to watch the movies again. Thank you.
I watched and loved both of them! Being older I now understand that their was a reason hidden in plain sight. Thank you I really didn’t know the history. Loved every movie. Now I know why!!
I always liked Billy Jack’s theme song, “One Tin Soldier” sung by Coven ( specifically Jinx Dawson )so definitely I looked forward to watching the movie. One of my favorite teachers in junior high took a friend of mine and myself along with her husband to see it and I loved it. I wanted to attend that type of school Jean ran ! But I did dislike the cruelty, prejudice and racism displayed towards the Native Americans ( and the horses ) of the town ! Billy Jack could be viewed as a type of Super Hero showing up just at the nick of time to kick butt ( usually Bernard’s )and bring law and order when the sheriff of the town -purposely- failed to do so !
Thinking back, remember when I saw this with my dad and siblings. He loved the movie and (before he ever saw the movie) the theme song. He's been gone many years, and this brings back good memories.
God bless Tom and his family ,I seen his movie in 1974 in Florida when I was 17. It opened my eyes more on how the Native Americans were treated by the people those days.
I was 9 years old when Billy Jack came out and all the guys my age ran around imitating him.He was a hero to us.Years later I moved (from South Florida) to Los Angeles and got a chance to meet Tom and Delores at a film festival.Delores and I shared the same birthday.I got to talk to them for about 20 minutes (and got a photo with them) Very nice people.They told me all about how they made those films.
@@Emily09876g They both working together had successful lives, that point is not in dispute, but neither is the fact they both were failing well before they got into their 80's!!
I loved the Billy Jack movies! I remember going to the movies with friends and afterwards we would TRY to do these Billy Jack stunts on each other. Pretty dumb but we were high school kids who didn't know any better. It was until the early 1980's that I watch the original Billy Jack with my Dad. He was a WWII vet who had fought in Patton's Third Army and could understand why the treatment of Native Americans was a real shame on our country. He helped liberate Buchenwald and realized that treating people differently because of their religion, their ethnicity, their race was wrong no matter what country or continent you lived on. He taught us this as we were growing up in the 1960's and 70's. He wasn't a pacifist by any means but damn, he loved the scene where Billy talks about whopping that arrogant ass on his his right side of his face with his foot!!
"When policemen break the law, then there isn't any law...just the fight for survival." - Billy Jack Those words are just as true today as they were then.
I grew up with 2 stepfathers but Billy Jack was who I idolized as a father! I am 59 now and still love the song One Tin Soldier. Billy Jack is my favorite movie of the series!😊
The Billy Jack films were a tremendous influence upon my childhood, as a 12 year old boy. He was my first celebrity idol and his character shaped mine when I was most vulnerable as a teenager. Everybody loved Billy Jack and he was a cult hero to many people.
Since 1971ive been a fan. He and his wife/ entourage inspired me to self reflect. 'Billy Jack' allegories helped discipline self-control in defensive combat [Hapkido] and social reawakening.
Interesting time in our young age. Beginning our family, while our friends were off to college. Some classmates took the political route whereas we enjoyed the Billy Jack persona.
my father went to Marquette with tom they both played football and were roommates i remember my dad taking us out to California to visit tom and Delores my dad and tom kept in touch for years ...good man😊
Loved everything about Tom and his wife. There were complaints about Billy Jack because he stood up for himself and others who couldn't help themselves, help when you can stand for who you are
The idea of a Defender of the defenceless was in my youth a great inspiration, to say the least. Someone once said. " A Great Idea is not complete until it can make for itself a Vehicle." That idea for me was Billy Jack. You were MY superhero. RIP....
Bring part Native American might be why I like the Billy Jack movies, as I feel a connection to them. Even if I wasn’t part Native American I believe would still feel a connection. He was a wonderful man as well as his wife.
I loved Billy Jack & I loved Tom Laughlin He was a great actor so srry to hear of his passing He was so awesome n Billy Jack I still watch the DVD today Jean Roberts ( Dolores) was a great actress also they both needs ro win Oscar's for these movies
Tom Laughlin was one of those bit actors whose career (like Earl Holliman) spanned so many decades that you'd think they used a time machine. But he was some memorable even in short appearances, in bit parts, like the cigar-chomping PBY pilot in South Pacific, to the would-be villain in Gidget. The still photo at 0:53 of Gidget is a classic; Sandra Dee, Dough McClure, Cliff Robertson, James Darren.
I saw Billy Jack in '73 (it had been re-released prior to "The Trial of Billy Jack"). I was 15 at the time, and it was an experience for me. I then saw The trial of Billy Jack the next year. Tom Laughlin & Delores Taylor were a big part of my teenage years. Their Billy Jack films, Watergate, The women's movement & more, made me grow up with an activist spirit that served me well in the 80's and the fight for LGBT rights.
As the years pass and things change the more they remain the same. We still have the same problems, only we don't have a hero to reignite the power of changes. Thank you Tom and Delores. You planted the seeds.
You didn't need a fake heading about TRAGIC ENDING. I would have watched it with the title THE LIVES OF DELORES TAYLOR AND TOM LAUGHLIN. or ACTORS FROM BILLY JACK MOVIES. pretty low to be misleading.
I grew up watching Billy Jack movies. I thought he was a super-hero and it was my first experience realizing that Native Americans were and still are treated like second class citizens. Even today, we live in a rich country with many millionaires and out government spends our tax dollars for things we don't want or need, YET they can't even bring WATER to Native American reservations! What a travesty.
As a teenager I saw Billy Jack and loved it so much I went back to see it 7 more times.... the movie was inspirational for my activisome in my later life... thanks Billy Jack... FIGHT THE POWER! ✊✌️ 7:31
True love till the end like this of a celebrity couple together forever is the first couple I ever saw in my lifetime. They were both genuine with faith in god. Tom and Dolores really left a great impact on my life when I was a kid. Love the Billy Jack movies to this day.
