The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

it's hard to know where to begin with this movie. I Saw Billy Jack in the theater as a teen. I found this sequel on youtube and watched it. I had to pause it regularly because it was so bad. it really has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Unlike many bad movies that are so bad, they are good, this one is so bad it does not even have that quality. bad script, bad acting, bad directing, bad story line. it's to political to even be political. it's like one of those really horribly made Soviet propaganda movies from the 50's and 60's. so over the top. every character is cartoonish in nature. Usually I like past era films with a political statement but, this one rambles on and on and on. the best part of this movie is, it finally ended. worth watching if you are totally bored. it will get you off the couch to clean the bathroom grout. or, inspire you to do your own dental work on a toothache.

The views stated in this film are so unrealistic it hardly deserves the rating it has gotten, so much most of the commentary from the other reviewers on this website. I wasn't even alive or born in the era it was created, but even an elementary school drop-out can tell what is wrong with this picture and question some of the most ham-fisted script work, direction, and cast of characters ever put on film. There have been worse films made since the birth of Hollywood, from prominent directors to the indie scene, and frankly I'm inclined to say this ranks amongst the Top 10 of some of the worst. If not the Top 10, then all three deserve to be in the Top 20.I choose the second film first of the group because it displays such a lopsided view of reality. In what is said to be an 'expose' of the "corrupt" people around us we are instead given a three-hour preach song and dance which force-feeds it's overall goal rather than raise the bar as far as 'provocative' films go. In all of Laughlin's films we are told that all white people are evil, that the Native Americans are pathetic creatures always getting the short end of the stick, that the President and the government are so gosh-darned evil that they would want to tap into the phone lines of seemingly innocent flower power girls and guys. Rather amusingly, apparently Billy Jack is constantly referred to as a 'dirty in-jun' despite the fact that one could've easily mistaken him for an extra from a long-forgotten episode of TV's "Bonanza". The fact that these themes are evident frequently in all three of his films makes me question the family's sanity; the only good decision I've seen so far in this film were the opening shots of the prairie.The film borderlines stupidity in which the teens or children in question decide to create some "almighty lie detector" which can tell whether or not people on the media are lying. I'm sorry, but at that point, all motivation to take the film at face value has been lost. In trying to fight against a supposed 'agenda' the film has inadvertently started preaching it's own agenda. Thankfully, films made long after this one have learned not to treat the subject matters at hand with such stupid insecurities and lopsided twists. Things like having the Freedom School destroyed and attacked, children with bunnies being shot, make the film unintentionally funny and in my eyes - lazy.I find it ridiculous to believe that 'The Man' in this film, be it Washington, the National Guard, or the Army, would constantly go out and kill people or attack certain individuals without remorse and sweep things under the rug as is implied in this film. As a result, the cards are stacked too high and I'm being forced to believe that through the power of really awfully sung folk songs and a one-man killing machine is going to put down his detractors. This is supposed to be a movie in which to tell me that 'non-violent' means of getting a point across and wit, savvy, will triumph in the end. Not the case here: I have to be barefoot and were tight-fitting jeans with a goofy looking black hat.The acting is awful, the singing is horrendous, and if the DVD commentary is to be believed that Laughlin and his family didn't know what they were doing, then I guess the majority of you can see why we hate this film. By comparison to Rambo, a far superior soldier who underwent far worse conditions in the same war and location, Billy Jack comes off as a very hypocritical, stupid character and more like a fan-fiction "self-insertion" of the director.

In this sequel to "Billy Jack", Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor continue to strongly and clearly convey, via the motion-picture medium, that the situation with which this movie deals is extremely, again, controversial. After all, the movie deals with the matter of bigotry and injustice. It begs a big question. What can a person do within legal limits to stop harassment of minority groups when the law will not cooperate and defend these minority groups? Following, it may also beg the question concerning whether or not Billy Jack is a villain or hero, since the caring person has no mercy on the mean people who do the harassing and does not care what happens to such horrible people. I like this thought-provoking movie. I like it because of the subject matter, but I also like the aesthetic qualities: the west is, in its own way, beautiful. The acting is convincing as well. Whenever I think about the controversial subject matter, I never reach a conclusion, but because of this, the acting, and the beautiful scenery, I will always be glad I saw it.

I tried to sit through this movie when it was released in 1974. It was bad then, but it actually gets worse with time. So many "causes" and so many pure "untruths" that make this movie just a pathetic piece of liberal hogwash. I can't see how Tom and Delores can be any way proud of this work as time goes by. While watching, this reviewer want to get up and shake the actors and yell "wake up". It is obvious that the actors have had little if any training in their craft and most of the dialog is about as predictable as it gets. When Billy is released from prison and saves the day, the viewer has no doubt that another sequel is in the works. The Trial of Billy Jack is a perfect example of the idealism of many in the 1970's, and how naive many of us were at the time