by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Actor/auteur Tom Laughlin created the character of Billy Jack in the motorcycle flick The Born Losers. Wandering Christlike through the Southwest, Native American Vietnam veteran Billy Jack -- soft-spoken, but well-versed in martial arts -- champions the cause of a progressive school run by Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor, Laughlin's real-life wife). The bigoted white townsfolk don't cotton to Jean's minority-group students, so they do everything they can to humiliate and physically abuse the kids. When one of her charges is cruelly coated with white flour, Billy Jack goes berserk. Thus begins an orgy of self-righteous violence, culminating with our hero being hunted down on a murder charge.
characteristics
- Cult Film
- Righting The Wronged
- Social Injustice
- Tough Guys
- Revenge
- Vengeance
- Vigilante
- Veteran [military]
- Retribution
- Vendetta
- Retaliation
- Half-breed
- Fighting The System
- Bigot
- Indian
