Billy Jack keeps on kickin'

In case you didn't know, I am one of those refugees from the '60's and '70's who wholeheartedly embraced the BILLY JACK films. I wish I could have gone to the Freedom School. Those four films, especially THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK, helped put me on a road of spiritual enlightenment, pointing out the path of my own Native American lifeway (my grandfather, whom I never knew, was Cherokee or at least part Cherokee) and helping me attain my own manhood.
As a teenager, my heroes were Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Walt Disney, and Billy Jack.
In fact, during most of my high school years, I dressed in Levis, cowboy boots, a denim jacket, and black T-shirt. I could even do a halfway decent spinning heel kick. Those were the days before arthritis.
Well, Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor are still putting out the message of Billy Jack through their website www.billyjack.com, and now they've FINALLY put out the four films on DVD in the original screen format. Now, we can see these films in 1:85 ratio for BORN LOSERS & BILLY JACK, and in beautiful Cinemascope for TRIAL OF BILLY JACK & BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON.

In fact, it was thanks to TRIAL that I became interested in, and finally friends with, the great actor Victor Izay, who is not only a dear personal friend, but also plays William Mulholland in my (still being produced) film A TEST OF INTEGRITY. (see more about this film at www.geocities.com/zeebya)









The image at the top is Vic and me as Mulholland and Van Norman at the old aqueduct intake in Owens Valley. The image below is Vic as Doc in TRIAL OF BILLY JACK (taken from the novelization).

Tom has a blog site that is well worth visiting. If he were to run for president again, he'd get my vote!

What's cool about the new DVD release is that there's a bonus disc with original camera footage, as QT files, of the fight scene in the park outside the ice cream shop. They have a contest going to see who can edit the best fight scene from that footage, and man, am I gonna kick some ass with that fight scene. I just hope the contest is still on.

"There were probably no two people on this Earth more opposite from each other than myself and Billy Jack. And, now that I look back on it, it's hard to believe that the chain of events that could first bring us so close together, and then end up in so much tragedy and bloodshed, could begin with an early Saturday morning drive by Sheriff Cole over to his deputy's house."