Word: laughlin
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Directed by FRANK LAUGHLIN Screenplay by FRANK and TERESA CHRISTINA...
...names, in a rather coy switch, have been changed to protect the guilty. The credited screenwriters for The Trial of Billy Jack are pseudonyms for the stars, Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor. The director of record is their son, fronting for his father...
...quick bit of history: Billy Jack (Laughlin), a Viet Nam veteran and ace of the martial arts, is part Indian, part ambulatory social conscience. He first showed up in Born Losers (1967), a B picture in the motorcycle-gang genre, hit his stride, and the jackpot, in Billy Jack. That picture grossed over $30 million. Kids responded to its softheaded social preachments while turning on to its shootouts and hand-to-hand combats...
...Laughlin's message is that violence is bad, but that greed, hatred and corruption conspire to make it sometimes necessary. When Billy Jack lets his hands and feet fly at some nasty yokel, he feels just terrible afterward. His guilt has to do in great part with his love for Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor), a staunch advocate of nonviolence who takes a dim view of Billy's temper even as she makes good use of his muscle. In Trial, as in its predecessor, the townies are always hassling Jean and her freedom school-a dewy combination of Summerhill...
...Allegheny Ludlum, Armco, Bethlehem, Jones & Laughlin, National, Republic, U.S. Steel, Wheeling-Pittsburgh and Youngstown...