Billy Jack: The E! True Hollywood Story

Reviewed by:
Matt Freeman

Now that every schmoe with a camcorder is making the next Blair Witch Project, it’s tempting to think that mega-grossing independent movies are a recent phenomenon. But more than 30 years ago, Tom Laughlin introduced the half-Indian Green Beret Billy Jack in his no-budget thriller, The Born Losers. Raking in more than 100 times its shoestring budget, Losers spawned the breakaway hit Billy Jack and Laughlin became a drive-in sensation.

And then what happened? Billy Jack: The E! True Hollywood Story traces Laughlin’s meteoric rise and hints that his career may have been scuttled by a conservative conspiracy.

Through film clips and interviews with Laughlin’s family and friends, the show recalls an unlikely superstar whose success took the Hollywood establishment by surprise. Laughlin’s friend, actor Dick Gautier, recalls “there was as much hype and anticipation for [Billy Jack sequel] The Trial of Billy Jack as there was for Star Wars.”

In an arc worthy of his own ass-kicking alter ego, Laughlin took on the government with his next movie, Billy Jack Goes to Washington. Funded with more than $5 million of his own money, Laughlin’s most ambitious project apparently offended conservative Washington insiders. The film was never released and brought the reign of Billy Jack to an end.

“I think he made a lot of enemies,” Laughlin’s daughter TC says of her famous father. “I think a lot of people got their toes stepped on and you either loved him or you hated him.”

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