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BillyJack(T.C.Frank,1971)

Extraord inar i l y successfu l countercu l tura l 1971 f i lmstarr ing TomLaughl in as the

eponymousha l f breed former GreenBeret who, in the f i lms in famous tag l ine ,

protects ch i ldren andother l i v ing th ings , in part i cu lar the d i rec tor (De lores Tay lor )

and students a t an Ar i zona school for runaways .

Made for l ess than $800 ,000 la rge ly outs ide the

stud io systemandmarketed andd i st r ibuted in

unorthodox fash ion, i t has grossed to date c lose to

$100 mi l l ion . Laughl in (whod i rec ted the f i lm

under a pseudonym) andTay lor (h i s w i fe) modest l y

ca l led the i r work the greatest youth cu l ture

p i c ture of our t imes, and indeed i t panders

d i rec t l y to that demographic . I can t he lp

be l iev ing , wr i tes Danny Peary , that (whatever

the Laughl ins po l i t i c s ) th i s p i c ture was spec i f i ca l l y

des ignedto f inanc ia l l y exp lo i t the youth market .

T h a t i s why i t g i ves themeveryth ing i t wants .

There i s a doyourownth ing menta l i ty that

dominates the f i lm, as wel l as cont inuous pra i se

for youthfu l idea l i smand independence. Look ing

somet imes l i ke a homemov ie , B i l l y J a c k i s a wei rd , of ten pretent ious andpreachy

amalgamof 1960s c l i chs , complete ly unaware of i t s owng lar ing contrad ic t ions . At

l east twenty minutes of i t s 112 minute running t ime i s spent in ro le p lay ing

ac t i v i t ies carr ied on a t the FreedomSchool . Another ten minutes of fers rea l t ime

coverage of an incoherent c i ty ha l l meet ing . A f i lmwhich fu l l y engages the i ssue of

pac i f i sm, B i l l y J a c k i s never so a l i ve as when i ts hero i s k i ck ing oned imens iona l

b igots in the face andof fers a rape scene that i s t ru ly d i s turb ing . At i t s heart , o f

course , i s B i l l y Jack , a V ietnamveteran hapk ido karate expert w i th a s lowto r i l e but

neverthe less v io lent temper , ab le to take on twenty a ttackers a t once but devoted to

recover ing h i s sou l throughthe pursu i t (a t l east ) of nonv io lence andthe fu l l

embrace of Nat ive Amer i can be l ie fs and r i tua l s . (The f i lmc red i ts Ro l l ing Thunder of

the ShoshoneNat ion for ass i s tance wi th the Ind ian Snake Ceremony in which B i l l y

engages andAndy V idov ich of the Pa iute Nat ion for h i s ass i s tance wi th the Wovoka

Fr iendsh ip Dance in which he leads the students of the school . ) Wi th the sp i r i t o f

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