Saw this when I was 6th grade back in 1971. Loved it. Found it powerful and great. Now I pretty much hate it. It politics are highly questionable, it's way too violent and its message of peace and love is ridiculous considering all the violence in the picture. Very much a relic of its era.
shareI love this movie, and I saw it when it was first released. It opened up many issues, the few rights of US Indians, racial issues, horses being slaughtered by ranchers in the west for dog food or to keep them off the US park land they rented as grazing land from the government. It showed the truth of Barbara's free love adventures in San Francisco resulting in a unwanted teenage pregnancy by unknown father. It had strong women leading and standing up for those who were disadvantaged. I still enjoy the Billy Jack movies, and sadly we still struggle with the same issues today. The relic is still relevant, no matter what era.
shareWhile I agree that it revealed many of the true issues that went on back then (and still persist, even today), I think that Billy Jack, as a film, fell way short of its potential for being a really good, or even a great film that was right up there with West Side Story, due to the many campier scenes of the kids doing silly little skits and singing rather campy songs, which made the Freedom School, on the whole, seem more like a day camp for extremely young kids, or kids with severe developmental problems than a school where kids could explore and develop their potential for leading normal, independent lives after having troubled pasts (i. e. drug problems, being runaways, etc.).
shareI think I was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade when I saw it for the first time, but I also thought it was great back in '71, but not so much now. I don't dislike the movie, although when I've seen it recently, I look it at much differently than I did as a kid. I remember all the commercials they had for this movie, and other kids were seeing it and thought it was great. One kid told me he sat through two showings one afternoon, one after the other.
it's way too violent and its message of peace and love is ridiculous considering all the violence in the picture.
"I don't dislike the movie, although when I've seen it recently, I look it at much differently than I did as a kid."
I think that's it. When I saw it as a kid it did open up subjects and issues I never thought about before. Seeing it as an adult it just seems so obvious. At least this is better than "The Trial of Billy Jack". THAT one was three hours long and full of violence. I'm not anti-violence (I LOVE gory horror films by the way) but using it to preach non-violence seems sort of silly.
I think that the movie Billy Jack does carry a certain message, which another poster succinctly and articulately pointed out in another thread on this board, but it bears repeating:
Work for peace, but kick ass if you have to.