MovieChat Forums > Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) Discussion > remakes are sometimes not meant to be......

remakes are sometimes not meant to be....

posted 19 years ago by dpartn
5 replies | jump to latest

I'll bet Jimmy Stewart had a chuckle when this one was made. I like Tom and the Billy Jack character, but remaking this movie was a wrong move. The original couldn't have possibly been improved upon. Add that with the fact the remake was made during the 1970s when most films were of poor quality anyway. But for 1977 even Jimmy Stewart made a turkey with Airport 77. But at least Airport 77 was somewhat amusing. But like the Billy Jack films, the reality is that they should have stopped with the first one and left it a classic. With the original Airport 1970, all subsequent sequels were doomed (though Airport 75 was mildly entertaining, but not a classic like 70). Billy Jack followed the same pattern... Born Losers was the first and classic Billy Jack. The sequel of 'Billy Jack' wasn't as good, but like Airport 75 was a reasonable effort. "trial of BJ and BJ goes to Washington" should have stayed in their creators minds. One can't help but think that Tom's other half, Delores Taylor founded some of the basis of these films. Thank God she wasn't in front of the camera with Born Losers. It's a shame that Elizabeth James who was quite credible in Born Losers, didn't continue on in the series, or films in general. Guess Delores wanted camera time as well as not wanting hubby to star opposite a much more attractive woman.

BJ goes to Washington is just sad. they seem to have just photocopied the original film scripts and scratched out a few names and changed them. the script seems to be 98% word per word of the original. Bad idea Delores.

[–] StagnantHobgoblin 17 years ago

Why you be hating? Hater.

[–] ck1-5 17 years ago

What a brilliant response to the original post.

[–] max_dropout 17 years ago

In what way is this a remake preicsely? I'm curious.

Born Losers is a great film, but seems to borrow too much from Hunter S. Thompson's work. Billy Jack is a seminal action film in my opinion. Both films stand on their own as remarkable efforts. There are scenes throughout BJ that will haunt you for the rest of your life after seeing them.

Trial of Billy Jack could have been great, but it would require a lot of editing, and much of the superfluous Freedom School stuff would have to be cored out of the picture. It's just too bloated and tedious to endure. But somewhere in that movie lurks a potentially good sequel.

I may not know a lot, but I do know "a lot" is two words.

[–] webmaster-1090 16 years ago

Well, not only that, but much of the Freedom School stuff is way too superficial to be relevant today.

Michael

[–] dragongrrrllll 15 years ago

We got the boxed set of all 4 films and recently did a Billy Jack marathon. "Born Losers" is unintentionally funny and we never seem to get tired of it. Someone earlier thought Elizabeth James did a credible job in it; I have to wonder, what were you smoking??? She was so bad she makes Delores Taylor look like Kate Winslet. (and sorry, Delores, you can NOT act) We are fond of quoting the silliest and worst-delivered line in Elizabeth's emotionless drone: "I'll be the best damn mama this club ever had."

"Billy Jack" and "The Trial of Billy Jack" really were powerful films in their day, especially for younger viewers. I was probably about 15 when I saw the first one and 17 for the second one, and I loved them both--actually I enjoyed "Trial" more, since it went deeper into the Navajo beliefs and traditions. But what impressed the heck out of me as a teenager hasn't stood the test of time. The issues are not as relevant today and the big bad adults picking on the students who just want to love everyone come off more as dupes than bullies.

"Washington" was a disappointment, but I might have liked it if I'd seen it when it was made and I was still young and idealistic. It did show a pretty clear picture of how things really happen in Washington, with deals, bribes, favors being swapped, and issues piggybacked together to increase the likelihood of getting support. I don't think that's much of a secret these days. I found it hysterically funny that the other politicians kept referring to Senator Billy Jack as a "boy". What was he, in his 40s at the time? Younger than them, but hardly a boy; they talked as though he was little more than a child. Lucie Arnaz did a fairly good job, even delivering some ridiculous dialogue in an almost believable manner.

Tom and Delores's daughter Teresa had some face time in the final film, but she really wasn't needed--still, being the daughter of the Big Cheeses should get you something. She did a decent job singing her rendition of "One Tin Soldier" over the closing credits; not a professional quality voice, but not bad. It was fun to see some of the kids from the previous films, especially Barbara who was a central character in "Billy Jack". On the whole, "Washington" is worth catching for those of us who can remember when the original films really were cool, but don't expect it to stir your emotions like in the 70s.

FYI the extras states that "Billy Jack" was really supposed to be the first film, but no one was interested, so Tom came up with "Born Losers", involving the then-relevant threat of motorcycle gangs, as a way of introducing the character.