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Billy Jack Blu-ray Disc Review

By brenden ⋅ January 31, 2010 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

BILLY JACK (1971, Blu-ray released January 12, 2010 - MSRP $24.98)

I watched Billy Jack for the first time a couple of days ago. It’s one of the strangest film experiences I’ve ever had.

Billy Jack was the passion project of actor and first-time writer/director Tom Laughlin. He struggled for years within the Hollywood system to realize his dream of bringing this story to the big screen and then, even when the film had finally been produced, he had to fight for it to be screened. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into creating this story of a loner ex-green beret defending a group of innocents from the persecution of a bigoted town. And the result is a film that’s become a cult classic.

I entered into the screening thinking I was going to see a kind-of martial arts version of First Blood. Instead, I was witness to one of the strangest, most peculiar mixtures of film and theatre elements ever put in front of a camera. On the surface and during its strongest moments Billy Jack is just that - a man fighting for what’s right. Kicking ass and taking names. Speaking softly and carrying a mean roundhouse kick. But the narrative takes some peculiar twists and turns and leads into long, tiresome and confusing stretches of improvised theatre games and sing-alongs that don’t serve the story at all. It all seems a bit indulgent and very out of place. But these moments, while odd, are also strangely compelling. They’re like a car wreck, in a way, causing the viewer to ‘rubberneck’ from scene to scene, unable to tear their eyes away from the disaster onscreen.

I enjoyed Billy Jack, despite, or maybe because of its flaws. So much so that I’ve tracked down copies of Born Losers, the film that preceded it and The Trial of Billy Jack and Billy Jack goes to Washington, its two sequels. I haven’t been brave enough to crack into any of them yet but I’m sure they won’t measure up to the oddity of this signature seventies film.

The Billy Jack Blu-ray is a revelation, relative to any version that’s been previously available. The old Warner edition of the film was framed at a 4:3 aspect ratio and, from what I’ve seen online, was not a pretty sight. This restored version returns the film to its native 1.78 shape and has cleaned up a lot of damage present on the source. It looks way better than a film of this budget and age has any right to. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track sounds pretty decent but it’s not going to knock your socks off.

There are a handful of great special features here, most compelling of which are the dual audio commentaries featuring writer/director/star Laughlin and his wife/co-star, Delores Taylor. Both tracks cover a lot of the same ground, the second recorded more recently with Laughlin’s son moderating. But if you’re a die-hard fan you’ll want to give both a listen. An entertaining and informative 15-minute documentary and a collection of vintage television ads round out the disc.

Tags: Bert Freed, Billy Jack, Clark Howat, Delores Taylor, E1, Howard Hesseman, Image, Tom Laughlin