'Billy Jack' Tom Laughlin died last week. Laughlin, who created and played the movie character "Billy Jack" — a half-white, half Native American Vietnam vet who used martial arts skills to defeat bigots and racists — died last week. Late Sunday, The Associated Press reported that Laughlin's daughter said "he died Thursday at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Laughlin was 82 and Teresa Laughlin, who acted in the Billy Jack movies, said the cause of death was complications from pneumonia." The Los Angeles Times writes, Laughlin "drew a huge following for his movies about the ill-tempered, karate-chopping pacifist Billy Jack. ... Laughlin starred in and co-produced the four films of the 1960s and '70s...
- 12/16/2013
- by April Neale
- Monsters and Critics
Tom Laughlin, who wrote, produced, directed, and starred in a series of films about a troubled Vietnam vet named “Billy Jack” that unexpectedly became hits despite devastating reviews, has died at the age of 82. According to his “Billy Jack” website, Laughlin died “at sunset” on December 12. According to his daughter, Teresa Laughlin, his death was caused by complications of pneumonia.The half-white, half-Native American character, Billy Jack, was introduced in a 1967 movie, “The Born Losers,” in which he battled an outlaw motorcycle gang. But it wasn’t until the second film, “Billy Jack” (1971), that anyone took notice. A violent pacifist fighting against racists on the behalf of Native American children at a Freedom School in Arizona, Billy Jack, who never gave up, had much in common with his creator. The distributor, Warner Bros, barely marketed ”Billy Jack,” and the movie was not a commercial success. So Laughlin fought for two...
- 12/16/2013
- by Aljean Harmetz
- Thompson on Hollywood
Younger movie buffs may have no idea how popular the Billy Jack movies were in the early ’70s but Billy Jack and The Trial Of Billy Jack were the cool films to see when I was in middle school. The first film in the series was Born Losers in 1967, an above average entry in the biker genre notable for its odd hero Billy Jack, a brave Native American ex-Army Green Beret played by Tom Laughlin who used his karate skills to fight a nefarious motorcycle gang. Laughlin wrote and directed three sequels which costarred his wife Delores Taylor. Billy Jack was released in 1971, and this time Billy used those same skills to fight racism and oppression. With its themes of child abuse, the trampling of Indian rights, prejudice, television exposes, campus shootings by the National Guard, the Mi Lai massacre, culture clashes, Jungian philosophy, police brutality, government corruption, karate, guns,...
- 12/16/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Actor-writer-director Tom Laughlin, whose production and marketing of Billy Jack set a standard for breaking the rules on and off screen, has died. He was 82. Laughlin's daughter told the Associated Press that he died Thursday at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Teresa Laughlin, who acted in the Billy Jack movies, said his cause of death was complications from pneumonia. Billy Jack was released in 1971 after a long struggle by Laughlin to gain control of the low-budget, self-financed movie, a model for guerrilla filmmaking. He wrote, directed and produced Billy Jack and starred as the ex-Green...
- 12/16/2013
- by Associated Press
- PEOPLE.com
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