This Movie must be given Credit for being One of the First and Perhaps One of the Better of the Biker Wave Drive-In Series that lasted for About 7 Years.
The Biker Films were many and varied...The Wild Angels...Werewolves on Wheels...The Glory Stompers....Hell Angels on Wheels...etc.
Although the Billy Jack Character was Tom Laughlin's Hope and Dream (Produced, Wrote, Directed, and Starred), it really wasn't the "Billy Jack" Character that made the Movie 10 Times its Budget. It was the Bikers, Sex, Violence, and Counter-Culture elements.
Billy Jack did help as a Center between Law Enforcement and the Bad Bikers and was a Semi-Interesting, if Stiff and Solemn Stud, and it was Laughlin's attempt to make Him a Hero, and He Was in this "Sleeper".
But it was all of the other Strange and New Attractions in the Movie that made it a Box Office Phenom. It was the kind of Thing that Helped bring an End to the Code.
Audiences in 1967 were Simply Not Used to this Type of Wild and Crazy Stuff. But Tom Laughlin took the Money and made 3 other Billy Jack Movies that were Not as Good as this, but were Popular nonetheless.
Except for the Terrible "Mike Curb" supposedly Hip Music, some Pretty Lame Acting, especially from Laughlin (the Bikers actually were pretty good), and a rather Long and Padded Length, the Movie does Deliver on an Anti-Establishment level.
Worth a Watch for it helped Begin the Biker Cycle, and did Introduce Billy Jack, who, for Better or Worse did become a Pop Culture Icon.
Note...The Wild One (1952) is considered the first Biker Movie, it starred Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin.
The Biker Films were many and varied...The Wild Angels...Werewolves on Wheels...The Glory Stompers....Hell Angels on Wheels...etc.
Although the Billy Jack Character was Tom Laughlin's Hope and Dream (Produced, Wrote, Directed, and Starred), it really wasn't the "Billy Jack" Character that made the Movie 10 Times its Budget. It was the Bikers, Sex, Violence, and Counter-Culture elements.
Billy Jack did help as a Center between Law Enforcement and the Bad Bikers and was a Semi-Interesting, if Stiff and Solemn Stud, and it was Laughlin's attempt to make Him a Hero, and He Was in this "Sleeper".
But it was all of the other Strange and New Attractions in the Movie that made it a Box Office Phenom. It was the kind of Thing that Helped bring an End to the Code.
Audiences in 1967 were Simply Not Used to this Type of Wild and Crazy Stuff. But Tom Laughlin took the Money and made 3 other Billy Jack Movies that were Not as Good as this, but were Popular nonetheless.
Except for the Terrible "Mike Curb" supposedly Hip Music, some Pretty Lame Acting, especially from Laughlin (the Bikers actually were pretty good), and a rather Long and Padded Length, the Movie does Deliver on an Anti-Establishment level.
Worth a Watch for it helped Begin the Biker Cycle, and did Introduce Billy Jack, who, for Better or Worse did become a Pop Culture Icon.
Note...The Wild One (1952) is considered the first Biker Movie, it starred Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin.