Billy Jack was one of the most popular action heroes of the '70s and possibly the first one to specialize in martial arts. A low-talking halfbreed, Billy Jack (played to perfection by Tom Laughlin) movies were always fight-filled affairs — but not the mindless junk that followed in the wake of films by the likes of Laughlin and, later, Bruce Lee.
Laughlin was a realistic action hero/tough guy as he was a real life athlete — obviously skilled in martial arts, he was also (like Burt Reynolds) a college football star (Laughlin attended the University of Minnesota).
The Billy Jack character starred in a quartet of films. The first film to feature Billy Jack, 1967’s Born Losers, appears at first glance to be similar to a lot of "biker gang terrorizes a small town" films that were all the rage on the B-level at that time. But the film is superior to most as it features some great sub-characters.
Jeremy Slate is first rate as the leader of the biker gang (Daniel) as is his second in command, William Wellman Jr. (Child). An appearance by a young and full-haired Bob Tessier (who would go to feature roles in Hard Times, The Longest Yard and, after shaving his head, played Mr. Clean in TV commercials) just about makes up as most believable and intimidating a gang as you could get at the time (making Brando’s crew in The Wild Ones look like grammar school dropouts and sissies by comparison).
Co-star Elizabeth James, who is the girl that Billy Jack tries to protect from the motorcycle gang, is quite good as the parentally ignored rich girl who, of course, falls for her protector. James would be replaced as the female sidekick in the remaining films by the wonderful Delores Taylor, whom Laughlin has been married to since the '50s. While Born Losers is sometimes referred to just as the film that introduced Billy Jack to the world, it is one of best of its genre (especially when it is compared to most of the motorcycle gang junk flicks from that time).
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