The Trial of Billy Jack

Following the events of the previous movie, Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) stands trial and is sentenced by the corrupt system to prison. The kids from the Freedom School decide to fight the system themselves.

The movie makes a big early mistake. After Billy Jack gets sentenced, the movie needs to follow him into prison. Instead, his prison time is skipped over and the movie follows a bunch of no name kids with his wife. His wife is charismatically challenge, not to say that he's some great actor either. After he's released, the movie follows our hero once again. This is part personal vanity project and part sincere hippie idealism. It could be indie camp if only it's not three freakin' hours long. It's so long and so slow. It's obvious that Laughlin is throwing everything into the cooking pot. This is the result of an unencumbered artist who has more confidence than skills.

This movie was long,and it was very powerful for its time in both relation to the Native American movement as well as the anti war movement that was common when the film took place and when it first hit the big screen. If you like either of the 2 topics above then you will probably like the movie. All I can say is I am proud to have it and I was proud to watch it.

it's hard to know where to begin with this movie. I Saw Billy Jack in the theater as a teen. I found this sequel on youtube and watched it. I had to pause it regularly because it was so bad. it really has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Unlike many bad movies that are so bad, they are good, this one is so bad it does not even have that quality. bad script, bad acting, bad directing, bad story line. it's to political to even be political. it's like one of those really horribly made Soviet propaganda movies from the 50's and 60's. so over the top. every character is cartoonish in nature. Usually I like past era films with a political statement but, this one rambles on and on and on. the best part of this movie is, it finally ended. worth watching if you are totally bored. it will get you off the couch to clean the bathroom grout. or, inspire you to do your own dental work on a toothache.

After serving his sentence for involuntary manslaughter, "Billy Jack" (Tom Laughlin) is released from prison and returns to the Freedom School on the Navajo Reservation. However, the residents of the nearby town still hold a great deal of animosity toward both him and the students at the school and the illegal harassment continues unabated. It gets so bad that both the students and Billy Jack retaliate in kind and this only aggravates the situation even worse. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly long and dull movie which featured an incoherent plot, bad acting and equally awful music. That said, while I have no doubt there are some who either identify with this particular era in American history or idolize this motion picture, I honestly found it to be quite boring and very difficult to view to the very end. Again, it was long and dull. Because of that I recommend it only to fans of the series and have rated it accordingly. Below average.

I've seen some of the comments for this film, and everyone is complaining about the films "activism". It seems foreign to us now since very few of us are activists anymore. But back in the 70's, my generation was VERY active and vocal. I didn't lean nearly as far left as the politics espoused in this film, but I mistrusted the US Government as much as the next person. Tom Laughlin is a very strong anti-war and pro-Indian activist. This film, while poorly acted (as were all the Billy Jack films), has a strong message and it sure gets in your face with it. The timing of the film coincides with the time when most of America greatly distrusted Uncle Sam, so it's politics are mostly correct. My major complaint is the films length...it should have been trimmed. I think there's too much "amateur hour" from the students. Other than that, it's not bad at all. To truly judge this film, you must have lived through the 70's and then you'd understand it better.