Pistoleiro da Justiça

The kind of film one would expect from the genius behind "Billy Jack Goes to Washington," the movie does distinguish itself in the area of weaponry. Apparently set in the era of old California, the gunfighter blazes away with a remarkable handgun called a LeMat--which didn't exist if the period is prior to the Civil War as it seems to be. Nonetheless, bringing this weapon to light is a nice historical touch. While the Union officers in the Civil War used six-shooter percussion revolvers, they were hard pressed if they came up against a Confederate with a ten-shooter LeMat (nine balls plus a shotgun round). The other milestone in weaponry is the use of swords not a la Zorro but in the fashion of Samuri, a ludicrous touch only Mr. Laughlin could have thought up. If you enjoy odd weapons or the odd use of them, you must see this film,

Tom Laughlin didn't have to stretch much for this role, to be sure, but as the previous poster said, Barbara Carrera alone is worth the price of admission. If you liked the Billy Jack flicks, you'll undoubtedly like this as well. If you like westerns, you'll like this too. It's a pretty solid performance, and Laughlin is surrounded by a good cast. This movie also has considerably higher production values than the first Billy Jack pictures. This is particularly noticeable in the cinematography, as well as the set design. One would suspect this is because by the time this was made, Laughlin was beginning to enjoy some degree of success and fame due to the buzz generated by the two previous Billy Jack installments.

What makes this an unfortunate effort is the waste of a pretty good cast. There are good performances, which are made more remarkable given the context. Tom Laughlin was in complete control of this film, so, like it or hate it, he gets the credit or blame. Beautiful scenery. Decent production values. However, Laughlin's performance as Finley, the Master Gunfighter, will remind viewers of Billy Jack, for those familiar with the self- rightious character Laughlin portrayed in the movie of the same name. Billy Jack's unquestioned acceptance and popularity may have, at least in part, been bolstered by the country's emerging sympathies for society's downtrodden. Civil rights and anti-war protesters were making daily news, and, for some, "dogooder" Billy Jack may have been a cinematic (though melodramatic) symbol of the times. A similar Gunfighter theme opened years later with the country a bit less emotional and perhaps skeptical of the more simplistic notions, "make love not war", "give peace a chance", and "he's my brother" of a few years earlier. Not that everyone or even most shared these ideas, but they did dominate the news of the day. Gunfighter was greeted by a culture where many competing views gained traction regarding complex social issues. Left to stand on its own merits, Gunfighter appeared cliché, redundant, and shallow, not adding much to the ever more complicated social conversation.

This movie apparently takes place in pre-Civil War California and everybody rides horses instead of Harleys, but other than that it's a typical Laughlin film, except even dumber. Laughlin plays a guy who is trying to save local Indians from being sold into slavery. It's difficult to figure out who exactly the bad guys are, because Laughlin kills whites, blacks, Mexicans, Indians, rich, poor . . . in fact, he blows away just about everybody (in the name of justice and equality, of course). Laughlin's idea of conveying anger (the only kind of emotion he shows in the picture) is to grit his teeth, talk slow and appear to be constipated. He carries an odd kind of shotgun/pistol (which didn't exist at that time, but why quibble...) and a samurai-type sword and proceeds to use both on everyone within eyesight. Fred Williamson, usually a reliable actor, also conveys a lot of anger, but it's probably directed at his agent or whoever got him to agree to do this movie. The story bounces around and goes off into every tangent possible, the "acting" is generally atrocious, the photography at times is so dark it's hard to see anything. Laughlin was apparently trying to make an "anti-Western", but in one respect he falls back on a bit that a lot of B westerns did: he manages to fire a limitless number of rounds from a six-shooter without reloading. Then again, maybe it's supposed to be an early version of a machine gun; that would make about as much sense as anything else in this picture . . .

Tom "Billy Jack" Laughlin spends most of his movie speaking in a monotone, wearing silly-looking floppy hats, and either shooting people or hacking them up with a Samurai sword. The exterior scenes (filmed mostly along the Pacific Coast) are often strikingly photographed, but the dialog and acting are stiff and ridiculous. Like the BILLY JACK movies, Laughlin has a lot to say about man's inhumanity toward his fellow man. But, after about 10 minutes of listening to his preaching, you won't care anymore. With just a few changes to the screenplay, and an update to the 20th century, this could have been another BILLY JACK movie. At least the BILLY JACK movies were somewhat entertaining.