Billy Jack Day, Kansas City (part 1)

When Tom re-released Billy Jack across the country in 1972 and 1973 (after it had already been the 2nd highest grossing film of the year behind Fiddler on the Roof in 1971), he staged a series of regional premieres of the film across the country. Every one of them had the same elements (that had been carefully worked out), including live bands, girls holding big cards that spelled B-I-L-L-Y-J-A-C-K, blitzkrieg advertising (print, radio, and TV), and karate demonstrations. I’m going to post a bunch of pictures from the premiere in Kansas City, Missouri.

This first picture is of the karate demonstration held a few days before in the lobby of the theater. It was for the press to help make sure EVERYONE knew Billy Jack was coming to town. What I really like about this photo (and the others from this event I’ll post in coming days) is 1) there’s a karate demonstration in the lobby of a theater, and 2) the individual ‘stories’ going on with each person participating:

- In this closeup of the left of the photo we’ve got three girls with very different approaches – one is interested, one doesn’t even seem to notice, and one can’t bear to look. But this photo’s MVP is the guy about to be kicked in the throat. Talk about being in character! Stoic to the bitter end. Kudos, karate-kick-taker guy! Kudos!

- In this closeup of the middle we’ve got flying karate-man (unknown) about to deliver the lethal pedi-blow.

- In the final closeup of the right of the picture, we’ve got another great sampling from the emotional platter: ‘J’ looks like she’s posing for a class picture, ‘A’ looks (rightly) very concerned for karate-kick-taker guy, ‘C’ is dreaming about her days in the south of France, and ‘K’ is wondering if after this kick she can get paid and leave.

I also love the girl behind ‘K’ in the plaid dress and ribbon in her hair. You don’t see that very much anymore.