If you add together the initial $32.5M with the $60M from the re-release, you realize by the end of 1973, Billy Jack had made $92,500,000, which made it — I still can’t believe this — the highest grossing film in motion picture history!
Billy Jack Re-Release Shocker… All-Time Box Office Champ?!?
Billy Jack #65 of All Time! (Trial #123)
If you’ve heard of Billy Jack, you likely know it was a huge success. But even people inside the industry don’t know exactly how big it was (HINT: it was WAY bigger than you ever thought). Two websites provide some perspective: BoxOfficeReport.com and a more obscure MROB.com. BoxOfficeReport.com correctly pegs the initial release of Billy Jack at $32,500,000, beating every other film that year - The French Connection, Summer of ’42, Dirty Harry, Clockwork Orange - except for …
The Nixon Quote That Started a War
It may seem hard to believe today, but the Nixon quote contained in this clip sparked a to-the-death war with 20th Century Fox, the studio that was going to…
Master Gunfighter Day
Tom Making Deals… circa 1958
Tom & Fred Koenekamp Plan
One Tin Soldier Rides Away – Billy’s Sacrifice
The culmination of the film. Billy sacrifices himself the Jean and the kids, choosing to negotiate his surrender rather than go out in his preferred warrior blaze of glory. The kids, in appreciation of…
When Corsages Were Corsages
The World Goes Karate Crazy
People around ‘Billy Jack’ went karate crazy - trademark pending - even before ‘Billy Jack’ hit theaters. It happened on the set. Everyone was pestering Master Bong Soo Han to ‘show them something’, which…
Berserk Aftermath
After Billy goes berserk in the ice cream parlor, he fights off Bernard and Bernard’s bodyguard/pal/goon Dinosaur. Billy karates Dinosaur into submission and out the front window of the soda parlor. This move is actually one of the very first ideas for the film ‘Billy Jack’ that popped into Tom’s head back in…
