Tweet The cult of Billy Jack was exploding during the re-release, and one of the reasons was the groundbreaking Hapkido karate that was portrayed in the film. The hapkido master coordinator, teacher, and double, Bong Soo Han, went on to star in future Billy Jack and other films. Most importantly, ‘Billy Jack’ helped let the…
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Tweet Ever the provocateur, Tom placed ads in the Hollywood trade papers nipping at Warner Brothers (the pair would have a many-decades-long love-hate relationship) and trying to promote Delores Taylor’s (his wife, co-star) performance in ‘Billy Jack’ for Academy consideration. Delores did not receive the hoped-for nomination.
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Tweet ‘Billy Jack’ was such a low-budget film, and was so not expected to succeed, that no record company wanted to release the soundtrack to the film. But when Tom re-released the film in 1973 he pioneered TV advertising and tagged each TV spot with a snippet of Jinx Dawson’s incredible version of ‘One Tin…
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Tweet Pat O’Brien was a childhood idol of Tom’s. Pat’s performance in ‘Knute Rockne All American’ made Tom a life-long football fan and admirer. Tom and Delores ended up buying the house Pat O’Brien built in Brentwood, CA, and Tom was thrilled when Pat agreed to play a cameo in ‘Billy Jack Goes to Washington’….
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Tweet Tom and Delores (Billy Jack and Jean) are interviewed as they land in Cincinnati, OH, for a regional ‘premiere’ of ‘Billy Jack’ during the 1973 re-release of the film. (‘Billy Jack’ was originally released by WB in 1971.) Their daughters Teresa Laughlin (Carol in the film), and Christina (the one being held) are in…
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Tweet An interoffice memo re the scheduling change for the 1974 scoring session (music recording) for the ‘Trial of Billy Jack’ with Academy Award-winning composer Elmer Bernstein. The session was held on the Warner Brothers lot and was clearly rescheduled to September 19th, according to Tom.
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The effervescent Suzanne Somers was in on the shooting of ‘Billy Jack Goes to Washington’ (here with Sam Wanamaker as Bailey) in a lavish party scene that only made the final cut in very small bits. Unfortunately, none of those bits included…
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Tweet Dennis Banks knocks back a couple of Sugar-Free Dr. Peppers and Shasta sodas with Tom Laughlin in his trailer during the shooting of ‘Trial of Billy Jack’ in Arizona. (Historical Fun: Notice the old-style pull-tab soda cans, with tabs that actually pulled off the much-thicker-than-today, rolled cans of yesteryear.)
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Tweet The rerelease of ‘Billy Jack’ in 1973, after a long legal battle with Warner Bros., was unlike any film release before it. It included massive local radio, TV, print, and lots and lots of pretty, young girls in Billy Jack-themed garb. No one didn’t know ‘Billy Jack’ was coming to town as it rolled…
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Tweet Teresa Kelly (Laughlin) and Susan Sosa clean up post ice cream parlor ‘flour’ scene downtown Prescott, AZ.
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