Category Archives: Pictures

Behind the scenes pictures from the private Laughlin archives, many never seen before

Chris Wants Camera Time


Christina, my sister, and the youngest of the Laughlin clan, was born August 1, 1969. ‘Billy Jack’ began filming late Fall, 1969 (I haven’t pegged the date yet, because I haven’t been able to look at all the outtakes — yes, I have the outtakes.) Regardless of the exact date, there are two amazing facts: 1) Delores was in incredible shape for a woman that had just had a child a few months before, and…

Frank ‘Stars’ in Billy Jack (+ 14yo combover)


I’m asked a lot why I wasn’t in the ‘Billy Jack’. I have to explain a) I didn’t want to be (at which point people look at me like I’m from Mars), and b) I was in the film (kind of). While I don’t appear in the film in any way that the audience would recognize as me, I do appear frequently as the star and hero, Billy Jack.

Helicopters For Free


A common thread throughout these post has been how low-budget ‘Billy Jack’ was. Here’s more: when the film was shut down in the Fall of 1969 (almost sounds like it should be a song by Bryan Adams), Tom and Delores scrambled to find a way to a) replace the money they’d lost, and b) get the production back on track. While they were taking meetings back in Los Angeles, showing parts of their completed film, the film commission…

TC (Teresa) at Last!


First, Teresa Kelly, aka Teresa Laughlin, aka TC Laughlin, will heretofore be referred to by her given name (given by her brother, me…): TC. How’d that come to be? I was three when she was born…

Tom’s ‘Delinquency’ Was Caught on Film


Tom worked as an actor in movies and on classic TV shows like Playhouse 90. At one point he got a leading role in a film to be shot in St. Louis, Missouri. The film was going to be direct by a young, first time feature director who had been shooting a lot of industrials in the midwest. His name was Robert Altman…

Massive Equipment Fleet of ‘Billy Jack’


If you live where they shoot a lot of movies, you’ve seen the invasion of vehicles that swarm in support. Endless tractor trailers, honeywagons (mobile dressing rooms), catering trucks, equipment fleet, cast and crew transport cars and buses, even mobile editorial suites. They pretty much block out the sun (or the entire street). But not when you’re…

‘Billy Jack Goes to Washington’ Tidbits


Some interesting notes about ‘Billy Jack Goes to Washington’: It was produced by the son of the director of the original ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ starring Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra, Jr. Kathy Cronkite, daughter of famed TV newsman, Walter Cronkite, appeared in …

Fundraising for the Billy Jack Documentary on eBay

Tweet We’ve created some great rewards for those of you that jump in and help us kickstart ‘Jacked’, the Billy Jack Documentary (working title). You can see the entire list of rewards here. The reward packages are priced from $50 to $5,000, with only 27 total offerings available. We’re raising $20,000 by offering great rewards…

The Camera That Captured ‘Billy Jack’


Kind of looks like something out of the dark ages, or an H.G. Wells epic. Could even be steampunk. Or maybe the silent era… those huge metallic boxes with dials and gauges that almost…

Early ‘Billy Jack’ Infomercial


The marketing of ‘Billy Jack’ during the re-release in 1973 remains legendary even today. In order to get the theaters to play his two-year-old film, Tom had to rent the theaters, called 4-walling in the industry and he produced …