Tweet To TV that is… Showtime in the U.S. (and Astral in Canada) are about to begin the first airings of the Billy Jack movies in almost a decade. We’re very excited to have the films back in ‘circulation’. In addition, it’s the first time any of the films other than ‘Billy Jack’ will be…
Tag Archive: re-release
Tom Laughlin Turns 80! And You Can Be There!
Tweet We have a few important events and announcements: We are restoring ALL of Tom Laughlin’s films to glorious 1080p HD We are close to a deal for the films to begin playing on TV again (and could use your help, see below) Tom Laughlin turns 80! Restoration A few years back we undertook a…
Tom’s Totally Terrific Talks
Also part of every promotional circus that visited a town were the appearances. I showed Julie Webb and others making their appearances (everyone usually would not come at the same time in order for there to be many, many, many events for the press to report on, rather than just one big one - smart!). Here Tom Laughlin is making his rounds that almost always included local colleges, audiences, radio stations, newspapers, TV, etc., etc., etc. It never stopped.
The ‘Billy Jack Show’
The shots below are from what would be probably one of the world’s first infomercials, a show selling Billy Jack. As you can see from the ‘BJ’ hanging on the wall, this was the Billy Jack show (I don’t know actually what it was called, but it was expressly to promote the film and nothing else). Tom’s group arranged for the stage, hired the…
Billy Jack Day, Dayton, OH (part 1)
As I mentioned in the previous posts about the re-release of Billy Jack in 1972-1973, the promotion of the film was a blitzkrieg of publicity. Radio, TV, newspapers, news reports, live bands, karate demonstrations, girls with lettered cards, it literally never ended. For weeks before the film…
Billy Jack Southern California Box Office Results
Tom was one of the best friends newspapers (and radio and TV) ever had. He placed ads constantly… everywhere. But his favorites were the show business journals Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The combination of the overwhelming success of Billy Jack (and later the Trial of Billy Jack) and the lack of industry acknowledgment…
Billy Jack Day, Kansas City (part 3)
Leading up to the premiere in each city, was the same Billy Jack circus: karate demonstrations, live bands, and the girls holding the cards that spelled B-I-L-L-Y-J-A-C-K. Below the circus is staged out front of the Glenwood Theaters outside Kansas City, Kansas. The picture on the bottom shows some of the incredible turnout.
Billy Jack Day, Kansas City (part 2)
Here is Julie Webb at some kind of tennis event (don’t know if the event had any other tie-in to Billy Jack other than Julie’s appearance). Interestingly, tennis great Alex Olmedo (’59 Wimbledon champion, and tennis pro at the famed Beverly Hills Hotel for 30 years) is there, which makes me suspicious…
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 1972), he staged a series of…
Billy Jack Re-Release Shocker… All-Time Box Office Champ?!?
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!
