Tom Laughlin
Encyclopedia
Tom Laughlin is an American actor
, director
, screenwriter
, author
, educator and political activist. Laughlin is best known for his series of Billy Jack
films. He has been married to Delores Taylor
since 1954. Taylor has also co-produced and acted in all four of the Billy Jack films. His unique promotion of The Trial of Billy Jack
was a major influence on the way films are marketed.
In the early 1960s, Laughlin temporarily left his film career behind to start a Montessori
preschool in Santa Monica, California
; it became the largest school of its kind in the United States.
In recent years he has become increasingly involved in politics, running for President of the United States three times (1992, 2004 and 2008). He also has been involved in psychology and domestic abuse counseling, writing several books on Jungian psychology and developing theories on the causes of cancer.
, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, where he attended Washington High School. While in high school, he was involved in an athletic controversy that made headlines throughout the city. The controversy involved Laughlin being forced to attend another school for a brief period, making him ineligible to play football at his previous school upon his return. Laughlin first attended college at the University of Wisconsin and later at Marquette University
playing football for both schools. While at Marquette he played both safety and halfback
.
Laughlin decided to become an actor after seeing a production of A Streetcar Named Desire
. According to a 1956 newspaper profile, he became involved in the theater program at Marquette after encouragement by a university professor Father John J. Walsh. While a student he also formed a stock group and directed and starred in a production of Arthur Miller
's All My Sons
. He later transferred to the University of South Dakota
where he majored in radio acting, directing, and producing.
While a student at the University of South Dakota, he met his future wife Delores Taylor
. He wrote the original screenplay for the film Billy Jack
in 1954 after witnessing the treatment of Native Americans in her hometown of Winner, South Dakota
. The two were married on October 15, 1954.
He began his on-screen acting career in the 1955 television series Climax!. From there he went on to appear in several feature films including: These Wilder Years, Lafayette Escadrille
, Tea and Sympathy
and South Pacific. He appeared in several episodes of various television series throughout the late 1950s. He also appeared in the film Gidget
(1959) as "Lover Boy". However, he failed to make any money in the early years, telling People
magazine in 1975, "We were living on $5 a week and eating Spam
. I stole Christmas cards from a church so I could write home saying how well we were, but then I couldn't afford the stamps."
Laughlin's first starring role was in Robert Altman
's 1957 film The Delinquents, in which he played Scotty White, a teenager who gets mixed up with a gang when he is told he can no longer see his girlfriend. Despite the film's low budget, it became a cult film, with Alfred Hitchcock
among its fans. However, Laughlin and Altman did not get along well, having sharply differing views on acting; Altman later describing Laughlin as "an unbelievable pain in the ass".
Laughlin made his directorial debut later that year with The Proper Time
, though the film wasn't released until 1960. The film was a romantic drama set on the campus of UCLA. Laughlin shot the film on the campus in six days working with a $20,000 budget.
Laughlin also wrote, directed, and starred in The Young Sinner. Originally filmed in 1960, and shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, over a period of 14 days, it is the story of a star high school athlete who falls deeper and deeper into trouble after being caught in bed with his girlfriend. The film was intended to be the first of a trilogy entitled We Are All Christ. It premiered in 1963 under the original title Among the Thorns, which was changed to The Young Sinner upon its 1965 re-release.
In 1960, Laughlin planned to make a film titled Poison in Our Land based on the true story of a Texas couple affected by atomic radiation.
preschool in Santa Monica, California
. By 1961, Laughlin had left the film business to devote all of his time to the school, which by 1964 had become the largest school of its kind in the United States. It was profiled by Time
magazine in July of that year. However, by 1965, the school had gone bankrupt. One of his students was Christian Brando
, son of Laughlin's friend, Marlon Brando
.
. However, the film did not get past the planning stages.
In 1967, Laughlin wrote, directed (as T. C. Frank) and starred in the motorcycle-gang exploitation film The Born Losers
. This was the first film in which the character of Billy Jack appeared. It was a box-office hit and is often thought of as one of the best biker films. The film featured a rare late-career appearance by Jane Russell
.
After The Born Losers, Laughlin was set to begin a film project with backing from such figures as Marlon Brando
, Jack Lemmon
, Candice Bergen
, and director Robert Wise
. The film was to be a documentary on the issues facing African Americans in the 1960s and would have focused greatly on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. followed by a discussion of race. However, the film was never made.
He followed this up with the sequel to The Born Losers, Billy Jack
, in 1971. Although he made the film, like all of his films, independently and with his own money, several studios agreed to distribute it. American International Pictures refused to release the film unless many of the political references - as well as frontal nudity - were cut. This led the Laughlins to withhold the film's sound reels, which in effect made it a silent film. Eventually Warner Brothers released it, but Laughlin, upset with the studio's marketing of the film, sued to get it back and re-released it himself.
The film's re-release was highly successful and very controversial. Roger Ebert
, in his review of the film, wrote "Billy Jack seems to be saying that a gun is better than a constitution in the enforcement of justice. Is democracy totally obsolete, then? Is our only hope that the good fascists defeat the bad fascists?"
"However, the film was embraced by much of America's youth, leading Laughlin to claim in 1975 that "The youth of this country have only two heroes, Ralph Nader
and Billy Jack". When adjusted for inflation, it is, as of 2007, the highest-grossing independent film
of all time. The film was also among the first to introduce martial arts, especially hapkido
to American audiences and also contained elements of Jungian psychology, and false depictions of American Indian beliefs, depicting a tribe that does not exist, the "Nishnobie." As part of the film's promotion, Bong Soo Han
, who was in charge of the martial arts choreography for the film, toured the United States giving hapkido demonstrations.
The second sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack
, released in late 1974, was also a huge box office, if not as big a critical, success. It is notable for its casting of Native American icons such as Sacheen Littlefeather
and Rolling Thunder
, as well as its strong criticism of the Kent State shootings
. However, Laughlin's unique promotion of the film was its real legacy. Unlike most films of the era which opened in only a few cities before gradually spreading across the country, The Trial of Billy Jack opened in cities nationwide on the same day and commercials were broadcast for it during the national news. The film's promotion forever changed the way films are marketed and has been called "the first blockbuster
".
In 1975, Laughlin released The Master Gunfighter
, a western set in the 1840s, detailing the plight of the Chumash people. Laughlin grew a full beard for the film and his character fought with both a 12-shot revolver and a samurai sword. Although it did reasonably well at the box office, critics were not pleased with the film.
He returned to the Billy Jack franchise in 1977. However, the fourth entry in the series, Billy Jack Goes to Washington
was a failure because of distribution problems, and it proved to be Laughlin's last film as a director through 2011. Laughlin has blamed individuals within the United States government for the failure of the film, telling CNN
's Showbiz Tonight
in 2005,
At the time of the film's release, Laughlin's company, Billy Jack Enterprises, had plans for a new Montessori school funded by his own foundation, a record label, an investigative magazine, books, a distribution company and more message-laden movies, including a special subsidiary to produce films for children. He told People magazine at the time, "Three years from today, we'll be the new United Artists
. Either that, or we'll be out on our butt on the street."
In 1976, Laughlin announced that he was more than $7 million in debt and blamed the financial troubles on unethical behavior by Warner Brothers Pictures, which he said had illegally sold the television rights to his films.
In 1984, he purchased a series of 12 advertisements in Variety
condemning various aspects of the film industry and its treatment of independent filmmakers. He also created a blueprint for taking control of the home video distribution industry as a way for independent films to be seen. This plan was a failure.
In 1986, he attempted to make a fifth Billy Jack film, entitled The Return of Billy Jack, which was to feature the title character fighting child pornographers in New York City. However, he suffered a concussion and neck injury during the production which led to the production being shut down. In 2009, several scenes from this unfinished film were released on Laughlin's website. A notable incident occurred while he was filming in New York City, when he broke up a street fight on Manhattan's West Side, threatening to rip a man's arm off. Laughlin also gained notoriety at this time for making a citizen's arrest of a man after an argument over Laughlin's driving.
Laughlin has been seeking funding for a fifth Billy Jack film since at least 1996, when he spoke about it during a lawsuit against a man who Laughlin said had illegally changed his name to "Billy Jack", and at one point Laughlin had plans to make a Billy Jack television series. In 2004 he announced that the film would be entitled Billy Jack's Crusade to End the War in Iraq and Restore America to Its Moral Purpose; this was shortened to Billy Jack's Moral Revolution in 2006. In 2008, the film's title was changed to was Billy Jack for President. Recently, it has been re-titled Billy Jack and Jean. Laughlin says it will be a "new genre of film" and a great deal of social commentary on politics, religion, and psychology will be discussed, and a debate will take place between Billy Jack and President George W. Bush
via computer manipulation of archived speeches. In 2009, Laughlin released plot details of this film on a video on his website. The video also contained several scenes from the film.
nomination for President
. He told the Milwaukee Sentinel, "I am the least qualified person I know to be President, except George Bush."
He appeared on the primary ballots in New Hampshire
and Louisiana
. He campaigned on a platform of a tax cut
for "ordinary Americans," term limit
s, an overhaul of public education
, universal health care
, and nuclear disarmament
. While campaigning for the Iowa caucus
he said of fellow candidate and Iowan Tom Harkin
: "I think he's a sleazebag. I despise him."
Despite being excluded from debates by party officials who did not consider him a serious candidate, he received 1,986 votes in the New Hampshire primary
. He blamed the results on lack of cooperation by the Democratic Party
, which allowed him and other candidates only five minutes to speak at the state's convention while giving the five front-runners 20 minutes each. He participated in the Independent Presidential Candidates Debate on March 25, 1992, along with former Senator and Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy
and others who had been excluded from the major debates. However, he was seen by much of the press as a "fringe candidate".
Laughlin later heavily protested being excluded from the primary ballot in his home state of Wisconsin at the same time former Ku Klux Klan
leader David Duke
was included. After dropping out of the race, he worked as an advisor to the campaign of Ross Perot
.
He ran for president again in 2004, this time as a Republican
. Campaigning as an opponent of the Iraq war, he received 154 votes in the New Hampshire primary despite not being allowed to participate in the debates. He ran again in 2008 as a Democrat, getting 47 votes in the New Hampshire primary.
Laughlin has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and President George W. Bush
. His website presents several writings calling the Iraq conflict worse than the Vietnam War
, in addition to pieces on what he calls "realistic exit strategies". He also devotes several pages of the Billy Jack website to reasons that he feels justify an impeachment
of George W. Bush
and has also repeatedly stated the need for a viable, mainstream third political party. In addition, he has criticized the Christian right
, which he has called "false Evangelicals", "false prophets", and the "Christo-fascist movement". He released several videos and writings during the 2008 election.
, studying it independently. A 1975 profile of Laughlin in People magazine mentioned his deep interest in psychology and mentioned that he had a personal "dream secretary" to whom Laughlin told his recollections of his dreams. They were written down to be analyzed later.
Laughlin has lectured on Jungian psychology at universities and colleges throughout the United States since the 1970s, including Yale University
and Stanford University
In 1995, due to his background in football and psychology, he was brought in to counsel University of Nebraska football player Lawrence Phillips
after Phillips' suspension from the team. He said of Phillips at the time, "He should not be rewarded by being allowed to play unless there is real substantive change. I don't mean surface change. But if he does change, then he's not only going to not batter this girl, he's not going to batter the girl he marries at 30 and 35. If he just pretends to change, of course he should not be allowed to play, but Lawrence has already been sanctioned in ways other batterers on this campus are not".
He has written several books on psychology including The Psychology of Cancer; Jungian Psychology vol. 2: Jungian Theory and Therapy, published in 1980; 9 Indispendable Ingredients to Writing a Hit (1999), which details the psychology involved in the box office and hit filmmaking, and The Cancer Personality (1998), which explains his cancer theories.
One of Mr. Laughlin's concerns is the issue of domestic abuse. He became involved in this after witnessing a neighbor, a police officer, beating his wife. He blamed the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson
on domestic abuse, saying,
since 1954. They have three children: Frank, Teresa, and Christina. His daughter Teresa (known by the family as T.C.) is currently - as of 2010 - a fashion designer. He derived at least two of his pseudonyms from his children: Frank Laughlin, his son's name and the name he used to direct The Trial of Billy Jack and The Master Gunfighter, and T.C. Frank, which stood for Teresa Christina Frank.
In 2001, it was announced that Laughlin was suffering from a cancer
of the tongue that was inoperable because of a heart condition. His website says it is in remission. His book, The Psychology of Cancer, is about faith, attitude and other factors that might affect cancer.
On November 20, 2007, he posted a video on YouTube
explaining that his poor health caused him to leave his BillyJack.com website in a dormant state. He is suffering from Coeliac disease
, an auto-immune disorder, and has had a series of strokes. In the video, he announced that he had his health issues under control, has updated the website, is continuing his plans for a new Billy Jack film.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, educator and political activist. Laughlin is best known for his series of Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...
films. He has been married to Delores Taylor
Delores Taylor
Delores Taylor is an American film actress, writer and producer, known for her roles in the Billy Jack films of the 1970s.-Life and career:...
since 1954. Taylor has also co-produced and acted in all four of the Billy Jack films. His unique promotion of The Trial of Billy Jack
The Trial of Billy Jack
The Trial of Billy Jack is a 1974 film starring Delores Taylor and Tom Laughlin. It is the sequel to the 1971 film Billy Jack and the third film overall in the series. Although commercially successful, it was panned by critics.-Plot:...
was a major influence on the way films are marketed.
In the early 1960s, Laughlin temporarily left his film career behind to start a Montessori
Montessori method
Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. Montessori education is practiced in an estimated 20,000 schools worldwide, serving children from birth to eighteen years old.-Overview:...
preschool in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
; it became the largest school of its kind in the United States.
In recent years he has become increasingly involved in politics, running for President of the United States three times (1992, 2004 and 2008). He also has been involved in psychology and domestic abuse counseling, writing several books on Jungian psychology and developing theories on the causes of cancer.
Early life and career (1931–1960)
Laughlin was born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, where he attended Washington High School. While in high school, he was involved in an athletic controversy that made headlines throughout the city. The controversy involved Laughlin being forced to attend another school for a brief period, making him ineligible to play football at his previous school upon his return. Laughlin first attended college at the University of Wisconsin and later at Marquette University
Marquette University
Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...
playing football for both schools. While at Marquette he played both safety and halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
.
Laughlin decided to become an actor after seeing a production of A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
. According to a 1956 newspaper profile, he became involved in the theater program at Marquette after encouragement by a university professor Father John J. Walsh. While a student he also formed a stock group and directed and starred in a production of Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's All My Sons
All My Sons
All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
. He later transferred to the University of South Dakota
University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota ', the state’s oldest university, was founded in 1862 and classes began in 1882. Located in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, USD is home to South Dakota's only medical school and law school. USD is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents, and its current...
where he majored in radio acting, directing, and producing.
While a student at the University of South Dakota, he met his future wife Delores Taylor
Delores Taylor
Delores Taylor is an American film actress, writer and producer, known for her roles in the Billy Jack films of the 1970s.-Life and career:...
. He wrote the original screenplay for the film Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...
in 1954 after witnessing the treatment of Native Americans in her hometown of Winner, South Dakota
Winner, South Dakota
Winner is a city in Tripp County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,897 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Tripp County. Winner also serves as the administrative center of neighboring Todd County, which does not have its own county seat. The nearest airport is Winner...
. The two were married on October 15, 1954.
He began his on-screen acting career in the 1955 television series Climax!. From there he went on to appear in several feature films including: These Wilder Years, Lafayette Escadrille
Lafayette Escadrille
The Lafayette Escadrille , was an escadrille of the French Air Service, the Aéronautique militaire, during World War I composed largely of American volunteer pilots flying fighters.-History:Dr. Edmund L...
, Tea and Sympathy
Tea and Sympathy
Tea and Sympathy is a 1953 stage play in three acts by Robert Anderson.-Broadway premiere:It received its premiere on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on September 30, 1953 in a production by The Playwrights' Company, directed by Elia Kazan and designed by Jo Mielziner. The play starred...
and South Pacific. He appeared in several episodes of various television series throughout the late 1950s. He also appeared in the film Gidget
Gidget (film)
Gidget is a 1959 Columbia Pictures CinemaScope feature film. It stars Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson, and James Darren in a story about a teenager's initiation into the California surf culture and her affiliated romance with a young surfer. The screenplay was written by Gabrielle Upton, a nom de plume...
(1959) as "Lover Boy". However, he failed to make any money in the early years, telling People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine in 1975, "We were living on $5 a week and eating Spam
Spam (food)
Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...
. I stole Christmas cards from a church so I could write home saying how well we were, but then I couldn't afford the stamps."
Laughlin's first starring role was in Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's 1957 film The Delinquents, in which he played Scotty White, a teenager who gets mixed up with a gang when he is told he can no longer see his girlfriend. Despite the film's low budget, it became a cult film, with Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
among its fans. However, Laughlin and Altman did not get along well, having sharply differing views on acting; Altman later describing Laughlin as "an unbelievable pain in the ass".
Laughlin made his directorial debut later that year with The Proper Time
The Proper Time
The Proper Time is a 1960 film starring Tom Laughlin. It is also Laughlin's directorial and screenwriting debut.-Plot:Laughlin stars as Mickey Henderson, a student at UCLA with a speech impediment that goes away when he is in contact with girls. He starts a friendship with Sue , but is seduced by...
, though the film wasn't released until 1960. The film was a romantic drama set on the campus of UCLA. Laughlin shot the film on the campus in six days working with a $20,000 budget.
Laughlin also wrote, directed, and starred in The Young Sinner. Originally filmed in 1960, and shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, over a period of 14 days, it is the story of a star high school athlete who falls deeper and deeper into trouble after being caught in bed with his girlfriend. The film was intended to be the first of a trilogy entitled We Are All Christ. It premiered in 1963 under the original title Among the Thorns, which was changed to The Young Sinner upon its 1965 re-release.
In 1960, Laughlin planned to make a film titled Poison in Our Land based on the true story of a Texas couple affected by atomic radiation.
Leaving Hollywood (1961–1966)
In 1959, Laughlin and his wife founded a MontessoriMontessori method
Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. Montessori education is practiced in an estimated 20,000 schools worldwide, serving children from birth to eighteen years old.-Overview:...
preschool in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. By 1961, Laughlin had left the film business to devote all of his time to the school, which by 1964 had become the largest school of its kind in the United States. It was profiled by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine in July of that year. However, by 1965, the school had gone bankrupt. One of his students was Christian Brando
Christian Brando
Christian Brando was the eldest child of actor Marlon Brando. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of the boyfriend of his half-sister Cheyenne. On May 16, 1990, Christian Brando had shot Dag Drollet to death at Marlon Brando's residence on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. He was...
, son of Laughlin's friend, Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
.
Billy Jack years (1967–1977)
In 1965, Laughlin told the Milwaukee Sentinel that he planned to make a film on the life of Catholic priest William DuBayWilliam DuBay
William DuBay was a U.S. Catholic priest and social activist whose reform activities and suspension from the priesthood created controversy in the mid-1960s....
. However, the film did not get past the planning stages.
In 1967, Laughlin wrote, directed (as T. C. Frank) and starred in the motorcycle-gang exploitation film The Born Losers
The Born Losers
This article is about the film. You may be looking for the song http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_LosersBorn Losers is a 1967 action film and the first of the Billy Jack movies. The film introduced Tom Laughlin as the half-Indian Green Beret Vietnam veteran Billy Jack...
. This was the first film in which the character of Billy Jack appeared. It was a box-office hit and is often thought of as one of the best biker films. The film featured a rare late-career appearance by Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
.
After The Born Losers, Laughlin was set to begin a film project with backing from such figures as Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
, Candice Bergen
Candice Bergen
Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
, and director Robert Wise
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
. The film was to be a documentary on the issues facing African Americans in the 1960s and would have focused greatly on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. followed by a discussion of race. However, the film was never made.
He followed this up with the sequel to The Born Losers, Billy Jack
Billy Jack
Billy Jack is a 1971 action film. It is the second, and highest grossing, in a series of motion pictures centering on a character of the same name, played by Tom Laughlin who also directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in fall 1969, but the movie was not completed...
, in 1971. Although he made the film, like all of his films, independently and with his own money, several studios agreed to distribute it. American International Pictures refused to release the film unless many of the political references - as well as frontal nudity - were cut. This led the Laughlins to withhold the film's sound reels, which in effect made it a silent film. Eventually Warner Brothers released it, but Laughlin, upset with the studio's marketing of the film, sued to get it back and re-released it himself.
The film's re-release was highly successful and very controversial. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, in his review of the film, wrote "Billy Jack seems to be saying that a gun is better than a constitution in the enforcement of justice. Is democracy totally obsolete, then? Is our only hope that the good fascists defeat the bad fascists?"
"However, the film was embraced by much of America's youth, leading Laughlin to claim in 1975 that "The youth of this country have only two heroes, Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
and Billy Jack". When adjusted for inflation, it is, as of 2007, the highest-grossing independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
of all time. The film was also among the first to introduce martial arts, especially hapkido
Hapkido
Hapkido is a dynamic and also eclectic Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, techniques of other martial arts, as well as kicks, punches, and other striking attacks...
to American audiences and also contained elements of Jungian psychology, and false depictions of American Indian beliefs, depicting a tribe that does not exist, the "Nishnobie." As part of the film's promotion, Bong Soo Han
Bong Soo Han
Han Bong-Soo , also known as Bong Soo Han, was a martial arts instructor, author, the founder of the International Hapkido Federation, and one of the foremost practitioners of hapkido through his participation in books, magazine articles, and popular films featuring this Korean martial art...
, who was in charge of the martial arts choreography for the film, toured the United States giving hapkido demonstrations.
The second sequel, The Trial of Billy Jack
The Trial of Billy Jack
The Trial of Billy Jack is a 1974 film starring Delores Taylor and Tom Laughlin. It is the sequel to the 1971 film Billy Jack and the third film overall in the series. Although commercially successful, it was panned by critics.-Plot:...
, released in late 1974, was also a huge box office, if not as big a critical, success. It is notable for its casting of Native American icons such as Sacheen Littlefeather
Sacheen Littlefeather
Sacheen Littlefeather is a Native American activist who donned Apache dress and presented a speech on behalf of actor Marlon Brando, for his performance in The Godfather, when he boycotted the 45th Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, 1973, in protest of the treatment of Native Americans by the...
and Rolling Thunder
Rolling Thunder (person)
Rolling Thunder was a Native American medicine man. He was born into the Cherokee nation and later moved to Nevada and lived with the Western Shoshone...
, as well as its strong criticism of the Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
. However, Laughlin's unique promotion of the film was its real legacy. Unlike most films of the era which opened in only a few cities before gradually spreading across the country, The Trial of Billy Jack opened in cities nationwide on the same day and commercials were broadcast for it during the national news. The film's promotion forever changed the way films are marketed and has been called "the first blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
".
In 1975, Laughlin released The Master Gunfighter
The Master Gunfighter
The Master Gunfighter is a film released in 1975, written and produced by Tom Laughlin, who also played the lead as Finley. It is commonly believed Laughlin also directed the film, using the name of his son, Frank Laughlin, as a pseudonym. He had used his children's names in various forms as...
, a western set in the 1840s, detailing the plight of the Chumash people. Laughlin grew a full beard for the film and his character fought with both a 12-shot revolver and a samurai sword. Although it did reasonably well at the box office, critics were not pleased with the film.
He returned to the Billy Jack franchise in 1977. However, the fourth entry in the series, Billy Jack Goes to Washington
Billy Jack Goes to Washington
Billy Jack Goes to Washington is a 1977 film starring Tom Laughlin, the fourth film in the Billy Jack series, and although the earlier films saw enormous success, this film did not. The film only had limited screenings upon its release and never saw a general theatrical release, but has since...
was a failure because of distribution problems, and it proved to be Laughlin's last film as a director through 2011. Laughlin has blamed individuals within the United States government for the failure of the film, telling CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight is an American entertainment news program on HLN .Showbiz Tonight is hosted by A.J. Hammer at CNN New York. The show reports and debates celebrity entertainment news stories and controversies, along with social networking segments involving viewer interaction via social networks and...
in 2005,
At a private screening, Senator Vance HartkeVance HartkeRupert Vance Hartke was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana from 1959 until 1977.-Early life, education, military service:...
got up, because it was about how the Senate was bought out by the nuclear industry. He got up and charged me. Walter CronkiteWalter CronkiteWalter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
's daughter was there, [and] Lucille BallLucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
. And he said, 'You'll never get this released. This house you have, everything will be destroyed.' [I]t was three years later, he gets indicted for the exact crime that we showed in the movie."
At the time of the film's release, Laughlin's company, Billy Jack Enterprises, had plans for a new Montessori school funded by his own foundation, a record label, an investigative magazine, books, a distribution company and more message-laden movies, including a special subsidiary to produce films for children. He told People magazine at the time, "Three years from today, we'll be the new United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. Either that, or we'll be out on our butt on the street."
In 1976, Laughlin announced that he was more than $7 million in debt and blamed the financial troubles on unethical behavior by Warner Brothers Pictures, which he said had illegally sold the television rights to his films.
Later career (1978–present)
In the years after the failure of Billy Jack Goes to Washington, Laughlin played small roles in a couple of films, such as The Big Sleep in 1978 and his last acting role through 2011 was The Legend of the Lone Ranger in 1981.In 1984, he purchased a series of 12 advertisements in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
condemning various aspects of the film industry and its treatment of independent filmmakers. He also created a blueprint for taking control of the home video distribution industry as a way for independent films to be seen. This plan was a failure.
In 1986, he attempted to make a fifth Billy Jack film, entitled The Return of Billy Jack, which was to feature the title character fighting child pornographers in New York City. However, he suffered a concussion and neck injury during the production which led to the production being shut down. In 2009, several scenes from this unfinished film were released on Laughlin's website. A notable incident occurred while he was filming in New York City, when he broke up a street fight on Manhattan's West Side, threatening to rip a man's arm off. Laughlin also gained notoriety at this time for making a citizen's arrest of a man after an argument over Laughlin's driving.
Laughlin has been seeking funding for a fifth Billy Jack film since at least 1996, when he spoke about it during a lawsuit against a man who Laughlin said had illegally changed his name to "Billy Jack", and at one point Laughlin had plans to make a Billy Jack television series. In 2004 he announced that the film would be entitled Billy Jack's Crusade to End the War in Iraq and Restore America to Its Moral Purpose; this was shortened to Billy Jack's Moral Revolution in 2006. In 2008, the film's title was changed to was Billy Jack for President. Recently, it has been re-titled Billy Jack and Jean. Laughlin says it will be a "new genre of film" and a great deal of social commentary on politics, religion, and psychology will be discussed, and a debate will take place between Billy Jack and President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
via computer manipulation of archived speeches. In 2009, Laughlin released plot details of this film on a video on his website. The video also contained several scenes from the film.
Politics
In recent years, Laughlin has turned his attention to politics. In 1992, as a protest he sought the Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nomination for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. He told the Milwaukee Sentinel, "I am the least qualified person I know to be President, except George Bush."
He appeared on the primary ballots in New Hampshire
New Hampshire Democratic primary, 1992
The 1992 New Hampshire Democratic primary was won by Paul Tsongas, but is known for the insurgent campaign of Bill Clinton, who managed a surprising second place finish.The Iowa caucus, the first contest of the 1992 Democratic primaries, was not contested...
and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He campaigned on a platform of a tax cut
Tax cut
A tax cut is a reduction in taxes. The immediate effects of a tax cut are a decrease in the real income of the government and an increase in the real income of those whose tax rate has been lowered. Due to the perceived benefit in growing real incomes among tax payers politicians have sought to...
for "ordinary Americans," term limit
Term limit
A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method to curb the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for...
s, an overhaul of public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
, universal health care
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
, and nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
. While campaigning for the Iowa caucus
Iowa caucus
The Iowa caucuses are an electoral event in which residents of the U.S. state of Iowa meet in precinct caucuses in all of Iowa's 1784 precincts and elect delegates to the corresponding county conventions. There are 99 counties in Iowa and thus 99 conventions...
he said of fellow candidate and Iowan Tom Harkin
Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard "Tom" Harkin is the junior United States Senator from Iowa and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives ....
: "I think he's a sleazebag. I despise him."
Despite being excluded from debates by party officials who did not consider him a serious candidate, he received 1,986 votes in the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire primary is the first in a series of nationwide political party primary elections held in the United States every four years , as part of the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for the presidential elections to be held the subsequent November.Although only a...
. He blamed the results on lack of cooperation by the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, which allowed him and other candidates only five minutes to speak at the state's convention while giving the five front-runners 20 minutes each. He participated in the Independent Presidential Candidates Debate on March 25, 1992, along with former Senator and Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
and others who had been excluded from the major debates. However, he was seen by much of the press as a "fringe candidate".
Laughlin later heavily protested being excluded from the primary ballot in his home state of Wisconsin at the same time former Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
leader David Duke
David Duke
David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
was included. After dropping out of the race, he worked as an advisor to the campaign of Ross Perot
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
.
He ran for president again in 2004, this time as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. Campaigning as an opponent of the Iraq war, he received 154 votes in the New Hampshire primary despite not being allowed to participate in the debates. He ran again in 2008 as a Democrat, getting 47 votes in the New Hampshire primary.
Laughlin has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. His website presents several writings calling the Iraq conflict worse than the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, in addition to pieces on what he calls "realistic exit strategies". He also devotes several pages of the Billy Jack website to reasons that he feels justify an impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and has also repeatedly stated the need for a viable, mainstream third political party. In addition, he has criticized the Christian right
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
, which he has called "false Evangelicals", "false prophets", and the "Christo-fascist movement". He released several videos and writings during the 2008 election.
Psychology and counseling
Although he is not a professionally trained psychologist, Laughlin has always had an interest in psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, studying it independently. A 1975 profile of Laughlin in People magazine mentioned his deep interest in psychology and mentioned that he had a personal "dream secretary" to whom Laughlin told his recollections of his dreams. They were written down to be analyzed later.
Laughlin has lectured on Jungian psychology at universities and colleges throughout the United States since the 1970s, including Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
In 1995, due to his background in football and psychology, he was brought in to counsel University of Nebraska football player Lawrence Phillips
Lawrence Phillips
Lawrence Lamond Phillips is a former professional American football and Canadian football running back. Phillips's trouble with the law and inability to produce in the NFL have led many critics to label him as a bust....
after Phillips' suspension from the team. He said of Phillips at the time, "He should not be rewarded by being allowed to play unless there is real substantive change. I don't mean surface change. But if he does change, then he's not only going to not batter this girl, he's not going to batter the girl he marries at 30 and 35. If he just pretends to change, of course he should not be allowed to play, but Lawrence has already been sanctioned in ways other batterers on this campus are not".
He has written several books on psychology including The Psychology of Cancer; Jungian Psychology vol. 2: Jungian Theory and Therapy, published in 1980; 9 Indispendable Ingredients to Writing a Hit (1999), which details the psychology involved in the box office and hit filmmaking, and The Cancer Personality (1998), which explains his cancer theories.
One of Mr. Laughlin's concerns is the issue of domestic abuse. He became involved in this after witnessing a neighbor, a police officer, beating his wife. He blamed the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson
Nicole Brown Simpson
Nicole Brown Simpson was a former wife of professional football player O. J. Simpson.- Relationship with O. J. Simpson :...
on domestic abuse, saying,
O.J. Simpson was my neighbor up the street on Rockingham. He lived at 300 Rockingham Drive - across from Linda Ronstadt - while I lived at 100 Rockingham. I've known O.J. forever. This is one of the sickest, sorriest days in our culture, that he was found 'not guilty'. I've told him since 1985 he'd end up in jail. Eight times [Nicole] cried out and eight times, because it was O.J. and it was woman-battering, it was dismissed. But now, with the trivialization, people are afraid to call because they don't trust that the system will help them. The fact that [O.J.] was found not guilty is going to make that 10 times worse. If you can't get help, if there is no justice, if there is no legal system that will help them, where do you go? Who's going to call? Why call if you're not going to get help.
Personal life
Laughlin has been married to Delores TaylorDelores Taylor
Delores Taylor is an American film actress, writer and producer, known for her roles in the Billy Jack films of the 1970s.-Life and career:...
since 1954. They have three children: Frank, Teresa, and Christina. His daughter Teresa (known by the family as T.C.) is currently - as of 2010 - a fashion designer. He derived at least two of his pseudonyms from his children: Frank Laughlin, his son's name and the name he used to direct The Trial of Billy Jack and The Master Gunfighter, and T.C. Frank, which stood for Teresa Christina Frank.
In 2001, it was announced that Laughlin was suffering from a cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
of the tongue that was inoperable because of a heart condition. His website says it is in remission. His book, The Psychology of Cancer, is about faith, attitude and other factors that might affect cancer.
On November 20, 2007, he posted a video on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
explaining that his poor health caused him to leave his BillyJack.com website in a dormant state. He is suffering from Coeliac disease
Coeliac disease
Coeliac disease , is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages from middle infancy onward...
, an auto-immune disorder, and has had a series of strokes. In the video, he announced that he had his health issues under control, has updated the website, is continuing his plans for a new Billy Jack film.