Billy Jack : the complete collection

Summary: In "Born losers" (1967), Tom Laughlin introduced the character of Billy Jack, a mixed-race Native American, ex-Green Beret, and Vietnam vet who just wants to be left alone. When a vicious motorcycle gang launches a reign of terror on a small town, he finds he must stand up and fight while others hide in fear. Billy Jack kills the leader of the gang, but is accidentally slain by a deputy sheriff. Four years later the character was resurrected for the film "Billy Jack" (1971) in which Billy returns to live in solitude on an Arizona Indian reservation. He is drawn to its progressive Freedom School for troubled youth and to the idealistic woman (Taylor) who runs it. She is the embodiment of the film's pacifist message. When tensions flare between the students and narrow-minded locals who fear what they cannot understand, Billy Jack becomes the school's protector. In "The trial of Billy Jack" (1974), Billy is put on trial for two killings he committed in self-defense while protecting the Freedom School from the small-town Arizona bigots. He is convicted and sent to prison, but the Freedom School thrives under Jean Roberts (Taylor). When Billy Jack is paroled for good behavior, he returns home to explore his tribal spiritual heritage. Meanwhile the Freedom School's television station has broadcast exposés of America's sociopolitical ills which have annoyed local officials. National Guard troops occupy the school's campus, but the students resist. Billy agrees to surrender to the Guard if they withdraw, but the Guard opens fire, killing many students and wounding Billy and Jean. The Guard is finally forced to withdraw from the reservation by the terms of an 1880 treaty, and Billy and Jean vow to rebuild the Freedom School. Includes flashbacks to atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam. Finally, in "Billy Jack goes to Washington" (1977), Billy is elected as the junior Senator from Arizona in 1976. Arriving in Washington, he discovers that the respected senior Senator from Arizona (Marshall) and a business tycoon (Wanamaker) are secretly planning to build a nuclear plant in the pristine Arizona landscape. Billy Jack mounts a campaign against the plant and, with the support of the American youth movement, saves the country from this environmental menace.