| The Trial Of Billy Jack (1974) Cast:Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor This time Tom Laughlin returns as Billy Jack, out of prison he helps protect the hippy school from the town once again, this time however Billy Jack also goes on a spiritual quest which involves meeting Jesus(!) and so forth in what has to be one of the most obnoxious, inept and quite possibly the most boring movie ever made. I must admit I got a kick out of Billy Jack, it was like Tom Laughlin himself, highly amusing. The politics, the overall message all delivered with the subtleness of a hammer, however where as Billy Jack was amusing it was pretty much a failure, however with The Trial Of Billy Jack, this one doesn't even have unintentional laughter to fall back on because this one plain and simple is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, if not probably the worst. And that says something. Seriously as I look through my list of "NO STARS" reviews I can't find a movie that even matches the overall stench of awfulness this film has. It's really something. Infact it's almost worth seeing so that in the future you will never look at bad movies ever the same way again. Mainly because the movie itself is a trial to sit through, but that just paves the way of how inept the movie really is, for instance there isn't really a trial of Billy Jack as he is basically in court for ten minutes, instead it's a repeat of Billy Jack this time without the amusement. Part of the reason why Billy Jack was at least amusing was that it tried so hard to deliver the labored message, unfortunately this time the movie labors to bore your skull numb. The movie just drags and drags, with absoluately no technique to edit or imply what Laughlin works so hard to spell out. Watching this movie is like listening to a mentally handicapped person describe how a cure for weight loss works. Also the sub-plots are so over the top and so pretentious one wonders wasn't there anyone to cry out "Stop this insanity!" To clue in Tom Laughlin that people in real life aren't this cut and dry and that nobody can possibly take it seriously because of the lack of humanity found in all the characters. Movies like this work if they are able to ring true with a realistic edge that explores both sides of the case as well as coming to a conclusion on how to solve these problems, but when I tell you that even the original Billy Jack handled this better, only tells you how inept this movie is made. Also watching this movie is like going to church for three hours straight, however with a preacher who has a dry voice and just drones on about something you simply can't relate to. This is exactly the same impression The Trial Of Billy Jack gives off. But overall it's just plain boring, way too long and never for a second makes sense and when it does, the message itself is really quite repugnant. Especially when you realize that both sides of the fence have equal responsibility in what happened back in the 70's.Clearly Laughlin cares enough to nail this point home. It's just that nobody can take a movie seriously when it just drones on about empty headed zen philosphies not found outside of a fortune cookie. D.Tom Laughlin NO STARS |