Word: laughlin
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...utterly charming Irishman who could make you believe just about anything in less than 30 minutes." Composer Elmer Bernstein says: "he possesses a grandeur of vision that is quite staggering." His daughter Teresa, 15, thinks he is "just like a good friend." At first meeting, Tom Laughlin's glittering blue eyes and ready grin make him seem the soul of affability. But beware. The smallest infraction can trip a temper that has become as infamous as Mussolini's. Tom's face grows scarlet, and his voice sounds like the Devil's in The Exorcist...
...this be the peace-loving Billy Jack, the tousled loner of Laughlin's 1971 cult hit of the same name? Can this be the hero of The Trial of Billy Jack (1974), who mused on the tragedies of My Lai and Kent State? It can. To Laughlin, the private fury and the public saint are a smooth amalgam of aesthetics and justice. "The youth of this country have only two heroes," he claims modestly, "Ralph Nader and Billy Jack." Laughlin says to friends, "Billy Jack will institute political change...
...pure chaos. Billy Jack movies are confusing. Laughlin, who wrote the scripts for both films, portrays Billy as a passive fellow-within limits. Billy's enemies are big business, cops, state officials and rednecks. He supports "dissidents"-mainly students and Indians who, he makes clear, live off money from the Government they claim is hounding them. Billy likes to meditate but the movies' emotional climax comes when massed throngs scream as he starts to speak...
...Laughlin is not only a doer; he is a dreamer. His Jungian analyst receives daily tapes of Tom's dreams. One amanuensis who transcribed the tapes recalls, "The dreams were lurid. Lots of sexual details, so much so I simply don't believe he really had such dreams but was titillated by having me listen to them...
...Laughlin's message is that violence is bad, but that greed, hatred and corruption conspire to make it sometimes necessary. When Billy Jack lets his hands and feet fly at some nasty yokel, he feels just terrible afterward. His guilt has to do in great part with his love for Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor), a staunch advocate of nonviolence who takes a dim view of Billy's temper even as she makes good use of his muscle. In Trial, as in its predecessor, the townies are always hassling Jean and her freedom school-a dewy combination of Summerhill...