The Trial of Billy Jack | 
| Actors: Lynn Baker, Michael Bolland, Sandra Ego, Gus Greymountain, Bong Soo Han
Studio: Ventura Distribution
Category: DVD
Buy New: $249.98
New (2) Used (8) from $28.99
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 72827
Format: Color, Dvd, Ntsc, Special Edition
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 140 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 634991100328
EAN: 0063499110032
ASIN: B00004XPON
Theatrical Release Date: November 13, 1974
Release Date: October 31, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 Is One Star the Lowest I Can Give This? February 12, 2009
David Burdette (Gainesville, FL USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Long. Slow. Preachy. Slow. Pretentious. Slow. Boring. Slow. Badly Acted. Slow. Badly Written. Slow. Badly Directed. Slow. Badly Edited. Slow. Trite. Slow. Did I mention "Slow"?
 Bought for someone else July 1, 2008
Melanie Chapin
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
My aunt had been searching for this movie for a long time & asked if I could find it for her. I can always count of Amazon.com:) DVDs arrived quickly & were just as described.
For Billy Jack Fans-Not History Buffs May 26, 2008
Atreides (Pittsburgh,Pa)
I remember seeing this film eagerly after having seen the movie "Billy Jack" a year before....at that time I was thirteen and found the movie
entertaining at times, but disappointing, just too "heavy" on politics and paranoia. At that time, all I wanted was more action, more of "Billy", and the martial arts...If I didn't like the character, "Billy Jack" so much...I'd have probably not given the film much thought.
Over 30 years later I still like the character, and now have a more sentimental attachment to the films.
I don't think I ever considered the "historic accuracy"...I never took the movies as seriously as people seem to do today. To me, I was watching another Billy Jack movie. I liked the series of Billy Jack films in all their schlockiness and don't care much about "historic accuracy" or
over analyzing....There are just some films out there you can't take seriously, I know Tom Laughlin did then and does, but I don't care.
If you saw the films as a youth as I did, and liked them, this film is for you, otherwise leave it alone.
Response to Closed Minded People February 3, 2008
A. Geach (Idaho, USA)
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
First, I wish to respond to the many negative reviews regarding this movie. Evidently the people in this country do not learn their lessons, or they live with their heads in the sand.
The MAIN problem with ALL the negative reviews about this movie were the complaints of Tom Laughlin's self importance and battering of the system. IF any of those who wrote negatively here, actually watched the movies, they would know that it states UNEQUIVICALLY, that these movies are fictional reenactments of specific events, that have been enhanced and expanded for the benefit of the movies.
I am sure the same fools that have written their drivel here, see nothing wrong with the enhancements, outright lies, and totally unrealistic events of many of the movies produced today (nearly 40 years after the Billy Jack series).
In the second of the series, the beginning of the movies lists many of the events of that time, where violance was used by OUR government against students who refused to allow the system to have so much control over a country that was supposed to be FREE!!!
Perhaps some of you should rewatch this movie, and look at the government you are living under today. We are on the edge of a recession, the wealthy are getting wealthier while driving more middle class into financial ruin, child abuse is on the front page more and more, health care for the normal family is so insanely expensive that either other necessities are done without, or there is no medical coverage at all. But the very acts that were occurring at the time of these movies are still occurring today, and in many instances more so.
Corporations and crooked politicians are robbing the people at an alarming rate, we are being TOLD that spying is NEEDED to protect our nation, even though that spying can and is invading areas that our government has no right to insinuate themselves. The BIA has so mismanaged Indian funds that the government has managed to "lose" billions of Indian dollars, then simply state there is no way for them to accurately determine what has been STOLEN from them.
The idiot that made the comments about the incident in Vietnam should get familiar with the attrocities that occurred during that war, and many others. There have been very few times throughout history, where the actual person or persons responsible for calling the shots, has EVER been prosecuted. It is the policy of our government and our military to blame and punish a few lower level scapegoats, in order to pacify the "ignorant" public, then proceed with business as normal. Look at what has happened during this war. The men and women in our military are trained to blindly follow orders. When they do and it becomes public knowledge and the public is angered by it, they punish those very same people for carrying out the ORDERS they were trained to follow. Their CO's are not punished, just those that were expected to carry out the orders.
The entire Billy Jack series are great and if watched with an open mind and not just a thirst for action and violence, are quite thought provoking. It is obvious by the state of our nation right now, that people are so complacent that they have learned NOTHING from the past. The complacency of our people, and corrupt politicians are TOTALLY responsible for 9-11, and still they have learned NOTHING! This is evident by the very candidates that are currently running for office. Not a ONE of them has the best interest of this country, the middle class, or the poor at heart. Freedom is what this nation was built on, and that was what this series tried to teach. When crooked law enforcement and politicians can so easily sweep away that freedom, we are no longer in control of our own lives, and we have no say in what happens to us.
How much Freedom do you have now, and how much control over your future? I'd say Washington, the oil companies, and corporate America have the control.
Tom Laughlin attempted to stir people up, in a way that would get people to watch, but obviously the message was lost to those who care more about action in the movies, than action in the control of their lives.
 A Hippie Diatribe with Indian Mysticism August 13, 2007
John A Lee III (San Antonio, TX)
BILLY JACK closed with Billy being arrested for manslaughter. This film opens with an extremely long sequence featuring the director of the school Billy was protecting in the last installment, recounting a long list of grievances to a reporter. In this sequence, virtually every hippie stereotype and left wing cause is aired. Intermingled with this retrospective diatribe are flashbacks of Billy Jack's legal trial and prison sentence.
The "trial" referred to in the title does not seem to be the legal one mentioned above. After being released from prison, Billy undergoes a personal trial, replete with Indian mysticism. He is seeking to become a less violent person. This is the backdrop for the real point of the film.
All events lead up to staging a massacre at the school similar in nature to the historic one at Kent State University. The movie is virtually a tribute to those who lost their lives. Little else is accomplished in terms of story or drama.
The movie makes some valid and even good points about the politics of the day and indicts justs about everything associated with "The Establishment". It also back a few losing points of view. Whether these points of view are agreed with or not, however, the film could have been much stronger and made its point better.
This is a very long film. That made it proportionally more difficult to sit through. It is propaganda of its time. It has germs of truth within but those germs are lost with the sledgehammer method of delivering the message.
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