We next cut to some night or other, watching as an Indian male (this might be the same guy who was in Billy’s drowning vision) walks to his car. With a blare of music, a gang of rednecks previously obscured by the darkness is revealed when they turn on their car headlights in a synchronized fashion. I’m sure it was a lot of work to get that timing down just right, but hey, it’s a nicely dramatic effect.

As an Ominous Tuba blats, we cut to the Indian, in slow motion, being forced down under some body of water, exactly as in Billy’s vision. (Wowsers!) This takes place in broad daylight, so I don’t know what they were doing with the guy in the meantime, especially since he doesn’t exhibit any obvious indications of manhandling.

We then jump ahead, to find Sheriff Carl, Billy, Jean, Doc and others on the scene. The victim’s Volkswagen Bug (of course, what else?) is being hauled out of the water, and he himself is presumably dead. Even Doc is prepared to fold, telling Jean that "I hope this is going to end your Indian Legal Rights Seminar." Meanwhile, Jean cynically anticipates that the available evidence will suggest that the death was accidental. "What the hell did you expect?" the Sheriff asks. A bitter Doc picks up the refrain. "Yeah, a sign? ‘Courtesy of W. A. Posner and his friends from the CIA’?" (The CIA!!! Man, these people just can’t help themselves.)

However—duh—the Seminar goes forward, and is even nationally (!!) televised. (So what, did they manage to rebuild their broadcast tower already?) A woman decked out with Indian jewelry is addressing a crowded room of, I guess, various civil rights experts and whatnot. Unsurprisingly, her remarks are oddly specific yet vague, fantastical but boring. "The mass confusion over what really are the Indian rights, makes it impossible for even Indians lawyers to grasp the laws that are mostly aimed at depriving him of thirteen million acres of prime real estate in the United States. Let us now look closely at…." And so on and so on.

She also refers to a chart, apparently whipped up by twelve year-olds the night before the seminar, detailing various relevant committees of Congress. This purportedly illustrates how "two hundred and twenty million people are totally controlled by the votes of four or five [committee chairmen]." Well, sort of, except for the ‘totally’ part, which is ridiculous. Meanwhile, those four or five committee chairs first have to be elected by their constituents, but yes, that is in a gross sense how the representative form of government functions. Meanwhile, we cut away and see that these hearings are being watched by some of those selfsame congressmen in Washington. (!!)

Next Blue Elk steps up and serves up another stew of obvious statements and outright balderdash. For instance he details (well, not details) how some Indians, who he charmingly calls ‘traitors,’ get themselves a monopoly from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to sell their fellow Indians supplies, at which point the prices of, well, something are marked up by 1,000%. Then the impoverished Indians are offered credit at "interest rates usually falling between 45 and 75% annually."

Let’s just assume that all this is true, although it sounds like something from a Snidely Whiplash cartoon. Even so, I guess the non-traitor Indians could pool their money and establish their own loaning mechanism, one that would not charge such rates of interest. However, that solution, although it might actually, you know, work, smacks of that whole free market thing, which is unthinkable. Better to get on TV and bitch about things.

By the way, it’s during Blue Elk’s spiel that we hit the one hour and fifty-three minute mark, at which point there’s exactly an hour of movie left. Yep, that’s right. An hour of movie left.

At this point, we jump around, and see that the entire town is watching the broadcast, even those fascists at the furniture store. Meanwhile, Posner glowers as Blue Elk directly accuses him of processing congressional kickbacks to Congress through his bank. Needless to say, since there doesn’t seem to be any proof of this (although we ‘know’ it’s true), you’d think Posner would immediately be on the phone to his lawyer and preparing to sue the Freedom School out of existence. Once again, though, the villains allow an obvious solution to their problems to go by the boards, presumably because that solution is insufficiently Blofeldian.

We then get our third speaker—this is why there’s still an hour left to go—who proves a wizened woman who looks disturbingly like Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis in drag. After a further half minute of platitudes, we finally cut to Jean, who is (thankfully) closing the Seminar out. During her own speech, she references, "…the overwhelming despair, gnawing away at every Indian, and every other person in the United States, knowing that there is no longer any way he can directly affect the destiny of this country, and therefore, he can no longer control his own life." Hey, speak for yourself, Sweetie Pie.

Say what you will about this film, but if you're looking for HOT SEMINAR ACTION!!, then this is the movie for you!	" "Lilly, Eddie and Marilyn have been very supportive. Herman, however, could never understand that I was a woman trapped in a vampire's body."

Nonetheless, she continues on, and even sets the folks at the Freedom School up as the natural heirs of the Founding Fathers (!!!), who she lists the names of at length, because this is, after all, The Trial of Billy Jack. (Hilariously, for this crowd, she doesn’t mention that most of them owned slaves, or their record with the American Indians.) When she finally, finally, wraps up her address, she is, of course, given a standing ovation. Considering how numb my ass got while listening to her drone on and on, I almost joined in myself.

Grievously wounded by this televised display of Truth Telling, the Establishment strikes back with all its many tentacles. Since this is The Trial of Billy Jack, each incident is detailed for our edification.

First, the State has finally been granted legal custody of Danny. We learn this when we cut to Doc’s hospital, where a seething, guitar-brandishing Carol is holding off Harry, an unctuous John Carradine-like State Representative. (Hey, if you really want to hurt him, sing that "Don’t Turn Back, Billy Jack" song.) Behind her, a sobbing Danny cowers in the corner.

When Harry attempts to carry out his malign mission, Carol indeed whacks him with the guitar. Of course, he doesn’t have her arrested, even though she just committed battery in front of several witnesses. In fact, by attacking him in order to keep him away from Danny, she’s technically guilty of kidnapping to boot. So why not have her tossed in jail? Hell, they could have nearly every student at the Freedom School in the pokey by now if they wanted. Man, I would so be a better eee-vil dictator than these guys.

Anyway, Doc appears and is so furious that he himself threatens Harry in the most direct terms, which means he’s guilty of assault. Maintaining the peace for a while, Sheriff Carl escorts Harry off, but as Harry has been named Danny’s legal conservator, the victory is temporary.

Meanwhile, Grandfather (!) is arrested on some trumped up charge or other, a frame-up orchestrated by the villainous Yellow Hawk. (Hmm, ‘Yellow’ Hawk. Are they perhaps trying to imply something?)

Finally, that night we see Blue Elk and a friend walking along the street. Jason the Meanest Cowboy, number one stooge to Posner, drives up and offers Blue Elk an invitation to come talk with Posner one-on-one. The savvy Indian is suspicious—yeah, you’d think—but ultimately decides to see what Posner has in mind. However, as soon as he’s in the car, Jason drives off, leaving Blue Elk’s friend behind. This fellow turns and runs for help.

Blue Elk is conducted to a town dance Posner is overseeing. As you might imagine, this is about the squarest such event ever, with somnambulistic old white couples shuffling around to catatonia-inducing ‘live’ music. (But hey, if it’s this to listening to Carol sing, there’s no contest.) Jason appears and signals Posner, who ducks into the back, where some of his men are holding a battered Blue Elk. "I’m not one of your drunken Indians!" the still defiant Blue Elk spits. "Doing this to me is going to create a lot of attention!"

Here, the proud Blue Elk is humilated by being stripped and then forced to do the Hokey Pokey.

Sadly, though, this is what Posner wants. Yep, with only about a third of the film’s running time left in which to actually act villainous, Posner has decided to take off the kid’s gloves. At his command Blue Elk is beaten further and then dragged unconscious out onto the dance room, much to the shock of the local gentry. Even so, the only dissention is presented by one old couple who leaves, while everyone just mills around. That’s the kind of country we live in, I guess. Blue Elk is then further degraded (stripped to his underwear) and tortured, and forced to perform an impromptu Indian dance for his tormenters.

However, Billy—wearing a black knit cap, for no apparent reason—and Master Han (playing himself, remember) drive up outside as this is happening. They enter the building from the rear, and suddenly Jean magically appears (?), trying to keep Billy from doing anything that will get him sent back to prison, or worse. However, Billy’s at the "a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do" stage. So again, what was the purpose of all that Spirit Maiden stuff?

Since Billy is being pig-headed (and searching rooms, which is weird, because he knows where Blue Elk is being held), Jean tries to stop all this by bursting into the dance hall and doing a J’Accuse number on the guests. Needless to say, though, since they are bourgeois white folks, they don’t do anything to help. Indeed, as presented, most of them seem to be getting a kick out of Blue Elk’s predicament. (To which I say, please.)

Oh, wait, I see. Billy stayed in the back so that Jason and his crew could file in for a big fight scene. Now, considering how things went last time, you’d think they would just use those guns they’re always carrying. However, then Billy would be dead, so instead they apparently are determined to do the job manually. For this purpose, they’ve come equipped with clubs, pipes, monkey wrenches and so on.

Jean runs in and tries her shame routine again, with even less impressive results. When she realizes it’s no go, she heads out, presumably to find help. Meanwhile, Han and Billy prepare for battle by, yes, removing their shoes. Because this is the Billy Jack universe, the cowboys all stand around waiting while Billy yaks and yaks and yaks, cordially allowing him to make the first move. Eventually, though, the battle is joined, featuring lots of slo-mo mayhem and sound effects right out a Road Runner cartoon.

Billy takes off his boots so as to employ his most devastating weapon...really stinky sweat socks.	Director Laughlin provides his peace-loving audience the thrilling pacifist inaction they so wantonly crave.

This is probably the weakest fight scene in the Billy Jack series, largely because it’s the most ridiculously outsized. Laughlin had always tried to keep the violence on a somewhat realistic scale before. In the prior movie, when Billy was fighting a couple of dozen opponents, he got his licks in but eventually got whipped. Here, however, he and Han defeat a similar number of much more heavily armed opponents, and all without breaking a sweat. The moves, especially the kicks, still look fairly realistic, and at least their enemies don’t keep popping back up blow after blow, but the sequence is still shockingly run of the mill.

The scene ends with Billy more or less outright murdering Jason.  Don't get me wrong, he had it coming.  Still, though, this was not, you'd have to think, the wisest idea. I mean, Billy’s been through this before. And again, why did I have to sit through all that mystical pacifism crap if the whole movie was leading up to another gee-whiz cool beans fight scene?

His men quickly decimated, Posner finally decides, hey, why not try a gun? Billy, as invulnerable as ever (well, more so, since he actually did take a bullet in Billy Jack), merely reacts to this with boredom. "Up to now it’s only been a couple of broken bones," Billy asserts, despite the fact that he just forced Jason to stab himself with a knife and then threw the guy through a second story window. However, Han decides to force the issue, and begins advancing on the clearly rattled Posner. Unsurprisingly, the end result is that he gets shot. This triggers the inevitable Billy Jack Enragement Moment, and he charges Posner, who conveniently misses him at point blank range. Billy leaps in the air and kicks Posner in the throat, killing him.

Later, we see Han taken away in an ambulance. Sheriff Carl apologizes to Billy, but explains that he has to take him in. Billy, however, sees that as a death sentence, and refuses to go. A confrontation between the two is averted when hundreds of kids from the Freedom School swarm the area* and begin to attack the police. In the confusion, Billy slips away. Then a riot squad tromps onto the scene and starts laying down the Hippy Smackdown. I must admit, I found this was one of film’s more enjoyable moments.

[*Despite supposedly being an enraged crowd, several of the extras are visibly grinning as they run into shot. I was actually watching for this, because no matter how frightened or angry a movie mob is supposed to, the extras are usually smiling away like fools because they’re in a movie. See the crowd that runs from the movie theater in The Blob for a classic example of this.]

The Governor is enraged by news of Posner’s death, and tells an aide to "get" Billy. "We can’t, sir," the aide replies. "The whole world saw it, and it was clearly self defense." Actually, there were no witnesses at all to Posner’s killing, which you might think they’d expect us to remember, given that we just watched Billy kill him less than two minutes ago.

As we move towards our pre-ordained climax, the National Guard troops appear and surround the same old church Billy barricaded himself in at the end of Billy Jack. For a picture that expects us to sit around for three frickin’ hours, it sure recycles a lot of material from the previous movie.

"You have no legal right to be here!" an onsite Jean tells the Guard commandeer, which seems a somewhat dubious assertion, given the riot and the murder of a prominent town banker. Besides, they keep telling us the Law is the tool of the Man. If that’s the case, what’s the point with constantly telling the authorities that they don’t have ‘the right’ to do something? Meanwhile, Jean learns that the guard’s orders are to establish and maintain a position outside the church until Billy surrenders. How dastardly! Actually, I guess it is, for some reason, since the Groovy Gang reacts to this news with a mighty hue and cry.

In another repeat from the prior film, we now get a pensive scene inside the church, as Billy and Jean discuss Where It All Went Wrong. (Here’s another similarity: The Establishment that we’ve been told over and over wants Billy dead is in a perfect position to kill him right now. Despite this, they for some reason instead do everything in their power to keep him alive, even though it would be easier to just storm the place and shoot him down.) Oddly, this mostly becomes an opportunity for Billy to explain why Jeans’ actions up to now have been hopelessly naïve.

Billy wonders how they can get out of this without anyone else getting killed, although neither of them mentions the option of him just surrendering. Jean instead suggests that he try to slip away, despite the fact that the place is encircled by a fortified National Guard contingent. Jean mentions that this standoff is totally different from the identical one last time, because now the authorities intend to kill him. The problem being that then Jean said the exact same thing. Seriously, hadn’t the Laughlins ever heard the one about the boy who cried wolf?

Noting that they "wouldn’t dare hurt me now," (??!!) Billy decides to peek over the roof and threaten all the assembled cops and guardsmen with his rifle. Oh, yeah, how could they possibly justify shooting him at this point? It’s now official, by the way: I’ve been watching this movie so long that I know longer can tell if it’s insane or I am. Apparently Nietzsche was right about that ‘staring into the abyss’ stuff.

Getting confirmation from Sheriff Carl that The Powers That Be are only interested in his arrest, and will pull all the guardsmen off the Freedom School grounds once he’s in custody, Billy agrees to surrender. Gee, I wonder if it will turn out that The Authorities (with the Sheriff merely being a dupe) are lying? I mean, it seems pretty weird that Billy would take their word in the first place, so the only plot purpose I can see being served here is another abject lesson in the futility of trusting The Man. In any case, as a ‘comic’ coda, Billy then turns and reveals to Jean that in his haste he forgot to bring any ammunition for his rifle. Oh, my sides.

As Billy leaves the church, Sheriff Carl is arguing with the Colonel, who insists that Billy is to be a state prisoner rather than a local one. Since the Colonel bears a warrant from the State Supreme Court, Carl loses the argument. Instead, the Sheriff avers that he will follow after the convoy of state patrol cars taking Billy into custody, "to make sure nothing happens." However, as Billy is taken way, Carl finds his way blocked by a guard truck. Obviously it’s all part of an Eee-vil plan.

Then GASP!! it turns out that not only aren’t the guardsmen leaving the School grounds, but additional ones are being brought in to reinforce them. Tactfully calling them the "Gestapo" (yes, that will help keep things calm), Jean demands to know what’s going on. Well, I guess what’s going on is an abject lesson in the futility of trusting The Man. Goes to show you. In any case, the Colonel smugly notes that he’s "just an order taker." WHICH IS JUST WHAT THE NAZIS SAID!

[One odd note: For no other reason other than plot convenience, there are absolutely no reporters anywhere around. This is strange, because Billy, you’d think, would be quite a famous character in these parts, and was standing off the police for the second time in five years following his having killed a member of the prominent Posner family. I don’t know, that seems like a story to me. Also, why aren’t the Freedom School news cameras recording all this? If they could reach a nationwide audience with an Indian rights symposium, you’d think this situation would inspire quite a bit more interest.]

Meanwhile, the cops pull over on a deserted stretch of road. At gunpoint, they order Billy from the car, obviously intending to finally accomplish what we’ve been told The Man has been relentlessly attempting to do since about 1957: Kill Billy Jack. This strikes me as strange. Were I planning to kill him, I would have had a sniper shoot him during the standoff, rather than waiting until after he’d voluntarily surrendered himself before witnesses. Killing him in the public commission of a criminal act would seem to make more sense.

The handcuffed Billy obeys, and while surrounded by cops, has one push a revolver towards him. I guess that’s because sticking it in his hand after they shoot him would be too complicated an Eee-vil scheme. Billy picks the weapon up, holds it against his head, and fires, knowing it’s empty. Still, it’s nice for them that he’s put his fingerprints all over it and everything. Then they shoot him and Billy dies and the movie’s over.

Oh wait, that’s not what happens. And the movie’s not nearly over; there’s still thirty-six minutes of it left to go.

Instead, Billy wryly notes, "Now that’s the funniest thing. You know, one time, I don’t remember where, somebody told me that if at any time I was ever arrested and they gave me a handgun…." That seems an oddly specific anecdote, but anyway. Having thus distracted his putative assassins, Billy tosses the revolver aside and manages to kick the two guys nearest to him. He then runs off into the desert, as the four cops stay in place and try to shoot him, without, as you might expect, overmuch success.

However, as he runs over a rise, Billy finally seems to take some shotgun pellets to the back. Meanwhile, the cops are freaked. "Do you know what ‘They’ will do to us?" one frets. Despite this well founded fear, however, the same guy also refuses to go into the desert and hunt down the wounded fugitive. "Are you nuts?" he snarls. I mean, the guy out there is Billy Jack!! So he stays behind and cowers as his comrades enter the scrub.

Just a few second later, numerous shots ring out, followed by silence. Unfortunately for Scaredy Cop, however, Billy has somehow Offscreen Teleported to a position behind him. Billy gets the guy at a disadvantage and requisitions his handcuff keys, revolver and the keys to his squad cars. Then, apparently, he sat there in the car waiting until the other cops returned some minutes later, I guess so that he could then dramatically peel off and be fired at as he escapes.

Meanwhile, back that the Freedom School, the kids are responding to the Fascist Occupation by—three guesses—crowding into a room and all yelling at the top of their lungs. Here we learn that the devious dealings of The Man have finally radicalized many of the pacifist students. Russell, for instance, stands up and admits that her previous embracement of non-violence was misguided. "Brute power can only be met by brute power!" she shrills. One radical suggests bombing The Dam, because that would "get coverage on CBS."

Finally, Carole manages to get a word in. "Jean built this school without any help from us," she observes, if inaccurately. Her point being that Jean should be allowed to give her position. This draws boos from the more radical students, but Jean finally decides that its time to step up to the plate. Yelling, she notes that whether they want to hear a speech from her or not, "You’re going to hear one, baby!"

Enraged and crying, Jean reads them the riot act. This is supposed to be a Big Moment, and if you were genuinely a fan of the film—in the orthodox way, rather than the manner in which I and my ilk are fans of it—it might well be one. Even for myself, I’ll give it this: Non-violence is a hard row to hoe, and Jean’s continued belief in and advocacy of it, despite the rather cartoonish level of oppression she faces in this universe the Laughlins created, is admirable. (Now if the film could just decide whether it believes in violence or not, we might have some idea of what we’re supposed to take away from all this.)

Even as I was writing that, though, and trying to be fair to the Laughlins and give them some points, they do what makes this film this film and go so far over the top that attempting to be fair ceases to be an option. Rather than letting her impassioned speech stand by itself, Jean then follows with a concrete example of The Power of Love That They’ve All Forgotten by—No! Yes!!—bringing young One-Armed Danny up onstage to sing a song with Carol.

So they haul the kid up, and hand (hook?) him a guitar, and soon he and Carol are strumming away. They sing "I Saw the Ships on Christmas Day" (?) and needless to say, there’s soon not a dry eye in the house. Laughing uncontrollably will do that to you.

With the situation defused, at least on their end, they try to get the guardsmen to decamp. Meanwhile, Doc is trying to get federal marshals on the scene, but of course, the Feds are In On It and it’s no go. By the way, and I guess this is supposed to be a naïve question, but exactly what is the justification for the National Guard is using to occupy the school? There isn’t any unrest occurring—now at least. And again, where is the press? They should be swarming this place.

Oh, there’s the answer to one of my questions. The Governor is on TV, pledging that the government won’t start any confrontation ("Damn you, liar!" a miffed Jean yells), but will meet with immediate force any criminal act. Of course, that means the wise strategy would be for the students to peacefully hold tight until eventually the Governor starts looking silly and withdraws the Guard, but of course They won’t allow that. By the way, do I need to point out that this situation as drawn is nothing like the ones that preceded the real life shootings referenced at the beginning of the film?

Little does this Guardsman realize what Cruel Fate has in store for him... to be callously employed in a demagoguing piece of overblown agitprop.

We cut outside for a variety of shots of the Guardsman setting up a perimeter, as Bombastic Sinister Music booms on the soundtrack. Hilariously, we then cut away for Ironic Contrast to an Ordinary Joe Guardsman, who that very night is leaving his house to report to duty. As mawkish, syrupy music plays, he bids farewell to his pretty wife and cute young son Danny—the name isn’t a coincidence—whom he is carrying around in his arms. "Now give your Old Dad a hug!" he demands, and wow, what a happy, happy family this obviously is. (The acting here is even worse than the general level the film provides. You can actually see the kid looking offscreen for his cue as to when to say his line.) And so, after showing that even some of the faceless Tools of the State are themselves only innocent pawns of The Establishment, we move on.

Back at the school, the kids have lit bonfires and begun throwing rocks and crap at the Guardsmen. Yes, that’s a wise decision. Meanwhile, a squad leader is informing his men of the rules of engagement. If their position is approached, a verbal warning is to be given, followed by a warning shot, followed by orders to "shoot to kill." If anyone can provide evidence to support the idea that in any of the real school shootings, the Guard or cops propagated orders to shoot to kill, I’ll eat my hat.

Indeed, Ordinary Joe Guardsman is aghast. "Do they really expect us to shoot college kids?" he asks in disbelief. Yes, my friend, because They are Just That Evil. However, in support of this, They have made sure to spread the idea that the students have set up snipers all over the place. Being a more typical example of the sort of ignorant redneck the Guard attracts—after all, could such a murderous organization really have many Ordinary Joe Guardsmen in it?—his squad mate has bought into The Lie without question. Even so, he has no answer when Ordinary Joe asks, "What are we shooting them for?" Well, because the Laughlins wrote the script that way, my friend.

Meanwhile, a wounded Billy is being tended to by a group of Indian Elders, although (Thank goodness!) in a purely holistic fashion as they shake maraca-like gourds and chant. Whew! I was afraid they’d employ some of that awful Western Medicine, by injecting him with antibiotics or something of the like. None of that nonsense for the Wise Peoples of the Land!

However, Blue Elk tells Billy that the Medicine has failed, and that "the bullets are killing you." This, however, isn’t because that’s what bullets are designed to do, but instead because Billy has failed to live by the teachings of non-violence provided on his Vision Quest. Well, that’s convenient. You can’t sue for malpractice, I guess, when the effectiveness of the tribe’s medicine varies according to your own moral worthiness.

A weakened Billy admits that this is so, but that they still have to stop The Man from killing Jean, which I guess is their plan now. On the face of it, that doesn’t make much sense, since Jean is the only one keeping the lid on things. However, if you buy into the idea that everything is a big conspiracy, then I guess the idea is that The Man actually wants the kids to riot, so that his forces finally have an excuse to crack down on them and inaugurate the police state that we know is The Establishment’s fondest wish. Also, Jean is Good, and The Establishment is Evil, so, you know, that’s probably enough right there.

The more radical students skulk about the grounds with torches, and eventually set fire to a shack. Well, that will strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. Meanwhile, Carol is frantically wondering where One-Armed Danny has gotten himself to. When somebody reports seeing him in the bonfire area—didn’t anyone think that was weird, a ten year-old kid wandering around a potential riot zone?—she runs out to find him.

Some of the cops are skulking around too, and some of the radical kids decide it would be a good idea to sneak up on them and hit one in the face with a tossed brick. I have to admit, my sympathy for their plight sort of diminished after that. Meanwhile, some of the Guard arrive outside the burning shack and begin pushing the kids back. Why a shack in the middle of the desert would be worth such effort is left to our imaginations, but that’s the Madness of War, I guess.

The wounded cop, the one beaned and knocked unconscious with a brick, is reported—whether by innocent mistake or malign purpose, I couldn’t tell—to be the victim of one of snipers the Authorities have been warning about. Believing that one of their men has been shot, the Guardsmen are even more inclined to end the protest through force. I’m sure the fact that the kids—who are the only ones on the grounds who have employed violence up to now, we should remember—are currently tossing Nazi salutes in the Guardsmen’s direction isn’t exactly helping.

With the kids approaching the barracks, a warning shot is fired. However, some civilian guys with a pistol, and I have no idea who he is, assumes that the shot came from a sniper and begins firing into the massed protesters. In the confusion, the Guardsmen around him follow suit, and things quickly escalate when the Guard command, believing themselves under fire, issue a general order to begin shooting.

As the students flee and the wounded tumble to ground, we get a scene so appalling that it’s hard to describe with a straight face. This is the ultimate example of how the Laughlins sabotaged their own film. Up until now, the situation has been played as resulting from a tragic series of mistakes. That, you would think, would be bad enough.

However, the Laughlins just can’t let bad enough alone. The authorities can’t just be misguided, they must be evil. Therefore, in one of the rankest displays of political paranoia since the heydays of the Nazi and Soviet propaganda films, we now cut to Danny, who is cowering in the stables. The One-Armed Lad, who we’ve watched heroically break free from his psychological chains, is there, clutching a bunny rabbit (I swear!) as he seeks to protect his pet miniature burro.

Running to find him, Russell takes a bullet and goes down, one of seemingly dozens of students to do so. Several of the featured students (Patsy, Bugger, etc.) also are seen being shot, and then Jean gets her, as we watch in loving slow motion as packets of stage blood secreted under her sweater spew forth their contents. This is accented by shrilling hooting horns, like the ones heard in the original Planet of the Apes, so that we get that seeing the film’s heroine shot down is bad. By the way, trivia fans might like to note that the music here is by Elmer Bernstein (!), certainly his most impressive assignment since Robot Monster.

Again, though, seeing a number of the film’s featured cast being shot down isn’t enough. Therefore, we cut back to Danny, still clutching his bunny rabbit. Meanwhile, an officer comes up to Ordinary Joe Guardsman, demanding to know why he isn’t firing into the crowd. When he refuses to do so—and I really, truly swear this is what happens—the officer puts his .45 up against Ordinary Joe’s head and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t shoot down into the crowd. Really. No kidding.

With no recourse, Ordinary Joe turns and fires, and naturally—for this movie anyway—his bullet lands plumb in the center of One-Armed Danny’s back. (Damn, he probably killed the rabbit, too.) I mean, what can you say to that? No matter how nutty you expect Laughlin to be—and in my case, that’s pretty nutty—you cannot be prepared to see an officer of the National Guard order a subordinate, at gunpoint, to kill an eight year-old boy. A boy with one arm. Holding a bunny. Trying to protect his pet miniature burro.

And remember how I said that Ordinary Joe Guardsman’s son, roughly of Danny’s age, was also named Danny. Get it? He has just been forced to kill a boy just like his own son! Oh, the humanity! Obviously Joe didn’t really intend to kill anyone, but now he will forever have to live with the fact that he killed a little boy, one just like his own son. Only with but one arm. Holding a bunny. Trying to protect his pet miniature burro.

Amazingly, despite taking an M16 round square in the back, Danny is still alive (!), because, you know, if you’re going to go this far you might as well milk things a bit. So the lad painfully begins dragging himself forward with hand and hook. (Oh, we do see that the rabbit is OK, so apparently there were some places Laughlin wasn’t willing to go.)

With the firing more of less concluded, Carol comes running up, calling for Danny. She sees him just as he gives up the ghost, and screams and runs toward him and takes a bullet herself. Then, as the bullet continue to fly around her—and the general firing has stopped, so obviously the sole intent is to make sure she’s dead—she begins crawling forward towards her fallen protégé. Dragging her body over his, she takes two more bullets and presumably dies.

In the aftermath of the massacre, several wounded students pitifully call for help. At that moment, though, some flares light up the sky. This heralds a torchlight procession of Indians marching in the Guard’s direction. Meanwhile, uninjured students run outside and collect up their wounded comrades. I’m sure the ones with spinal injuries especially appreciate their efforts.

In what I guess is meant to be an inspiring image, although I’m not exactly sure why, the large number of Indians, several hundred of them perhaps and with torches held high, form protective ranks in front of the school. Then Blue Elk steps forward. In perhaps my very favorite of the film’s myriad absurdities, he informs that Guard that a treaty from 1868 disallows government troops from setting foot on the local Indian land, including, I guess, the land on which the school sits. (Which, if I recall from way the hell back earlier in the movie, was built atop an "abandoned military base.") Apparently the idea is that while the Guard might be willing to fire into a dense crowd of unarmed college students, threatening man, woman, child, bunny and burro, they would certainly be daunted by the prospect of violating a hundred year old treaty. Meanwhile, Blue Elk warns, raising his Walther (?) in the air, "If the country must have another civil war, then let it start here!"

At that moment, however, Sheriff Carl drives up in his squad car, gets out, and joins the Indian ranks. At this, Ordinary Joe Guardsman, sickened at being forced to shoot a young boy—with one arm—holding a bunny—protecting his miniature pet burro—tosses his rifle away in disgust and also crosses over to the other side. (Why Evil Officer doesn’t respond to this by shooting him, as he was quite prepared to do a few minutes ago, isn’t explained.) Acting as a Moral Example, other guardsmen follow along after him. At this the Guard’s commanding officer, a General (!), admits defeat and leaves. Meanwhile, the wounded are carried inside where they may be tended to.

Now, obviously, because of the whole thing with Danny and the guardsman getting a gun held to his head and so on, you can’t really take this scene seriously. However, it’s only Laughlin’s inability to scale things short of outright ludicrousness that prompts the viewer to just write it off. Ironically, had they employed a little more restraint, the scene would be much more successful at selling a still wildly exaggerated scenario. In fact, this provides a useful example of how the Big Lie can become the Slightly Too Big Lie.

The worst part is their attempt to tie this in the aforementioned, real life shootings. In an effort to forestall accusations of exaggerating things—although what callous madman could level such charges?—let’s remember the title card that noted that during the Freedom School shooting, 3 were killed and 39 wounded. The number of students killed corresponds to the real deaths that occurred in the real shooting incidents. However, the number of wounded is rather higher. Where the grotesque and, to my mind, morally bankrupt exaggeration really comes in though is in the presentation of the massacre. As horrifying as the real life incidents were, they were not the result of ordered, sustained firing into a crowd. Instead, the casualties resulted from short, and in all probability, unplanned reactive bursts of fire. Otherwise, given the lethality of modern military arms, many more deaths would have resulted.

Here, though, we are shown lines of guardsmen, positioned behind fortified lines, pouring sustained fire directly into a massed crowd, for minutes on end. Given the way things are shown us, there’s no way that many, many more students wouldn’t have been killed. However, by maintaining that only a small number of deaths resulted, they imply that this sort of purposeful, sustained shooting characterized those real life shootings too. Hence the earlier remark made by Jean about "thousands of bullets" being fired at those events. Unless our guardsmen were staggeringly inept, however, there’s no possible way that "thousands of bullets" fired into a massed crowd would not have killed dozens, at the very least.  In contrast, at Kent State, the incident in which the greatest number of people were killed--four students--the firing lasted for a period 13 seconds, and, as noted earlier, a total of 61-67 shots were fired.

Aside from so pimping, for their own political ends, such gruesome and sad incidents, though, I must also give the Laughlins points for writing and filming a slow-motion sequence wherein their own daughter is bloodily shot to death by the government. Nice.

Hey, if you can't make a movie where the bloody shooting of your own wife and daughter is portrayed in loving detail, then what's the point?

Anyway, after a final shot of a fat cop radioing in to, what else, gloat about the massacre, we cut back to Jean in her hospital bed, where the film began several weeks—no, wait, is it…hours? No, it’s got to be more than…. Really? Ok, several hours ago.

Tearfully, Jean says, "I thought the Freedom School was the symbol of everything good and right in the American Spirit. [I think she means the Yoga Sports.] We had kids of different races, ideologies [yes, from far left to waaay far left] and religions, all living and working together in peace and harmony." Yes, and then the fictional fascists that your real life self helped dream up came and destroyed all that. Tragic, really.

The Reporter notes that the kids want her to reopen the school, but Jean is devastated by the knowledge that the local townsfolk, in her words, "not only supporting the shooting, they were happy about it." Not a couple of morally retarded oafs, mind you, but the townsfolk writ large. I’d point out that these were the same townspeople who earlier in the film were identified as providing the funds that allowed the school to flourish the way it did, but why bother? Such incongruities will never penetrate the minds of the Laughlins, who apparently believe themselves to live in a country that I thank God I don’t even remotely recognize.

Meanwhile, an apparently comatose Billy has been hauled to a mountaintop, where further drumbeating and chanting are taking place. Blue Elk is asked if he’s gone yet, and replies that, "Not as long as there’s the chance for another sequel." Well, OK, that’s not what he said, but it’s the general impression I got. Instead, Blue Elk calls for some of the men to go find Jean and bring her here.

Meanwhile, Billy is (gaak) having a vision—isn’t this friggin’ movie over yet?—wherein he lies in the desert in a hospital bed, while the Spirit Maiden, sitting up upon a limb of a monstrously huge cactus, continues to lecture him. "You haven’t learned enough to come over this to side yet," she hectors. "Besides, shouldn’t you be working on the next Billy Jack sequel?" OK, maybe not that last part. However, the Spirit Maiden still is cradling a bunny, which I guess is meant to tie her in somehow with the deceased One-Armed Danny, but I’ll be darned if I can figure out how. Not that I have much energy left to muse upon it, I must admit.

Oh, wait, there is a hospital bed there, but Vision Billy is not lying in it, he’s sitting on the ground nearby. "Why?" he asks. "My spirit progresses so poorly over here." (Not to mention his filmmaking talents.) Yeah, this is a little weird. Earlier we were told the Indian Medicine wasn’t working because he hadn’t learned enough from his Spirit Guide, and now apparently he’s not being allowed to die because he…hasn’t learned enough from his Spirit Guide. Oh, well, those spirits. Who knows what goes on in those ectoplasmic heads of theirs?

Then we cut to a direct shot of the Spirit Hospital Bed, and see that Carol lies within its oxygen tent. Man, that girl’s tough. Normally taking three rounds from a M16 would do the job. However, as we watch, she comes awake. Yes, inside Billy’s vision. I don’t know what that means either.

Anyway, Billy has to go back to serve as an example of how someone so violent can learn to give up violence and find peace. Plus, you know, there are still Billy Jack sequels to churn out. Unless one were to screw the pooch with the next one and…oops.

This goes on for a while, but frankly, I’m dying here. Cripes, there’s still ten more minutes of this to go. Blah blah spirits, Fourth Level, Billy sees a vision of Jean, etc.

Anyway, sent back by the Spirits, Billy returns to his earthly body. Coming awake, he finds Jean sitting in a wheelchair and waiting for him. You might think the lovers would take a personal moment or two—you know, maybe a "Hey, good to see you’re alive" or something—but nope, it’s straight back to business. Billy is shocked, for his part, to learn that Jean’s thinking about giving up on the whole Saving Mankind project. When she fails to deny it, he says, "Look over there." She turns, and sees an eagle flying. Well, that proves it.

But wait, there’s more. The eagle lands on a branch directly over Jean’s head, and inspiration music bursts on the soundtrack. Unable to deny the whole, er, eagle thing, we cut to Jean meeting with her incredibly tough underlings, including Carol, Patsy and Russell, who are wearing bandages and braces and perhaps on crutches yet are still extant. (Carol is also, like Jean, in a wheelchair. Again, that’s one weird family dynamic the Laughlins have going on.)

Jean still looks uncertain, though. "Tomorrow, all over the world," Russell tells her, "kids are going to march to rebuild the School." Uh…OK. Kind of a Hands-Across-America thing, I guess. In fact, rather than being discouraged by the best efforts of The Pigs to murder them, they’ve been reenergized. (And why not, as they’ve apparently learned that they cannot be killed. They must be some of those Highlander folks.) Russell notes schemes to build a series of Freedom Schools, everywhere, and to actually ramp up the Establishment-scorching exposés. After all, there are probably old women all over the world in danger of losing their furniture just because they haven’t paid for it.

Billy signals towards a double door, which Russell opens, revealing a chapel filled with the Freedom School kids. And a marching band, albeit one that is presently stationary. And a girl with a guitar, although thankfully it’s not Carol. She immediately starts to sing, however, and my relief that she wasn’t Carol quickly dissipated. This is both because the lady frankly can’t hold a note, and even more so because her musical tribute to Jean included gag-inducing lyrics like, "Golden Lady, made of Love / You gave so much to me / when I-I-I had nooothing…"

And so Jean weeps as the Laughlins stage yet another scene showing how damn inspirational their alter egos are to those around them, and gah. This just goes on and on, and the song is dreadful, and I know there are those out there who wonder why people like me hate hippies so much, but as I watched this scene, I wondered how it was possible that there are people who don’t.

And at this we finally hit the film’s mind-bogglingly hypocritical final note, one that has drawn the movie much scorn over the years, as the song is followed by a mass rendition of "Give Peace a Chance" that proceeds on for several minutes, despite the fact that sum total of the song’s lyrics is "All we are saying is give peace chance" sung over and over and over again. And there were many hugs and an ocean of spilled tears and, for me, an inescapable, Lovecraftian feeling of horror.

Some may feel this picture is too violent…*
but the real massacres which inspired
this fictionalized version
were a thousand-fold more violent
for those innocent people who were its victims…**

Rather than direct anger at this re-creation…
please channel your energy toward
those officials who either ordered, condoned,
or failed to take action against these events…

…and perhaps towards ourselves***
for also turning our backs
and letting such events occur unchallenged.****

All we are saying is…give peace a chance…

 

And all I am saying is... Shut the hell up, you freakin' hippies...

A note for trivia fans: The film’s Production Manager was William Beaudine, Jr., the son of infamous bad movie director William "One Shot" Beaudine, famous for his lack of interest in shooting things a second time, even if some small snafu, like an actor supposedly playing a corpse opening their eyes on camera, occurred.

Nice to see a son follow in his father’s footsteps.

"The Trial of Billy Jack is nearly three hours of naiveté merchandised and marketed with the not-so-innocent vengeance that I associate with religious movements that take leases on places like the Houston Astrodome…Though it means to preach nonviolence, the only scenes of any interest are the violent ones, and always violence shows up as the only meaningful way to deal with evil…We are told that the Freedom School kids have successfully exposed the oil industry's influence on Washington, yet the kids we see and hear would have difficulty exposing anything more complicated than a Baby Ruth bar. Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr. and Representative Peter W. Rodino Jr. didn't get to the bottom of Watergate by sitting around and listening to their hearts, for heaven's sake." Vincent Canby, The New York Times.

"[P]robably represents the most extraordinary display of sanctimonious self-aggrandizement the screen has ever known…I fled the theater." Pauline Kaul, The New Yorker.

"It is one of the longest, slowest, most pretentious and self-congratulatory ego trips ever put on film." Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times.

"Unintentionally funny. New Left rhetoric translated to the screen in the most juvenile manner imaginable…political brainwashing of the most irresponsible kind." Benjamin Stein [yes, probably the Ben Stein], Wall Street Journal.

"Half-Native American ex-Green Beret ass-kicking machine Billy Jack takes on the feds and beats the hell out of a lot of people to prove that the world can live in peace…the film is overlong and stumbles with silly psychedelic "spirit" encounters." Video Hound’s Complete Guide to Cult Flicks and Trash Pics.

"Zero [stars]…The self-gratifying project by Laughlin is one of the most cliché-ridden, absurd films ever to force its way onto the screen and down the threats of millions of people who flocked to theaters to sit through it…[t]he whole thing is told in flashback from the point of view of Taylor, whose acting ability consists of crying a lot because people are cruel." The Motion Picture Guide.

"I'm tempted to call The Trial of Billy Jack the worst [film of the ‘70s], but I'll have to hold off on officially naming it as such until I have the chance to witness the awful sounding Billy Jack Goes To Washington. I can't imagine that it would in fact be worse than the stupefying self-indulgent mess that the famous half-breed found himself in while he was on trial (the titular trial plays very little part in the movie - though they manage to shoe horn every other idea - good, bad, or mind numbing that Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor had into this one) in this movie…the movie is a stunning kaleidoscope of unfocused ranting and raving about every social ill that was popular back in the seventies….this movie goes on and on beyond all human conception (a little like the universe, I guess)." Monster Hunter, Monster Hunter.com.


 

The public has its say via reviews [edited by yours truly] at the IMDB and Amazon.com:



Possibly the most dangerous movie ever, 4 March 2002
Author: delesha from Colorado Springs, Colorado

Truth, that most dangerous of double edged swords, is the weapon of choice for this movie...Unlike supposed 'true stories' which in many cases hide much of the truth, this story shows us, vividly, the abuses that our society have allowed and condoned. From the refusal to treat an Indian in a 'normal hospital' to the illegal tapping of phones and investigations, to police brutality and power brokering, this film hits it all, with stunning accuracy. I only watched the movie for the first time yesterday, after borrowing the DVD of it from my father, but my fiancé and I both cried out against the horror of the massacre, knowing that similar things really did happen, and were almost certainly as bloody and violent. The movie showed that people were trying to stand against the Status Quo and show how we could live lives filled with love and care. Instead, the government feared that, and did everything in their power to foster hate and division. This has got to be one of my favorite movies of all times, despite its disturbing details.



Fetid and overblown tripe, 10 December 2000
Author: Marta from Omaha, Nebraska


Omaha, Nebraska, had the dubious honor of being the city Tom Laughlin chose to have the world premiere for Trial of Billy Jack. I wish he'd given the honor
to any other city but mine. I can't think of a film that was harder to sit through than this one; it seemed to never end. I had seen Born Losers and liked it immensely. I'd seen the first Billy Jack, and it was okay. These are the only reasons I went to "Trial", and at 17 I guess you don't need any others; I was there on opening night in 1974.

The memory of the unending torment I endured while watching this film still sits in my brain, like a compost heap that never fully decomposes. Words can't
express the boredom and agony of seeing this movie; 45 hours of labor with my first child was not as difficult. I should have walked out of the theater, and
in fact, while the girl in the wheelchair was giving testimony, I did, leaving my fiancé there to suffer by himself. I spent as much time as I could in the
restroom, but knew I had to go back and face the rest of the film, if only for his sake. Run, don't walk, away from this piece of torture, if you're ever in
the vicinity of a Billy Jack Retrospective, or find it while channel surfing. Your memory center will be glad you did.

Good film continuing the saga of Billy Jack, September 12, 2004
Ned (USA)
 
This is a very good follow up to the excellent second BJ film, Billy Jack. Born Losers was actually the first BJ film. Laughlin is brilliant as Billy once more
here and his real life wife, Delores, excellent as Jean again. As for some of the rest of the cast well their daughter Theresa is back as student Carol, now
more of a young lady than little girl as in the previous film, and she's appealing in her many scenes...on the big plus side we learn lots more about Billy Jack and his past in Vietnam.

Awful !!!, 24 April 2002
ericjg623 from Twin Cities


This film was so bad that the memory of it still pollutes my brain some 25+ years later. About the only reason I went to see it was because it had been
promoted heavily as a karate movie, and martial arts films were quite big at the time. What I got instead was three hours of 60's left wing political Bee-
Ess served up with a massive dose of self-righteousness. Naturally, the hippie school was the embodiment of everything good and wonderful while The
Establishment (meaning; everyone and everything else) was shown as being corrupt, venal, sadistic, and without any positive qualities at all. There was
absolutely NO attempt at subtlety or evenhandedness here, instead, this movie grabs you by the throat and shoves your face into its one-dimensional
worldview. In short, what ruins this film is its relentless preachiness, that, plus the fact that it so quickly became dated. Anyone wanting to know how
Reagan went on to win two landslide elections need only watch this film to understand and why, since it was this mindset he was running against.

1/10

 

Deeply Misunderstood Film, April 20, 2004
A viewer

If you are a Billy Jack fan, buy this film!!!!! Takes off right where Billy Jack left off. The people writing negative reviews just don't get this film.
This film does have a deeper philosophy and if you are uncomfortable with that don't buy this film. It is an amazing work, and a strange piece of history that
this "indie film" ever reached mass market appeal. It is probably the first film that ever introduced the Native American Vision Quest and, in general, is
sympathetic to traditional Native American beliefs. Is it dated? Yes! Stand up to Year 2000 movie production techniques? No! But it does offer challenges for
those questioning what it means to live as a human being and for that I give it 5 stars.

 Perfect Fodder for MST3K, June 27, 2003
 A viewer (Albuquerque, NM United States) 
 
I recently acquired this DVD and watched the film for the first time since its release in 1974. As I watched it, I couldn't help imagining what Tom Servo and
Crow might have to say if Mystery Science Theater 3000 skewered it. Obviously, the film has numerous flaws, not the least of which is its
interminable length; cutting it down to two hours might not have made it a good movie, but it would have made it much easier to sit through. As the voice-over
commentary by Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor makes clear, they had a fixation with 1960s and 1970s campus riots, especially those resulting in student
deaths, which fixation caused them to conclude, Oliver-Stoneishly, that every single one of these incidents was a political-campaign ploy calculated to
demonstrate law and order to the electorate. Needless to say, this perspective makes the film painfully didactic and even manipulative. Finally, The Trial of
Billy Jack is much more implausible than the original Billy Jack movie,  which creates major problems when it comes to the willing suspension of disbelief.



Best of the Billy Jack films, December 21, 2000
Reviewer: C. Moon (Providence, RI United States)
   
It is really remarkable this historic film has made it on to DVD, and equally remarkable how small our concept of what a movie has become. It seems that ever
since Star Wars, you just can't make a movie outside the box anymore without getting completely shunned by the community, but not Billy Jack. This and the
first Billy Jack are probably two of the most successful independent films ever, but while 'original' Billy Jack introduces most of Laughlin's favorite themes, he mostly sticks to the straight course. With Trial, all precautions are thrown to the wind, and the final result is something you just need to take in its entirety. Like other films from this period, their is a strong dose of symbolism and attempts to even give the film a cyclical nature (the film is actually framed where the first 15 minutes or so of the film actually occur chronologically right before the end.) To make an analogy to music, the early 70's was the period of progressive rock, free jazz and concept albums--but also too in film. Tom and Deloris continue to experiment with improvisation in this film, their are folk musical numbers, and the presentation does manage to flow more like a psychedelic piece than a normal film (see Boorman's Zardoz for example.)... I find myself enjoying the many messages here...The philosophies toward education are actually inspiring, and I think Deloris's acting here really shines throughout the entire film--and in the end it is hard not to believe she is the character she is portraying.

How to overstate EVERYTHING for 3 hours..., December 23, 2002
Reviewer: A viewer

The Trial of Billy Jack is possibly the most pretentious, preachy and embarrassingly icky film I've ever endured. I admit I kind of liked Billy Jack (the movie),
but this unfathomably long egomaniacal kick to the teeth is not worth wasting the media on which it is saved.


 

And as for you, Gentle Reader...
did you too really read all that?
Well, here's your reward:
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