The Born Losers

Billy Jack battles outlaw motorcycle gang in a small California beach town.

• Director: Tom Laughlin
• Genre:Action / Drama / Thriller
• Runtime:113 minutes

Cast

Tom Laughlin : Billy Jack
Elizabeth James : Vicky Barrington
Jeremy Slate : Daniel ‘Danny’ Carmody
William Wellman Jr.: Child
Jack Starrett : Deputy Fred

Billy Jack is introduced as an enigmatic, half-Indian Vietnam War veteran who shuns society, taking refuge in the peaceful solitude of the mountains. His troubles begin when he descends from this unspoiled setting, driving into a small beach town (i.e., re-enters society). A minor traffic accident in which a motorist hits a motorcyclist results in a savage beating by members of the Born Losers Motorcycle Club. The horrified bystanders (including Laughlin’s wife, Delores Taylor, and their two children in cameo roles) are too afraid to help or be involved in any way. Billy Jack jumps into the fray and rescues the man by himself. At this point the police arrive and arrest Billy for using a rifle to stop the fight. (The irony here is that, unknown to Billy, the motorist is the one who starts the fight by inexplicably insulting one of the bikers.)

The police throw Billy in jail and fine him heavily for discharging a rifle in public. He is treated with suspicion and hostility by the police. Meanwhile, the marauding bikers terrorize the town, rape four teenage girls, and threaten anyone slated to testify against them. One of the girls, played by Susan Foster, later recants, saying she willingly gave herself to the biker gang. (Foster would go on to play a larger supporting role in Billy Jack.)

Co-scriptwriter Elizabeth James plays Vicky Barrington, a bikini-clad damsel-in-distress who is twice abducted and abused by the gang. The second time, she and Billy are kidnapped together. After Billy sustains a brutal beating, Vicky agrees to become the gang’s sexually compliant “biker mama” if they release Billy. At the police station, Billy is unable to get help from the police or the local residents and must return to the gang’s lair to rescue Vicky by himself.

Billy, armed with a rifle, captures the gang, shoots the leader (Jeremy Slate) between the eyes, and forces some of the others to take Vicky, who’s been badly beaten herself, to the hospital. As the police finally arrive, Billy abruptly rides off on one of the gang’s motorcycles. Read more