The Born Losers (1967)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Tom Laughlin

Writer:

Elizabeth James (writer)

Release Date:

18 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

CORNERED! A HOT SUMMER NIGHT...A PACK OF STRAY 'CHOPPER JOCKEYS'...

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Motorcycle | Motorcycle Gang | Rape | Beating

Cast

Tom Laughlin	...	Billy Jack
Elizabeth James	...	Vicky Barrington
Jeremy Slate	...	Daniel 'Danny' Carmody
William Wellman Jr.	...	Child
Jack Starrett	...	Deputy Fred
Paul Bruce	...	District Attorney George Davis
Robert Cleaves	...	Mr. Crawford
Paul Prokop	...	Speechless
Robert Tessier	...	Cueball (as Robert W. Tessier)
Jeff Cooper	...	Gangrene
Stuart Lancaster	...	Sheriff Harvey (as Stewart Lancaster)
Anne Bellamy	...	Mrs. Prang
Gordon Hoban	...	Jerry Carmody
Susan Foster	...	Linda Prang
Janice Miller	...	Jodell Shorn

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:(Banned) | Hungary:16 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 (video rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Huntington Shores Motel - 21002 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach, California, USA

Company:

American International Productions

Trivia:

Banned in Sweden for its violence in 1968, 1972 and 1975.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning of the movie, Billy Jack is carrying an MI Garand semi-auto rifle, which he puts in the flat bed of his Jeep pickup truck. A short while later, when he is confronting the bikers in town, he takes the rifle out of the Jeep and it is now a US Springfield bolt action rifle and remains so for the rest of the movie.

Movie Connections:

References Red River (1948)

Can't win for trying

The first "Billy Jack" film is a serious examination of rape and personal cowardice disguised as a biker/drug exploitation film. It manages to satisfy on both counts. No nudity, lots of outrageous clothing, and plenty of nazi bikers. Not quite as good as its sequel (which was written previously) but also not so preachy and talky. Dig the "nature carnage" at the film's beginning. Decent photography (marred in the DVD presentation by pan and scan process), but mid to low grade actors. Russell appears as a burnt-out, harried mom. Is she really acting? She's way over the top, but fun as always.

p.s. (2008, second viewing) p.s. the movie isn't going to appeal to everyone, but it's coming from a good place compared to a lot of exploitation films. There's a lot of classic Hollywood here, Tom Laughlin drawing on a lot of his roots. Like "Billy Jack" this movie is a very passionate statement against rape and it condemns society's attitude about rape. But because the victims are so beautiful, frankly the movie feels more exploitative and less serious than the more successful sequel. You could look on this movie as a learning experience for Laughlin, but it's a very interesting drive-in biker movie in and of itself, very different and more carefully put together than a lot of its brethren. For example this time around I noticed that the film can be seen as an anti-Western -- as opposed to the stereotypical concept of a white man rescuing the white virgins from the "indians", here we have an ostensibly Native American hero rescuing the white women from white bikers (bikes and jeeps standing in for horses and stagecoaches in the traditional Western iconography of course).