Billy Jack (1971) poster
1971 · action · counterculture · cult · independent

Billy Jack

Directed by Tom Laughlin1h 54m1971
ElsewhereIMDb6.27kRT65%Metacritic50TMDB6.078
  • brisk
  • intense
Movie DNA

Neutral, kinetic, measured action / counterculture, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A Euro-Indigenous American Ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert "freedom school" for runaways.

Our read · Billy Jack (1971) reads as a neutral, kinetic, grounded action · counterculture · cult entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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Availability in the UK · via JustWatch

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The shape of Billy Jack

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want counterculture-era righteous violence and hapkido kicks with heavy social baggage.

ends bittersweetit leaves you shakena slow buildgrips by minute 25attention 4/5feels its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upsexual violencechild perilgraphic violenceanimal harm

Skip it tonightSkip if sexual assault, child abuse, or preachy 1970s pacing will ruin your night.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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