Boxoffice-July.1995

The lOia IPicture
A'
s a left-leaning action star who weaves politics into his
movies, Steven Seagal is an anomaly in a field where
and serving as GOP spokespersons for the President's Council
on Physical Fitness. In a way, it seems incongruent to be a
peers like WUlis and Schwarzenegger confine their political
energies to endorsing Republican presidential candidates
gunslinging, eyegouging,
kick-boxing
macho superstar
who espouses
the touchy-feely
agenda of the left.
But there is at least
one precedent for
the contradiction
between Seagal's
philosophy and his
occupation.
That precedent is
Ibm Laughlin, the
creator, performer
and filmmaker who
gave the '70s one of
tlieir most successful
action heroes
when he wrote, directed
and starred
in a series of films
about a man named
BUly Jack. After a
token appearance
as the character in
his oviTi low-budget
1967 biker flick
"The Bom Losers,"
Lauglrlin hit the bit^
time with 197r.N
"BUly Jack," one ot
the last great dri\'rin
hits, and a film
which— thanks Ui
inventive marketing—became
one ( )t
die biggest independent smashes of its era.
Until "BUly Jack," the usual pattern with low-budget indie
fodder was to rely on pre-booking to recoup— a strategy that
made sense if you were an exploitation studio like A. I. P., with
lower margins and lots of product in the pipeline, but which
would have put an independent Filmmaker like Laughlin at a
distinct disadvantage, since he had only one film to sell. Like his
non-conformist hero, Laughlin decided to march to the tune of
his own drummer— in the process pioneering a release strategy
still utUized by the big Hollywood studios today.
What Laughlin did was to go into a particular releasing
territory and then book his film simultaneously into as many
theatres as would have him. He then self-financed media buys,
raising wide audience interest by promoting "Billy Jack" on local
TV stations around the clock— a given in today's marketplace,
but a radical innovation in 1971 . The result was both an indie
blockbuster and the birth ofa tactic which, when applied to more
mainstream tare like "Jaws" and "Star Wars" later in the decade,
would yield some of tiie biggest hits of all time.
It's doubtful Laughlin could have pulled it off if "BUly Jack"
hadn't delivered the goods. The film was well-made and wittily
scripted by action standards, with Laughlin's BUly given enough
memorable quips (delivered, as was the style even then, just before
beating his enemies to a pulp) for tliree Schwarzene^er titles.
More importantly, the seeming incongruity of being a buttkicking
peacenik was perfectly attuned to the temper of the
times. In 1 971 , America was in a conflised and tumultuous state
thanks to the ongoing
Viemam crisis.
As the screen's original
vigUante Vietnam
vet (he gets
drav\Ti into protecting
a hippie commune
from a towm
full of rednecks),
BUly Jack reflected
both the increased
mUitancy of the student
left (which
often rioted in the
name of "peace")
and the "law and
order," "let's take
back our streets"
agenda of the right.
Watching "BUly Jack,
audiences saw the
contradictions
world
of the
they Uved in
recondled at the business
end of Laughlin's
denched fist
In 1974, Laughlin
released his magnum
opus, the three
hour "Thai of Billy
Jack," which restated
earlier plotlines
in much more
violent terms borrowed
from Ohio's
Kent State massacre.
One of the most
politically paranoid action fUms ever made, "Trial" did some
business within BUly Jack's fan base, but lengfli and ideological
shrUlness made for a far more limited success.
In Billy Jack's swan song, Laughlin forsook action altogether
by sending his hero to tlie Senate. He called his unofficial Capra
remake (what else?) "BUly Jack Goes to Washington," and so far
afield had Laughlin gone that his film went virtually unreleased.
But tile idea it expressed was clearly close to his heart; In 1992,
LauglUin resurfaced briefly to declare his unsuccessful and
Quixotic candidacy for President of the United States.
Laughlin has emerged periodically to proclaim tliat another
Billy Jack project is in the works, tliough it's doubtful his
half-breed \agilante will ever reclaim his NL\on-era popularity.
But Laughlin's influence survives, not only in Seagal actioners
like "On Deadly Ground" (which demonstiated die same concern
for Native American issues which L