So long, Billy Jack

Actor Tom Laughlin, director/writer/star of the cult Billy Jack films of the 1970s has died at age 82.
Laughlin's Billy Jack character was a heroic Native American ex-Army Green Beret who used his karate skills to fight racism and oppression.

The second of the series -- titled "Billy Jack" -- was a low-budget independent film that became a box-office blockbuster in 1971. Laughlin's vigilante character defends a counterculture "Freedom School" from townspeople who harass and discriminate against the Native American students.

The film was criticized by those who saw its central theme as a message that violence was an answer to injustice.



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