The Born Losers

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The Born Losers is a 1967 film and the first of the Billy Jack movies. The film introduced Tom Laughlin as one of Hollywood's more enduring symbols, the half-Indian Green Beret Vietnam war veteran Billy Jack. It was one of the most successful independent movies ever made, both financially and artistically. Though on the surface it was merely another "motorcycle gang terrorizes town" movie, it hit a note with audiences, and resulted in Tom Laughlin, who starred as Billy Jack being able to raise the funds to make its incendiary and successful sequel, the movie Billy Jack .

The film was considered the typical drive-in theater fare of the period, described by Entertainment Insiders reviewer Rusty White as "pure exploitation, but with something extra."^[1]. The "something extra" may have included a compelling main character who could and would be developed in later films, who sustains a storyline rooted in a strong, perhaps even crude, conflicts involving freedom and justice: Billy Jack defeats the gang and defends from their wrath a college student who has evidence against them for gang rapes.

Though the film is dated by its perception of women and society - women ride Hondas and Yamahas, men ride Harleys - the story itself is not a bad one, and begins the development of a powerful anti-establishment character, who defends the weak and battles injustice no matter who the opposition is. [1]