Themes: Social Injustice, Fighting the System, Political Corruption
Main Cast: Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor, E.G. Marshall, Terasa Laughlin, Elmer Bernstein, Sam Wanamaker
Release Year: 1977
Country: US
Run Time: 155 minutes
Plot
The fourth film starring Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, Billy Jack Goes To Washington was a loose remake of Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. The story begins with Billy receiving a pardon for the trumped-up charges that put him behind bars in The Trial Of Billy Jack. To curry favor with youth and minority voters, Billy is appointed to a vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. However, while Billy is told to not makes waves, he discovers Washington D.C. is a hotbed of rampant corruption, and he makes it his mission to bring honesty and justice back to our government. As with his other Billy Jack vehicles, Tom Laughlin wrote and directed the film as well as playing the title role; his wife Delores Taylor also appears again as Jean Roberts, and E.G. Marshall and Lucie Arnaz round out the supporting cast. Billy Jack Goes To Washington never received a theatrical release outside of a few scattered preview screenings, though Laughlin himself recently released the film on home video. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
The cinematic odyssey of Billy Jack comes to a memorably surreal finale with this terminally odd combination of left-wing politics and crowd-pleasing melodrama. This film basically plops the character of Billy Jack down in the middle of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Needless to say, the results are eccentric -- a classic Billy Jack-style fight scene pops up in the middle of what is ostensibly a dialogue-driven melodrama, and Lucie Arnaz delivers a lengthy, cynical monologue about how Congress and the House of Representative bog down the work they are supposed to achieve. The film is also rather stilted -- the politicos are either hopelessly complacent and ineffectual or so villainous they make Snidely Whiplash look like a saint. However, Billy Jack Goes to Washington remains oddly watchable for the patient viewer despite this high level of eccentricity. Director/co-writer/star Tom Laughlin might not be able to coat his message in easily digestible entertainment, but he knows how to make a slick-looking film and manipulate the audience on a mechanical but effective level. Billy Jack Goes to Washington also benefits from the best cast of any Billy Jack film -- Arnaz, Sam Wanamaker, and E.G. Marshall all deliver committed, energetic performances, with Marshall taking home top honors as a corrupt but regretful politician torn between his corrupt industrialist patron and Billy Jack. Ultimately, Billy Jack Goes to Washington is too contrived and hysterical in tone to be genuinely effective for most viewers, but its distinctively unusual combination of elements make it an interesting curiosity piece for adventurous film buffs. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Hilyard M. Brown - Art Director, Tom Laughlin - Director, George Grenville - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Jack A. Marta - Cinematographer, Frank Capra, Jr. - Producer, Delores Taylor - Producer, Tom Laughlin - Screenwriter, Teresa Christina - Screenwriter, Delores Taylor - Screenwriter, Lewis R. Foster - Short Story Author
Billy Jack Goes to Washington is a 1977 film starring Tom Laughlin, the fourth and last film in the Billy Jack series, and although the earlier films saw enormous success, this film did not. The film only had limited screenings upon its release and never saw a general theatrical release, but has since become widely available on DVD. The film is a loose remake of the 1939Frank Capra film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It is often cited in lists of the worst films of all time.
The film largely follows the story of the Frank Capra film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) is appointed a United States Senator to fill out the remaining term of another Senator. It is hoped that he will quietly vote the party line, but his term in the Senate runs into trouble when he proposes a bill to fund a national youth camp which happens to be on the property where a nuclear power plant is also being proposed. His fellow Senator Joseph Paine (E. G. Marshall) claims to oppose nuclear power but is secretly taking graft to influence his votes in favor, and moves to try and keep Billy Jack out of the way when the bill is being debated.
Seeking to keep Billy out of the Senate on a day when a controversial energy bill is being voted on, Senator Paine suggests he meet with a grassroots group that day instead. The group is working to pass a national initiative and Billy Jack becomes convinced of their cause.
Billy is invited to meet with a group of lobbyists attempting to offer him bribes and other perks if he will vote their way, and threatening him with ruining his political career if he doesn't. Billy responds with anger at their threat, and the next day in the Senate he tries to speak on the floor in opposition to the nuclear power plant. Paine responds by proposing to expel Billy from the Senate as unfit for office. Billy's assistant quits after the murder of a lobbyist, fearing for her own safety, but returns later in the film after Billy Jack is about to be expelled from the Senate to help him learn Senate procedure in order to filibuster. Billy Jack ends up by filibustering in the Senate giving a long speech supporting a national initiative.
Cast and credits
As with the two previous films in the series, Laughlin's wife Delores Taylor and daughter Teresa Laughlin reprise their former roles. Julie Webb and several other supporting actors from Billy Jack and The Trial of Billy Jack return as well. Author and political journalist Joe Klein appears briefly as a reporter in the opening scene. (Klein became friends with Laughlin after interviewing him for Rolling Stone in 1975.)
Played over the closing credits is a new version of the Coven song "One Tin Soldier" (the original theme for Billy Jack) sung by Teresa Laughlin.
