Los Angeles (CNN) -- Tom Laughlin, the actor who wrote and starred in the "Billy Jack" films of the 1970s, died Thursday, his family confirmed Sunday. He was 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.
yeah it's a buncha orientalist nonsense but the man won't be taken down by smart words alone. like stone cold steve austin says sometimes you gotta open up a can of whoop-ass
Haha, come on. They're not even trying. I really wish the general public would be more aware that violence is the best defence against injustice. Oh society's unjust, I should use society's rule to somehow get justice, even though all the laws have been written by those that are doing the oppressing.
I think that's the real thing stopping revolution in the first world, not even material conditions (though if they get much worse it'll be different). The amount of people who think or at least pretend to know the world is unjust are a great number, but they've been let to believe that violence never solves anything. What about the French and American revolutions? How would get rid of Kings without threatening violence? Everything they do is legal!
e: It seemed to me the movie supported the pacifist view.
