... which assumes there was a franchise to start with. Arguably, there was. In 1967, Laughlin produced Born Losers a film so obscure, even at the time, that if you wanted to see you had to -- not making this up -- find the nearest drive-in, and even at that date the drive-in was starting to fade into history. This was followed by his hit Billy Jack (sic) where the iconic tale of the soft-spoken ex-Vietnam vet who espouses peace, BUT WHOSE FEET BECOME DEADLY WEAPONS WHEN HIS SHOES ARE OFF, really caught fire. Actors? What actors? Laughlin cast his wife in the main supporting role (a performance so subdued that critics, who did not know the lady, could not tell if she was acting or simply running lines) and grabbed warm bodies off the street (so it seemed) for every other part. (Nonetheless the one scene in Billy Jack where Laughlin points to the bully's face and tells precisely where he is about to kick him, and how nothing can stop it, will live on in film history, it's brilliant). The success of BJ led to The Trial of Billy Jack which to be fair was at least as good as the preceding film, though not much better. Then Laughlin, never comfy in the role of producer or deal maker, disappeared amid rumours that he was having trouble getting financing for Billy Jack Goes to Washington. Six years after BJ, this film appeared and then promptly disappeared. It never saw a proper theatrical release but is available on DVD. The word terrible is not appropriate. You need to develop an entirely new adjective, perhaps a cross between terrible and wretched, to describe this film. The charming amateur acting so obvious in the first three is completely inappropriate in a film that is demonstrating the hubris of remaking a Jimmy Stewart role. The "bad guys" over-act and chew up the furniture, but only those tables and chairs which the "good guys" have not already gnawed on. There is an EXTREMELY MISGUIDED attempt to insert into the film the trademark "Billy Jack" brand of violence. But this takes place deep into the film, and thankfully most viewers are asleep or in a coma by this point, and are spared the horror.
