R.I.P. Billy Jack – Tom Laughlin Dead at 82 [VIDEO]

Growing up, one of my most favorite movies was "Billy Jack" starring Tom Laughlin as Billy. I was saddened to hear that he has died from complications of pneumonia at the age of 82.

"Billy Jack" hit the screens in 1971 and is one of the most successful indie films in history. Laughlin wrote the movie, directed and starred in it and the two sequels "The Trial of Billy Jack" and "Billy Jack Goes to Washington". (There were four Billy Jack movies counting "Born Losers" from 1967. Laughlin directed that one but didn't write it.)

For those that may not know about Billy Jack... he was half-Native American and a Green Beret that used the Korean art of Hapkido to defend all of the peace loving students, teachers and hippy types at a school in Arizona. He wants to be peaceful too, but like in this scene, sometimes he just couldn't control himself...

One of the most famous scenes from the movie is this one where Jack takes on a bunch of bad guys in his bare feet and promises "take this right foot and wop that side of your face"...

Here's something else really interesting about the movie... the theme song is the Freedom Rock classic "One Tin Soldier" from the band Coven. Some say they were the really first satanic rock band. (With their first record contract the band members all signed their names in their own blood. The first album they did was titled "Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls" and it came out in 1969, a full year before Black Sabbath's first album. It even has a cut called "Black Sabbath"... and get this, Coven's bass player's name was Oz Osborne.