The Born Losers
Born Losers is a 1967 American outlaw biker film.[3] The film introduced Tom Laughlin as the half-Indian Green Beret Vietnam veteran Billy Jack. Since 1954 Laughlin had been trying to produce his Billy Jack script about discrimination toward American Indians. In the 1960s he decided to introduce the Billy Jack character in a quickly written script designed to capitalize on the then-popular trend in motorcycle gang movies. The story was based on a real incident from 1964 where members of the Hells Angels were arrested for raping two teenage girls in Monterey, California.
| Born Losers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | T. C. Frank |
| Produced by | Delores Taylor Don Henderson Tom Laughlin |
| Written by | Elizabeth James |
| Starring | Tom Laughlin Elizabeth James Jeremy Slate |
| Music by | Mike Curb |
| Cinematography | Gregory Sandor |
| Edited by | John Winfield |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $400,000[1] |
| Box office | $36 million[2] |
Plot
Billy Jack is introduced as an enigmatic, half-Indian Vietnam veteran who shuns society, taking refuge in the peaceful solitude of the California Central Coast mountains. His troubles begin when he descends from this unspoiled setting and drives into a small beach town named Big Rock (Morro Bay). A minor traffic accident in which a motorist hits a motorcyclist results in a savage beating by members of the Born Losers Motorcycle Club. The horrified bystanders (including Laughlin's wife, Delores Taylor, and their two children in cameo roles) are too afraid to help or be involved in any way. Billy Jack jumps into the fray and rescues the man by himself. At this point the police arrive and arrest Billy for using a rifle to stop the fight. (The irony here is that, unknown to Billy, the motorist is the one who starts the fight by inexplicably insulting one of the bikers.)
The police throw Billy in jail and the judge fines him heavily for discharging a rifle in public. He is treated with suspicion and hostility by the police. Meanwhile, the marauding bikers terrorize the town, rape four teenage girls (Jane Russell plays the mother of one of the girls), and threaten anyone slated to testify against them. One of the girls, played by Susan Foster, later recants, saying she willingly gave herself to the biker gang. (Foster would go on to play a larger supporting role in Billy Jack.)
Co-scriptwriter Elizabeth James plays Vicky Barrington, a bikini-clad damsel-in-distress who is twice abducted and abused by the gang. The second time, she and Billy are kidnapped together. After Billy is brutally beaten, Vicky agrees to become the gang's sexually compliant "biker mama" if they release Billy. At the police station, Billy is unable to get help from the police or the local residents and must return to the gang's lair to rescue Vicky by himself.
Billy, armed with a bolt-action rifle, captures the gang, shoots the leader (Jeremy Slate) between the eyes in cold blood, and forces some of the others to take Vicky, who's been badly beaten, to the hospital. As the police finally arrive, Billy abruptly rides away on one of the gang's motorcycles.
The anti-authority sentiment continues up to the end when a police deputy accidentally shoots Billy in the back, mistaking him for a fleeing gang member. He is later found, nearly dead, lying by the shore of a lake. He is placed on a stretcher and is flown to the hospital in a helicopter as Vicky and the sheriff give him a salute.
Cast
- Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack
- Elizabeth James as Vicky Barrington
- Jeremy Slate as Daniel 'Danny' Carmody
- William Wellman Jr. as Child
- Jack Starrett as Deputy Fred
- Paul Bruce as District Attorney George Davis
- Robert Cleaves as Mr. Crawford
- Paul Prokop as Speechless
- Robert Tessier as Cueball (credited as Robert W. Tessier)
- Jeff Cooper as Gangrene
- Stuart Lancaster as Sheriff Harvey (credited as Stewart Lancaster)
- Anne Bellamy as Mrs. Prang
- Gordon Hoban as Jerry Carmody
- Susan Foster as Linda Prang
- Janice Miller as Jodell Shorn
- Jane Russell as Mrs. Shorn
Production
The movie was filmed on location in California at Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, University of California, Los Angeles, Big Sur, Morro Bay, Playa del Rey, and other coastal locales. The bikers' lair in Playa del Rey was once owned by silent film star Mae Murray.
According to Laughlin's DVD audio commentary, filming was completed in just three weeks on an operating budget of $160,000. To cut costs, a stunt scene of a biker crashing into a pond was taken from American International's 1966 comedy The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini..
Laughlin ran out of money during post production, but showed the film to American International Pictures who bought out the original investors and gave Laughlin $300,000 to finish it.[4]
The film was commercially successful, and resulted in Laughlin being able to raise the funds to make its sequel, Billy Jack. In 1974, after the sequel proved financially successful, American International Pictures re-released Born Losers with the taglines "The film that introduced Billy Jack" and "Back By Popular Demand: "Born Losers" The Original Screen Appearance of Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack". The film was the highest grossing American International release until 1979, when The Amityville Horror was released.
Reception
Critical response was generally negative. Film critic Leonard Maltin criticized Laughlin's films for "using violence as an indictment of violence".[5]
In 1967 the film earned an estimated $2,225,000 in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada.[6]
The movie was re-released by AIP in 1974 following the success of Billy Jack. AIP issued ads which proclaimed "THE ORIGINAL BILLY JACK IS BACK!" which led to a lawsuit from Laughlin.[7] Following Laughlin's lawsuit, the advertising for the re-release of Born Losers was changed. All newspaper advertising had to include the disclaimer "This is a Re-release" to make viewers aware that the film was not the film Billy Jack.
By 1977 it had earned $12.5 million in U.S. and Canadian rentals.[8]
The film set a record in Mexico City playing at the Teatro Metropólitan for more than 26 weeks, the longest run for a 35mm film, selling over 500,000 tickets.[9]
See also
References
- Clifford, Terry. (Aug 20, 1967). "Hollywood's Only Woman Producer a Born Winner". Chicago Tribune. p. g13.
- "Born Losers, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- Gary A. Smith, The American International Pictures Video Guide, McFarland 2009 p 32
- Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p252
- Maltin, Leonard (2003). Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 2004. Plume. p. 162. ISBN 0-452-28478-3.
- "Big Rental Films of 1967". Variety. January 3, 1968. p. 25.
- Murphy, Mary (28 June 1974). "'Losers' Ad Results in Suit". Los Angeles Times. p. f24.
- "All-time Film Rental Champs". Variety. January 4, 1978. p. 82.
- "'Losers' 26 Week Run Though Kids Shut Out". Variety. January 15, 1969. p. 42.