Tom Laughlin, “Billy Jack”, passes
A couple of you sent us links to the news that Tom Laughlin, who made the Billy Jack series of movies died last night at the tender age of 82. I loved those movies when they came out, but, I voted for Jimmy Carter back then, too. They’re tough to watch now, though, not just for the tortured acting but for the politics of the things. I didn’t know it but, he also ran for president in 1992, 2004 and 2008. He didn’t like the Bush family, I guess. But, hey, some of you wanted to talk about his passing, so here you go.
Category: Who knows
Yeah, Old Tom was a huge lefty, but at least he was honest about it and you never had to guess where he stood on the issues, so I respected him for that.
RIP
Peter O’Toole also passed away. He had the role of T.E. Lawrence in the film “Lawrence of Arabia”. Some of his other films were memorable – “Becket”, where he was a rakehell, drunken Henry II, ‘The Lion in Winter’ with Katherine Hepburn. And his part in ‘Troy’ as Priam, king of the Trojans, was quite good, but I wonder if he took the role because Priam was a womanizer like O’Toole.
Joan Fontaine also passed away.
Peter O’Toole. Now THERE was a first-rate actor. Lawrence of Arabia0ne of my all-time favs. Like Richard Burton, O’Toole could captivate an audience reading a phonebook aloud, on stage.
They really do go in 3s.
Right Foot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVX-voqWuwY
Ice Cream Shop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCSF42Q74n8
Great Movies and Great Messaging!
Billy Jack was an original American bad ass. He was the for runner to Chuck Norris. RIP Tom Laughlin.
Who?
Despite reports yesterday to the contrary, Ray Price is still alive. Ill, but alive;
Ya, I was far more interested in the passing of Peter O’Toole this weekend. He was an icon.
Billy Jack? Never saw it, and never will.
Best Movie Ever!
Year of my birth … “Lawrence of Arabia”.
True Story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._E._Lawrence
Oh … Peter O’Toole was an Irishman!
Billy Jack ranks up their with Superman, Rudy Ray Moore, and Charles Bronson.
RIP.
@3 Eggs – who was the third? I saw two actors died…. O’Toole and Fontaine. And I saw “Billy Jack” – two hours I will never get back. One of the all-time worst pieces of crap ever filmed.
Hey, give Billy Jack a break; he was “Green Beret” Special Forces Nam Vet and all that…Tommy Lefty Laughlin, not so much…
He wasn’t a great or even good actor but I believe he was an honest liberal. Those are hard to come by. I always liked Peter O’Toole and all his work. RIP Billy, One Tin Soldier Rides Away.
I was counting O’Toole, Fontaine and Laughlin. I briefly remember Billy Jack as my brother was a big fan of the films.
I remember seeing Billy Jack at the theater. After the movie was over a fight broke out in front of the theater. Hilarious! A mixed message movie?
Lawrence of Arabia is still one of my favorite movies. Definitely captured the essence of the man and Europe’s contentious relationship with the Arabs. RIP, Peter O’Toole, and thanks for an all-time classic.
Paraphrasing the Vandellas, “Billy Jack he ain’t never coming back”
Those movies are clearly dated and don’t hold up very well at all over time, he did a western that was pretty terrible too….
Like Old Trooper said though, you knew what you got with this guy like it or not…he did appear in a lot more films than most people know about…usually smaller character roles starting with TV during the 50s and ending with a small role in 1981 in the Big Sleep….he even appeared as part of the chorus in South Pacific…
I was not a fan, I thought the movies were weak…but I have no dislike and hope he finds what he is seeking on the next part of the journey…
Regarding Peter O’Toole, I was a huge fan. A lesser film of his but one I enjoyed because of him was “My Favorite Year” it was pretty much carried in every scene by O’Toole who ate the scenery in every single frame he was in.
@18: I very much enjoyed “Murphy’s War”; not very much remembered these days, but it has most everything a kid would enjoy when I first viewed it back in 1972: Big German U-Boote, krauts with MP-40s, broken-down Brit bi-plane equipped with home-made bombs, a purty lady doctor, and a Brit merchant sailor who could wax poetic as if was a shakespearian actor or something…
My favorite Peter O’Toole movies are “Lawrence” and ‘Lion in Winter’. I also liked him in ‘Lord Jim’ and ‘Becket’, but in ‘Troy’, as sad old King Priam wanting to retrieve Hector’s body, he really stole the scene.
And how he managed to avoid fathering more than the three children he produced is beyond me.
O’Toole repportedly despised ‘realistic’ acting and prefered an almost over-the-top scenery chewing style which went well with a lot of the historical genre flicks he is best known for. Not a favorite of mine but someone solid you could count on. Laughlin…. well, bluntly his liberal cred is about all he had going for him. Although his wooden acting style may have presaged Keanu Reeves…
O’Toole was also the voice behind Anton Ego, the restaurant critic in Ratatouille.
He was a complete leftist dick head,some of the things he sais about former POTUS Bush,made me want to shoot him in both his knees.fuck him.
R.I.P.Peter O’Tool,He was a great actor Murphy’s War was epic and Lawrence of Arabia is still one of my all time favs.
My favorite Peter O’ Toole movie would have to be King Ralph, or Caligula, or maybe High Spirits??
Just fooling, although he could carry a movie no matter what it was.
Agree with the kudos on Murphy’s War…my personal favorite lesser-known O’Toole performance was his take on Man of La Mancha — here’s a clip.
I saw movie back then it was great! No fights ;but mixed reaction from authority worshipers! Nothing like it at the time except forigen movies like battle of algeirs(which I am trying to write a screenplay of non-violent mexican american immigrant version of.) Rest in peace Tom!
Thanks jonn for post!
@27—Come on, “non violent mexican american immigrant version of battle of algiers”? You really aren’t even original in hiding the fact that you’re just here to piss people off, are you?
Latest news on Ray Price is that he has, indeed, passed on, at the age of 87.
http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=843861>1=28102
29@ Its really what billy jack was all about watch it and you will see as is my project. Their are many here in their own way like me saw the movie billy jack and thought yes we should stand up against injustice too! I am trying to do that with the dreamer kids. You can join in this too to show them deep down what america is really about!
VNpimp: blah, bla, lah, bl, ah, errrr, blah.
I see “vietnam war protestor” still hasn’t found that Gibberish interpreter to help him make his comments intelligible.
Of course, “vietnam war protestor” is is working at a handicap. Not all Gibberish interpreters can handle his native tongue: the Moron sub-dialect of Gibberish.
I’m sorry to hear about Ray Price. He was still performing until a few months ago, so I hear. I love the way he performed “Danny Boy”.
I think VWP has hired the sign language interpreter from the Mandela Memorial to post for him.
Nothing quite like those voices of the old gentlemen of country music. Not certain if it is still true, but for decades, the best musicians in the country were all in Nashville. Yeah, yeah, Hollywood and NYC had some greats, but not nearly as many as Nashville.