Thanks, Jeff!

Updated on December 20, 2007 By Ken Begg 9 Comments

In case my old friend Jeff Withem stops by, I’d like to thank him and his family for raiding my Amazon wish list and getting me the Billy Jack Ultimate Collection and, even better, the recent Latitude Zero 2-disc DVD release.  (The joke will especially be on Jeff when he comes in for B-Fest next month and I give him my older Billy Jack DVD set.) 

I’ve given some knocks to Mr. Tom “Billy Jack” Laughlin, but he’s made a fair amount of coin off me over the year.  I bought his videos when he was the only one selling them and they were like $40 a pop.  So that was like $150 plus.  Then I replaced those films on DVD, although they were still not widescreened and had at best average, unmastered transfers.  At that point I was in for over two hundred bones.

Thus I’ve avoided buying the newer, spiffier set, even though it can be had for only about $20.  How many times was I supposed to buy those damn movies anyway?  Thanks to Jeff, though, I at least have the best set out there.  The films here are in anamorphic widescreen, remastered stereo sound, feature new commentaries for each film in addition to the already extant previous ones (in case you want six hours of commentaries on The Trial of Billy Jack alone), and there’s a fifth disc of extras, although these aren’t supposed to be that great.  It is a nicely designed package though, and jeez, that’s a lot of laughs for $21.

As for Latitude Zero, well, damn, that’s just too cool for school.

So thanks again Jeff and the girls. I hope everyone else scores as well.

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  • Roger H

    Wow, Latitude Zero. I remember checking for that movie on DVD not long ago and it was not available.

    My memory is seeing it only once, at the drive-in when I was about 7. The only thing I remember clearly was the flying lion which looked like a puppet and the aging Joseph Cotton. For many years it was the only Joseph Cotton movie I ever saw, in fact when I finally saw Citizen Kane, I thought, “that is the guy from Latitude Zero.”

    I put it in my Netflix queue, thanks for the tip.

  • Roger — You will *not* be disappointed. Latitude Zero is ten times more insane that you remember, I guarantee.

  • Ericb

    Does Laughlin give the commentaries?

  • Yes, he did a round of commentaries for the first DVD set, I think with his wife and co-star Deloris Taylor (except, I assume, for Born Losers, since Taylor didn’t appear in that), and they are joined by their son Frank for the second set. In any case, all eight commentaries feature Laughlin.

  • sardu

    Hey, to celebrate why not take a page from the Onion AV club and do a set of commentary recaps?? I’d love to see an analysis of Tom justifying his crimes against cinema… and as far as actually having to listen to 60 odd hours of him talking, better you than me *lol*

  • fish eye no miko

    Well, Ken has done commentary commentaries in the past, so maybe he’ll grace us with a few from Mr. Laughlin?

  • I recently watched the BORN LOSERS and BILLY JACK commentaries–the second, more recent tracks with Laughlin, wife Delores Taylor and son Frank (who, it turns out, really did direct THE MASTER GUNFIGHTER; I always thought it was just Tom hiding behind another pseudonym). They really aren’t too bad, sticking to the nuts and bolts of independent filmmaking and shying away from politics. Of course, much of the chat is self-aggrandizing; THE BORN LOSERS is really not a good movie at all, and BILLY JACK often a frustrating movie, albeit an intermittently crowd-pleasing one, though the Laughlins discuss them as if they are artistic triumphs. I did find them interesting to listen to, and the love the family has for each other is obvious.

    It’s also great to finally see these films in their OAR, and although they look quite good, they have not been given the complete remastering treatment. I can’t remember what all is on the 5th extras disc, outside of some beat-up BILLY JACK trailers (and none for the other films), but I wasn’t bowled over by it. I wonder if a trailer for BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON ever existed?

  • Marty — Interesting question. I think Goes to Washington was dumped prior to released, so maybe there wasn’t a trailer.

    Laughlin obviously is extremely close with his loved ones. However, you’re right on with another point, too. Laughlin outdoes Shatner in the ego department. I remember having the Billy Jack paperback movie-novel back in the day, and Laughlin’s writing in the foreword, “It’s a shame young people in America only have two people to look up to, Ralph Nader and Billy Jack.” And the Billy Jack book he sells on his website sounds hilarious in terms of his crowing about how he personally changed the American movie business.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Other than helping show the use of saturation advertising, what does he claim he did for cinema? I’d almost get that book just to find out. I bet it’s a hell of a read…though perhaps not in the way he hopes.