Yeah, I'm totally familiar with BORN LOSERS, I've seen quite a few times and I think it's pretty durned enjoyable! Ditto for the Billy Jack series, as corny and clichéd as they can be. There's something about the anti-hero kicking the rednecks ass plot device that's very appealing to me and the Billy Jack movies have that in spades. His hippie wife is pretty hard to take though.
My favorite Tom Laughlin movie is Robert Altman's debut THE DELINQUENTS, which TCM shows more than you'd think they would. It has a sense of realism and naturalness to the acting that Altman became known for and Laughlin gets to do his method acting thing in his first starring role.
Tonight TCM is showing the mind-blowing INCUBUS, the
2nd (
!!!) film made using the failed international language of esperanto. It was directed by Leslie "OUTER LIMITS" Stevens and "stars" William Shatner. It's a real endurance test. One interesting thing about it is the impressive cinematography was done by Conrad Hall, who went on to an impressive career (cool stuff like COOL HAND LUKE, IN COLD BLOOD, HELL IN THE PACIFIC, CATCH MY SOUL, FAT CITY, ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE, DAY OF THE LOCUST, SMILE, MARATHON MAN, tons more) and even won 3 Academy Awards for his work on BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID, AMERICAN BEAUTY & ROAD TO PERDITION.
Check out the full INCUBUS story here:
http://www.tcm.com/underground/movies/?cid=258906
Adam Sheets said:Gunther Toody said:Did yo catch FIVE MINUTES TO LIVE (or DOOR TO DOOR MANIAC) with Johnny Cash a couple of weeks ago? That's a nutty movie!
I've seen it before and you're right. Cash was a surprisingly good actor, but the movie was pure exploitation (just the way I like).
Here's a recommendation for you. It's been on TCM a time or two, but I own the series on DVD. Check out a biker flick from 1967 called
The Born Losers. Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack before the actual film
Billy Jack catapulted him to stardom, Jane Russell as an aging prostitute and single mother, a hot chick in one of the lead roles, and a Satanic motorcycle gang. Who can ask for more?