Hippy History Month Essay #1

(Note: This essay was originally about someone else, but that will be delayed until next week, hopefully.)

My essay is about Tom Laughlin. He is best known for his dedication to pacifism, but he also has his good poins.

Tom Laughlin was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and lived in Wisconsin. This traumatic experience obviously shaped his life.

Tom was an actor and got his start on the TV show "Climax!" There is a famous urban legend about this tv show, but it is not true that it's a sex show. He also starred in movies like Gidget and South Pacific, which allowed him to play up his strengths as a beach bum.

In the sixties, this typecasting finally caught up to him. He was forced to star in movies meant to humiliate him. Titles like "The Young Sinner" and "The Born Loser" were thought up first, long before a poster and eventual script were made. However, Tom got the last laugh when they made The Born Loser about an Indian. Tom's native American looks made him perfect for the role as Billy Jack. People are often shocked to find out that he's really a caucasion from the Midwest.

The Born Loser told the story of the a former Green Beret who doesn't wear a hat. Along his way, he meets several bikers and local girls, all who have bad parents. At some poin his pacifism allows him to kick several people. Eventually this straightens everything out, and Billy gets the girl Vicki. Their love was not to last as he dumps her before the credits role after her bizarre lightbulb speech.

The movie was directed by a hat who was always critical of Laughlin. Eventually the two had an offscreen altercation. The hat kept telling Tom that it could do his scenes by itself, and they eventually compromised for the next Billy movie. Billy was still the star, but the hat would appear in every scene. (There are websites dedicated to where the hat is on every frame of the Billy Jack Trilogy.)

The first movie of the seventies trilogy is appropriately, Billy Jack. This movie tells the story of the origin of how Billy Jack's girlfriend Jean gave him the hat. There's also a lot of racist, corrupt town folks, but the hat wins in the end. Tom was also allowed to speak out on half of the Indian community because he looked so much like them.

This movie became a success when Tom was the first to show endless commercials of the movie on television. This revolutionary idea is now how all films are advertised in America. Later in 1971 Laughlin directed Touch of Satan, which defined his views on relationships.

In the middle of the decade Laughlin created The Master Gunfighter, a movie that debunked the idea that cowboys actually used guns instead of the historically correct swords. After this he created his masterpiece, The Trial of Billy Jack. This movie is the first to have scenes where people talk about issues for 15 to 30 minutes straight. The movie is about Billy going to jail for slapping Jesus, but the belly dancing team from his girlfriend's hippy school free him. Eventually some soldier go on their campus and shoots several of them to stop their whining. Billy survives mostly by the awesomeness of his hat.

This film was one of the top moneymakers of 1975, so a sequel was guaranteed. However, he made the tragic mistake in dissing the hat when he decided to do a remake of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. The film was a flop and destroyed Laughlin's career as a film maker. The hat is now in a museum in Japan somewhere.

Tom Laughlin's later life is defined by his entry into politics. He has entered into several presidential races, and sometimes people even vote for him. In New Hampshire he proved his popularity by receiving 2% of the Democratic Party vote in 1992. He now maintains a website filled with his revolutionary ideas and stuff.

Since Tom Laughlin was a big hippy it is a known fact that while he talked about wanting to save the world, he just smoked pot and smelled bad. However, he does deserve credit for the name of Rowan and Martin's variety show.