FAQ

Wounded and hospitalized, Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor), a teacher at Freedom School, an alternative school for troubled youth on a Native American reservation in Arizona, describes to reporters and writers (in flashbacks) the events that followed the arrest, trial, and release of half-Indian and ex-Green Beret Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin), whose attempts to prevent the abuse of Freedom School's students resulted in several deaths. After serving four years of a 5-15 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter, Billy returned to the reservation and to Freedom School, but the troubles started up again.

The Trial of Billy Jack is the third movie in the Billy Jack series, preceded by The Born Losers (1967) (1967) and Billy Jack (1971) (1971) and followed by Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977) (1977) and The Return of Billy Jack (1986) (uncompleted). The screenplay was written by independent film-maker Tom Laughlin (under the pen name Frank Christina) and his wife Delores Taylor (under the pen name Teresa Christina).

While Jean is on the phone with the governor, the military surrounding the school open fires on the students. Jean rushes outside, screaming for the military to stop, but she is shot in the abdomen. Danny (Mike Bolland) is shot in the back. When Carol (Teresa Kelly) rushes to Danny, she is also shot. Suddenly, a stream of torches is seen approaching the school. The local Indians place themselves between the school and military, reminding them that the school is under reservation protection and that the military will have to shoot them first. Then an odd thing happens. Bunches of the military begin throwing down their guns and joining the Indians. Meanwhile, Billy lies near death from his bullet wounds. He is gifted with a vision from the maiden (Sandra Ego) who informs him that he has not yet reached level four and must return, along with Carol, to carry on the teachings. Jean considers closing the school, but Billy and the students convince Jean not to give up. In the final scenes, Jean and Carol, both in wheelchairs, are wheeled into a church where all the students pay tribute to Jean. As the camera pans away from the church, a postscript reads 'Some may feel this picture is too violent, but the real messages which inspired this fictionalized version were a thousand-fold more violent for those innocent people who were its victims. Rather than direct anger at this re-creation, please channel your energy toward those officials who either ordered, condoned, or failed to take action against these events and perhaps toward ourselves for also turning our backs and letting such events occur unchallenged. All we are saying is...give peace a chance. '

When confronted with a slap, a Level 1 person will respond with a similar punch, showing that he is immediately pulled down to an animal level, reacting on instinct. A Level 2 person does not react with brute violence but easily forgets what he was doing and so is pulled away from his own center. A Level 3 person cannot be swayed by another person to react, thus he is his own person. How a person at Level 4 would react to a slap is not disclosed.