Billy Jack

Tom Laughlin produced, directed and starred in the title role in the first “Billy Jack” movie in 1971. He signed a contract with Warner Brothers to promote the release of the movie. Tom felt that the promotion was handled poorly, sued Warner Brothers for breach of contract, and then decided to promote a re-release of the movie himself around 1974. (**)

To promote a “Billy Jack” re-release martial art’s demonstration, martial art’s practitioners, Ju Sung Lee and Ju Bung Lee appeared as guests on the Johnny Carson Show. Grandmaster “Iron” Kim , who had arrived in the U.S. in 1972, came to the demonstration in 1974 and performed a spontaneous martial art’s exhibition in Torrence, Ca. that stunned the audience. Over one hundred actors and actresses and over one hundred high-level, international martial art’s experts were in attendance including Chuck Norris and Ed Parker. Photographs were taken during one section of Grandmaster “Iron” Kim’s demonstration. Head National Instructor Frank Kucia, an Oom Yung (Chung Moo Doe) practitioner, was the spokesperson during Grandmaster “Iron” Kim’s Moo Doe demonstration. The “Billy Jack” movie subsequently was very successful for that time and gross revenues totaled close to 100 million dollar.

(**) Referenced in Entertainment Weekly, 12 May 2000 issue