Billy Jack is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie The Born Losers (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in the fall of 1969, but the movie was not completed until 1971. American International Pictures pulled out, halting filming. 20th Century Fox came forward and filming eventually resumed but when that studio refused to distribute the film, Warner Bros. stepped forward.

Still, the film lacked distribution, so Laughlin booked it into theaters himself in 1971. The film grossed $10 million in its initial run, but eventually added close to $50 million in its re-release, with distribution supervised by Laughlin.

Men from a western U.S. town herd wild mustangs into a remote pen to be illegally slaughtered as dog food. The county's corrupt political boss Stuart Posner tells his son Bernard to shoot the first mustang, but he refuses. The men are interrupted by Billy Jack, a mixed-race Navajo and Green Beret Vietnam War veteran, who orders the men to release the mustangs; he fires his rifle at them when they refuse. They release the animals and Billy Jack rides away on his horse.

Sheriff Cole brings Barbara, a teenage runaway, home to her father, Deputy Mike. Barbara tells Mike that she is pregnant, but she does not know who the father is, as she had sex with numerous men including several who were not white. This angers Mike, who punches her in the face, and she runs away to the town doctor. The doctor and Sheriff Cole fear that Mike will abuse her again if she is sent home, so they arrange for her to live at the hippie-themed Freedom School without telling him. The townspeople and the counterculture students at the remote school seldom interact, so it is unlikely that anyone from town will notice that Barbara is living there. The school's director is Jean Roberts and Billy Jack is the school's protector. Barbara is initially uncomfortable at the school but feels more welcome after Jean encourages her to participate in improvisational theatre. Barbara befriends Martin, a Native American student.

Freedom School students visit the town. Bernard and his friend Dinosaur harass students who are being refused service at an ice cream shop because the group includes Native Americans. Martin lunges at Bernard, who punches him. Seeing this from outside, Billy Jack enters the shop and beats up Bernard and Dinosaur. He attempts to leave but is confronted by Stuart Posner and many male townspeople. Billy Jack performs a hapkido kick, hitting Stuart in the face and knocking him down, and beats numerous other men using hapkido, but they overwhelm him. Sheriff Cole defuses the situation and the men disperse, but he refuses to arrest anyone.

Stuart Posner and the town council propose limiting when the students can visit town. The students attend a council meeting and express opposition. Council members agree to visit the Freedom School. Barbara stays with Billy Jack at an ancient Native American ruin so no one from the town will see her at the school; Mike goes to the school looking for her but is thwarted because she is absent and the students peacefully resist. Council members attend an improvisational comedy performance at the school, and the students hold comedic street performances in town, amusing the townspeople.

Bernard attempts to sexually assault a female Freedom School student in his new Chevrolet Corvette, but is stopped by Jean and Billy Jack, who give Bernard a choice: either Billy Jack will break his elbow or he can drive the car into the nearby lake. Bernard chooses the latter and is subsequently berated by Stuart in front of other men from town.

Billy Jack undergoes a Navajo initiation in which he deliberately allows a large rattlesnake to bite him. Bernard and Dinosaur watch and contemplate shooting him.