The Born Losers

1967 "An innocent girl is first prize in the dirtiest game ever played!"
5.9| 1h53m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 12 July 1967 Released
Producted By: Fanfare Films
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A ruthless motorcycle gang rides into a California town and terrorizes its denizens.

Genre

Drama, Action, Western

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The Born Losers (1967) is now streaming with subscription on MGM+

Director

Tom Laughlin

Production Companies

Fanfare Films

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The Born Losers Audience Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
SnoopyStyle Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin) is an ex-Green Beret back home after Vietnam. There is a motorcycle gang 'Born to Lose' who are terrifying a small California coastal town. The gang is led by Danny Carmody and his second-in-command Child. Only Billy Jack is willing to stand up to them as they call him an Indian. He's sentenced and fined for vigilantism which is more than even the gang members. College student Vicky Barrington (Elizabeth James) in her white bikini riding a motorcycle attracts the attention of the gang. She gets raped along 3 other girls. The girls are pressured out of testifying except for Vicky. Billy Jack's friend Crawford has a daughter that is one of those girls. The gang kidnaps Vicky from Deputy Fred and then she's rescued by Billy Jack.The acting is generally bad in this movie. The gang is rough at times and then at other times, they're doing a version of West Side Story. Elizabeth James is a bad actress but she's great at wearing that white bikini. On the other hand, her character is well written. She's able to write a character that isn't simply a damsel in distress and also not a simple heroine either. She's a smart mouth and a coward in her own words. Also watch out for a Jane Russell cameo. Even though this is a badly made and badly acted movie, I still root for these characters. I think there is the bare bones of a good movie inside of here.
BoomerDT So on the evening on 5/11/15 across America much of the country's senior population settled in after dinner at 8/7PM to TCM to enjoy a movie. Perhaps a frothy Esther Williams vehicle, or a Gene Kelly musical or maybe some 1940's film noir with Alan Ladd. I can only imagine the reactions when they discovered their favorite movie channel was showing 2 hours of mayhem, featuring brutal violence and gang rapes as a motorcycle gang, "The Born Losers" terrorize a California town in this 1967 classic of the biker flick genre. No complaints here, I know they've shown this very late at night before, not sure if they've ran it in prime time but one thing I love about TCM is the variety in showing films rarely seen elsewhere.AIP did a great job of gaging the pulse of the young film goers in the 50's through the early 70's. In the 50's they had rock n roll and juvenile delinquent movies, and in the early and middle 60's they had all the silly Frankie & Annette beach comedies. By 1967 they had ran their course and AIP went to edgier stuff, with biker and drug flicks, cheaply made stuff for drive-in's and a teenage audience. "Born Losers" is notable for the introduction of the Billy Jack character. The sequel, the pretentious and heavy handed "Billy Jack" received much more attention and was more successful and would spawn one more sequel, the truly dreadful "Trial of Billy Jack" which I must admit, I've never been able to sit through entirely. However, the most compelling character in BL isn't Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, but screen veteran Jeremy Slate as Danny Carmody, the leader of the biker gang. Slate actually brings a touch of humor (like wearing goofy white sunglasses that look like they were ripped off an old lady) to an otherwise repulsive thug and in my book does a superior of more believable job of playing a biker gang boss than Brando did in "The Wild One." Also notable is the great Jane Russell, in a small part as a washed out alcoholic mom of a girl who fell in the bikers. Now in her mid-40's, time hadn't been too kind to the gal who was a sex goddess in the 40's and 50's with a spectacular figure. As with all AIP films, much of it is unintentionally hilarious and lousy. Fun to watch though and thinking about, maybe it's not a bad call for TCM to run it in prime time, considering the original target for this is now between 60 and 70.
gpd035 In "The Born Losers," Laughlin's character had no name. He was referred to as "Indian." After "Billy Jack" was released and was stupidly successful, "The Born Losers" was re-released with the names "Billy Jack," and "Mr. Jack" edited in.The lead characters of both movies had a lot in common. They dressed the same, wore the same hat, and drove the same sort of vehicle. It was easy enough to capitalize on the "Billy Jack" popularity and make a few more bucks off "The Born Losers."The bosses say that my submission doesn't have enough lines of text. There really isn't a lot more to say about this movie. It was cheaply made, and destined for release at drive-ins. If it were made today, it would go straight to DVD.
AaronCapenBanner Tom Laughlin directed and stars as Billy Jack, a former Green Beret and jaded Vietnam war veteran who is trying to live peacefully in a small California town that is overrun with a dangerous motorcycle gang that terrorizes residents. After one motorist is severely beaten, and several young women attacked, Billy takes one of them under his protection, and sets out to defeat the gang, despite being virtually alone. Billy must use his considerable martial arts skills and his rifle to accomplish this. Debut of popular character Billy Jack is mostly a preview of what was to come; film itself is dreary and unappealing. First of four films.