MovieChat Forums > Billy Jack (1971) Discussion > Wild mustangs for dogfood?

Wild mustangs for dogfood?

posted 20 years ago by mike365
18 replies | jump to latest

I remember watching this movie on tv when I was a kid and really liking it, so I rented recently. Now I realize that the film was pretty ridiculous. Right from the start, the evil townspeople are killing wild mustangs to sell for dog food at 6 cents/pound? Isn't that just dumb? Don't you think there are people who would pay much more for a prime young horses that just need to be broken? I can just imagine the script-writing session...."how can I make the villains look really REALLY evil....EUREKA!! They capture beautiful wild horses and slaughter'em for horse meat!"

And what's with the "Freedom School"? No explanation as to where the very young kid's parents are? They bundle them up on a bus for a trip into town, and don't bother to say "you know, the townspeople are kinda fascist and don't think much of change, so, it's probably not such a great idea to draw inordinate amounts of attention to ourselves as we parade through the town in our freedom bus....perhaps everyone singing out of the open windows, yelling about love and giving everyone the peace sign is not the best way to get the townspeople tolerate the fact that we have different belief systems"

And the woman running the freedom school talks about how everyone has to make decisions for themselves, but then turns around and let's the police search the school without any legal right to do so, because it will make them feel like "big men", when the rest of the school obviously disagreed with her.

OK, and how about the girl who comes back home pregnant, and says to her father, "I don't know if the baby is going to white, black, Mexican etc etc" because she had sex with dozens of guys and 't expect that it might upset any normal father? OK, he definitely shouldn't have hit her, but did you feel sympathy for her before that? Man, what an obnoxious kid!

And the cute little girl at the town meeting, who gives this a quote that any moderate conservative would agree with, and then (the coup de grace), it's ADOLPH HITLER who said it!! ok ok, hitler was evil...but that doesn't mean that EVERYTHING he said during his life was therefore evil. If Hitler said, "I really enjoy rack of lamb" and you also enjoy such fare...would that mean that you agree with everything Hitler said? I'm sure the hippies in the movie would agree with this quote: "Mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division means abstracting oneself from fundamental facts". Well, that was STALIN...and he wasn't so nice either!

Now, I did enjoy the scenes where Billy Jack shows up and kicks some fascist butt...but what is his message....peace through violence? Roger Ebert made a nice comment about this being a movie where you route for the nice fascists to defeat the mean fascists...but it's all really about suspending people rights and taking the law into your own hands, and the exact opposite of what the "freedom school" was supposed to be all about.

[–] goblingal 20 years ago

well i can't say anything about the 6 cents for dog food but people shelled out and was paid alot less then, as opposed to now.

the freedom school is the hippy generation. they had different beliefs then what their partents had as shown by barbara and her father. when you have two different generations they tend to clash. so most likely most of those kids are runaways clashing with their parents cause of their beliefs and attitude towards things that are different then their parents. it's no different then kids now clashing with their parents.

the scene where she said "they don't have a right to search here but if it will make them feel like big men we'll let them." meaning they have nothing to hide let them search. the reason they have nothing to hide billy took barbara. the kids booed the idea cause they don't think that they should be searching cause they don't do anything wrong.

barbara telling her father she's pregnant cause she got passed down by so many guys again it's the hippy generation free love, she hated her father cause of how he is mean and dominerring so like kids now she goes against him. and like a typical teen gets herself into trouble. but being this is the era of free love before disease and the aids epidemic that's what teens did then. not only teens but anyone that were hippish. ex: my mother married my hippy father against my grandparents wishes, she was in conflict with them so she left her life became a flower child and married my father. same concept here hippy children differed from their generation old parents.

the adolph hitler remark, well adolph hitler was hated by many. at the time americans copied this speech everywhere it's a comparison but its also saying "hey wise up bub you didn't come up with this speech some bad guy did."

as for the peace and violence thing. billy jack solves his problems mainly by violence he thinks thats the only way people will listen. jean and the rest of the kids are trying to show him love is the answer.

ggal

[–] mike365 20 years ago

well, I'm not sure that the kids really think love is the answer...they are all for the violence as long as they don't have to physically take part in it...there were no protests as he went "BEZERK" in the ice cream parlor when the indians were ridiculed. It seems to be ok to be into peace and love as long as you have a right wing hero to defend you when things go bad.

I understand the point about the hippie culture and the town cultures being different...but in my mind the hippies have to take more than the fair share of the blame in this movie for the clash that occurs...or are you telling me that they are just that nieve? Fine, they have to make up their own minds, but couldn't the teacher have given THEM a few classes on tolerance of the town culture?

So all of the kids at the school are runnaways...and the shcool thinks it's better for them to be away from their parents (who's crime is what...not being "hip" to the movement) then trying to patch things up and move back home? So, if your kid disagreed with you, you'd be cool with say a cult keeping you away from them on indian land? Just because your kids don't agree with your way of thinking? Abuse is one thing, but ideological difference don't merit keeping kids away from their families.

[–] pamelarosew 20 years ago

Actually wild mustangs were killed for dog food before the adoption program started. Actually, the govt. agency involved was recently in trouble for some of the "adopted" horses being sold for slaughter. Now it isn't so much for dog food but for European restaurants.

In the movie it is implied that the girl who ran away from her father was beaten by him. So she did have a reason to stay away.

I have a problem with Howard Hessman and the comedy troup they used. These guys are way too old to be "kids" that ran away from home.

[–] GraphicBlandishment 18 years ago

Hesseman's credit (as "Don Sturdy") was "drama teacher".

He was not one of the student runaways.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] thetheeyecreature 17 years ago

Mustangs have never been considered very valuable for commercial horse purposes because they're mixed breeds. A lot of folks romanticize horses, but in reality they're often not treated that well.

Yep, one message of this movie is: "Be a pacifist like me, or I'll beat your white ass, you racist fascist." It exists in one of those movie towns where the police force is either totally corrupt or totally ineffective, and the local rich guy gets to call the shots. (I never understood why the sheriff, who seems like a decent guy, apparently has no control over his deputy.)

"The truth 24 times a second."

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] roger-395 15 years ago

Mike, unfortunately wild mustangs were sold for dog food and do you want t o know what's worse? In 2008, the BLM is forced to sell overstock to foreigners who view horse meat as a delicacy and to dog food companies. BLM rescues mustangs and in the west they are held at two holding areas one near Reno and the other near Susanville. Every month, BLM transports batches of horses to adoption sites throughout the US. Horses range in age of 1 year to 7 years. A horse gets five chances for adoption and then it is off to the market most of the time. You cab buy a mustang for $125. and then it takes maybe 2 to 3 years of training before the horse will do what you ask it to. I have two mustangs and they are my best friends. Today, with hay and grain prices being what they are, people are giving horses away because they can't afford to feed them. The mustangs still face danger and yes they are sold for food even today.

[–] badponymedicine 14 years ago

You also have to understand the economics of the times. You can get $125 for a mustang NOW. That's for 'pasture pet' or to try to break. Back THEN (late 60's, early 70's), you could get almost that selling them for DOGFOOD.
Side note: Up until about 30 years ago, it was allegedly legal in Australia to hunt Aboriginals for dogfood! HUMANS!!!!
I've known people who bought mustangs at BLM auctions (don't even get me started on BLM!!!!!) and they are MUCH tougher to break than your standard horse, and always remain at least a little wild. They can be unpredictable.

[–] choatelodge 12 years ago

There's a certain accepted 'nobility' in the picture of wild horses running free yadda yadda... The fact is, wild animals being shot for food is happening all the time. How many people do or know people who hunt deer, moose, elk, boar, etc. for the table?
Do we make sense when we throw up our hands in horror at the thought of wild hoofed animals as food when they are horses instead of bison or deer or boar?
Why?
Boar are more intelligent than horses and therefor more advanced a life form.
Deer are more graceful and beautiful.

[–] eddvoss 11 years ago

People also forget that among some Native American tribes both horse and dog meat was acceptable for human consumption.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] lroy77 12 years ago

It is no secret that some brands of dog food is made from horse meat (not necessarily mustang). Not sure if it is true now.

Even humans can eat horse meat if you want to...there are very few (if any) animals that is not edible to humans.

[–] Hotwyre6 12 years ago

What I want to know is how much meat can you harvest from a horse like that? Would it make it worth the expenditure of time and effort to get 6 cents/pound in 1971 dollars? Seems like a lot of work for a pittance. Isn't Posner the richest guy in town? Why would he waste his time working for peanuts?

If you could yield a substantial amount of meat per horse then maybe I could understand, but otherwise it seems like so little for so much effort.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oFPlpAT84g&feature=related

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[–] TopFrog 11 years ago

And the cute little girl at the town meeting, who gives this a quote that any moderate conservative would agree with, and then (the coup de grace), it's ADOLPH HITLER who said it!! ok ok, hitler was evil...but that doesn't mean that EVERYTHING he said during his life was therefore evil.

It's worse than you think (or more precisely, worse than you thought nine years ago) -- Hitler didn't even say what the girl attributed to him. It's a completely made up quote. (Of course she didn't have the Internet to use to check her facts.)

As if that's not enough, later in the movie St. Francis of Assisi has the Serenity Prayer misattributed to him. There's a trivia question for you -- what do Hitler and St. Francis have in common?