was the truth. Cast Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack E. G. Marshall as Senator Joseph Paine John Lawlor as Dan McArthur Lucie Arnaz as Saunders Delores Taylor as Jean Suzanne Somers as Sue Sam Wanamaker as Bailey Richard Sanders as Jerry Peter Donat as Ralph Butler Pat O'Brien as The Vice President Production As with the two previous films in the series, Laughlin's wife Delores Taylor and daughter Teresa Laughlin reprise their roles. Julie Webb and several other supporting actors from Billy Jack and The Trial of Billy Jack return as well. Author and political journalist Joe Klein appears briefly as a reporter in the opening scene. (Klein became friends with Laughlin after interviewing him for Rolling Stone in 1975.) A new version of the song "One Tin Soldier" (the original theme for Billy Jack) sung by Teresa Laughlin is played over the closing credits. Release Billy Jack Goes to Washington was a failure, partly due to distribution problems, and it proved to be Laughlin's last film as a director. Scenes featuring Suzanne Somers and William Wellman Jr. were cut from the DVD release, which is missing 40 minutes. Wellman's cut scenes had him reprising the national guardsman he played in The Trial of Billy Jack, who was now on the board of the Freedom School's directors. Reception Variety wrote, "By comparison with the spine-tingling emotionalism and technical brilliance of the Capra version, the pic is much flatter and largely devoid of performing or visual nuances. Most of the humor is gone, and the characters are thinned out, replaced with a rhetorical talkathon interspersed with a few chopsocky sequences." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post described the film as "a talky, static, derivative picture that seems to run on forever," adding, "Laughlin relies so heavily on the original plot and dialogue of 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' that one may feel a little embarrassed on his behalf. It's obvious that he's used the Capra film as a crutch rather than an inspiration." The film has a score of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes based on eight reviews, with an average grade of 2.71 out of 10. Sequel The unfinished sequel to this movie is The Return of Billy Jack (1985/86). References External links Laughlin's official Billy Jack web site 1977 films 1970s political drama films Remakes of American films American political drama films American sequel films 1970s English-language films Films scored