In the 1960s, he decided to introduce the character of Billy Jack in a quickly written script designed to capitalize on the then-popular trend in motorcycle gang movies.

The story was based on a real incident from 1964 where members of the Hells Angels were arrested for raping two teenage girls in Monterey, California.

Billy Jack is introduced as an enigmatic, half-Native American Vietnam veteran who shuns society, taking refuge in the peaceful solitude of the California Central Coast mountains.

His troubles begin when he descends from this unspoiled setting and drives into a small beach town named Big Rock.

A minor traffic accident in which a motorist hits a motorcyclist results in a savage beating by members of the Born Losers Motorcycle Club, led by Danny.

Her supposed plan of ditching her bike to flee on foot results in her being caught and raped to the point where she is put in hospital.

Billy, armed with a bolt-action rifle, captures the gang, shoots the leader (Jeremy Slate) between the eyes in cold blood, and forces some of the others to take Vicky, who's been badly beaten, to the hospital.

The anti-authority sentiment continues up to the end when a police deputy accidentally shoots Billy in the back, mistaking him for a fleeing gang member.

[citation needed] To cut costs, a stunt scene of a biker crashing into a pond was taken from American International's 1966 comedy The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.

[9] The websites Letterboxd, The Grindhouse Database, and the book Search and Clear: Critical Responses to Selected Literature and Films of the Vietnam War list this movie as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre.

[15][16] It set a record in Mexico City playing at the Teatro Metropólitan for more than 26 weeks, the longest run for a 35mm film, selling over 500,000 tickets.

[17] The Born Losers was released in Hungary as Halálfejesek ("Death's-heads"),[18] dubbed by cult Hungarian actors like Zoltán Latinovits, Gábor Agárdy, Gyula Szabó, and Éva Almási.