Honey, we’re having reheated leftovers again tonight

It has been more than 30 years, but Billy Jack is still plenty ticked off.

Back then, it was bigotry against Native Americans, trouble with the nuclear power industry and big bad government that made this screen hero explode in karate-fueled rage. At the time, the unlikely combination of rugged-loner heroics – all in defense of society’s downtrodden and forgotten – and rough-edged filmmaking sparked a pop culture and box-office phenomenon.

Tom Laughlin, "Billy Jack" in 1971, fought for the downtrodden.

Now the man who created and personified Billy Jack, Tom Laughlin – the writer, director, producer and actor – is determined to take on the establishment again, and his concerns are not so terribly different. Mr. Laughlin (and therefore Billy Jack) is angry about the war in Iraq and about the influence of big business in politics. And he still has a thing for the nuclear power industry.

Better take my lame-o medicine before seeing this one.