The Master Gunfighter/Fun Facts
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
< The Master Gunfighter
- The movie begins with the words "A Billy Jack Film" appearing on the screen, but it has nothing to do with the Billy Jack movies. Instead, this relates to the production company, Billy Jack Enterprises.
- The Master Gunfighter is mainly a remake of the 1969 Japanese film Goyokin, although the story revolves around a true incident in the early 1800s involving massacred Indians that occurred in the vicinity of Goleta, California.
- Due to the success of Billy Jack and The Trial of Billy Jack, Laughlin anticipated The Master Gunfighter would also be a hit and the film was accompanied with a $3.5 million marketing budget coupled with a nationwide distribution to 1,000 theaters by Laughlin's distribution company, Taylor-Laughlin Distribution Co. The film only stayed in theaters for 12 days and General Cinema Corporation withdrew exhibition for the film after Taylor-Laughlin demanded a $10,000 rental advance along with $500 per theater advertising commitment. One of Laughlin's marketing stunts involved the rental of an electric sign in Times Square attacking film critics as failed writers who couldn't make it in the movie business.
