In my early martial arts journey he was a legend. He used to do Tae Kwon Do or similar Korean martial art. That movie is as much as ‘Kung Fu legend’ as any of the other movies of that era. You triggered memories. Thanks
Not to disillusion anyone, but Tom Laughlin wasn’t really a martial artist. All the complicated kicks in the Billy Jack movies were performed by Bong Soo Han, a master of Korean hapkido, a sort of combination of Aikido and Tae Kwan Do. If you freeze frame the action scenes it’s not too hard to spot Master Han under the famous hat, doubling for Tom. That’s not a knock on TL, who was an accomplished athlete in his prime, but he was past 40 when he made these movies, and the reverse spinning heel kick would be challenging for even the best trained amateur.