March 7, 2019 Thursday
11:14 p.m.
Review of "Billie" 1965
I love this movie. Patty Duke is always a ray of sunshine anytime she appears on any size screen
It is however surprising to see that the generation 54 years ago did not understand gender roles as we do today. Today we know that a girl/ woman can participate in athletics and still be feminine. The most notable fictional current day example of that is the character of "Eve" played by Kaitlyn Dever in the currently running television show "Last Man Standing." It is accepted that Eve participates in sports - along with activities associated with ROTC training - and watches sports with her father. In fact it is often mentioned that she is the father's favorite bec. she is involved in things that he can relate to unlike her sisters. She also dresses up for parties and dances - and is very much interested in boys. In our post Title Nine era is is surprising to see that her high school doesn't even have girls track team. At the end of the movie it is disappointing to our modern day sensibilities that Billie feels like she has to quit the track team that she so strongly fought to be on because she feels like she can't be on the track team and fully be a girl.
Some obvious problems with the movie. Films and t.v. shows have never realistically portrayed teenagers with actors the age of teenagers. In some ways that is understandable considering child labor laws and requirements, it makes it easier to have a post teen on set. You don't have to deal with limited hours and having a teacher on set, and you also don't need to deal with having to have a parent on set. I assume it is also easier to work with a post teen bec. of the added maturity and work ethic. However the age difference in this film (as it often was with other films of this era) of the leading h.s. boy is too big of a stretch to even be believable. Doing the math Mss Duke would be 19 playing a 16 year old and her co-star Warren Berlinger would have been 28 playing a 17 year old. With Duke it is understandable. Having a 28 year old playing a 17 year old is not.
Susan Seaforth Hayes is fun to watch as the secretly married older sister - and Ted Bessell as her husband. I am always surprised though when couples get married without including their families in their weddings. Immorality is a serious thing, but so sad that character Jean's erroneously assumed immorality is brought into their father's political race. Maybe it is just my LDS upbringing where it is assumed that couples get married before finishing college it is surprising to see that the characters or Bob and Jean were afraid to tell about their marriage to Jean's parents. I wonder if that was typical of that era? Nice to see though that when finding out about the marriage and the pregnancy that they were immediately privately and publicly supportive of the couple.
Fun to see Dick Sargent, and Billy De Wolfe in other roles from "Bewitched" and "Good Morning World."
In the post musical era I enjoyed the song and dance numbers in this film - similar to those in the almost same time period "Bye Bye Birdie" 1963. The musical numbers are what gives the film the fun that it has. Miss Duke's voice - actual singing is also nice to watch. I think one of the songs was also used in "The Patty Duke Show."
"Billie" in trying to make the character look like a tomboy and to separate the character from Duke's character of "Patty Lane" that she was also currently playing during the time the film was shot they chose a boyish hairstyle for the character which didn't really work.
Wacky that the mom announces that she is pregnant at the end of the film.
Fun to see that girls during that time period always wore skirts or dresses to school. Fun to see what they would tyically wear.
So sad that more family films that are just good fun are not made in our so called modern era. A must see of anyone who enjoys just fun colorful films.
Linda Ann Sheldon - Oh and so sad that at one point she starts deliberately losing to her boyfriend.
Review of "Billie" 1965
I love this movie. Patty Duke is always a ray of sunshine anytime she appears on any size screen
It is however surprising to see that the generation 54 years ago did not understand gender roles as we do today. Today we know that a girl/ woman can participate in athletics and still be feminine. The most notable fictional current day example of that is the character of "Eve" played by Kaitlyn Dever in the currently running television show "Last Man Standing." It is accepted that Eve participates in sports - along with activities associated with ROTC training - and watches sports with her father. In fact it is often mentioned that she is the father's favorite bec. she is involved in things that he can relate to unlike her sisters. She also dresses up for parties and dances - and is very much interested in boys. In our post Title Nine era is is surprising to see that her high school doesn't even have girls track team. At the end of the movie it is disappointing to our modern day sensibilities that Billie feels like she has to quit the track team that she so strongly fought to be on because she feels like she can't be on the track team and fully be a girl.
Some obvious problems with the movie. Films and t.v. shows have never realistically portrayed teenagers with actors the age of teenagers. In some ways that is understandable considering child labor laws and requirements, it makes it easier to have a post teen on set. You don't have to deal with limited hours and having a teacher on set, and you also don't need to deal with having to have a parent on set. I assume it is also easier to work with a post teen bec. of the added maturity and work ethic. However the age difference in this film (as it often was with other films of this era) of the leading h.s. boy is too big of a stretch to even be believable. Doing the math Mss Duke would be 19 playing a 16 year old and her co-star Warren Berlinger would have been 28 playing a 17 year old. With Duke it is understandable. Having a 28 year old playing a 17 year old is not.
Susan Seaforth Hayes is fun to watch as the secretly married older sister - and Ted Bessell as her husband. I am always surprised though when couples get married without including their families in their weddings. Immorality is a serious thing, but so sad that character Jean's erroneously assumed immorality is brought into their father's political race. Maybe it is just my LDS upbringing where it is assumed that couples get married before finishing college it is surprising to see that the characters or Bob and Jean were afraid to tell about their marriage to Jean's parents. I wonder if that was typical of that era? Nice to see though that when finding out about the marriage and the pregnancy that they were immediately privately and publicly supportive of the couple.
Fun to see Dick Sargent, and Billy De Wolfe in other roles from "Bewitched" and "Good Morning World."
In the post musical era I enjoyed the song and dance numbers in this film - similar to those in the almost same time period "Bye Bye Birdie" 1963. The musical numbers are what gives the film the fun that it has. Miss Duke's voice - actual singing is also nice to watch. I think one of the songs was also used in "The Patty Duke Show."
"Billie" in trying to make the character look like a tomboy and to separate the character from Duke's character of "Patty Lane" that she was also currently playing during the time the film was shot they chose a boyish hairstyle for the character which didn't really work.
Wacky that the mom announces that she is pregnant at the end of the film.
Fun to see that girls during that time period always wore skirts or dresses to school. Fun to see what they would tyically wear.
So sad that more family films that are just good fun are not made in our so called modern era. A must see of anyone who enjoys just fun colorful films.
Linda Ann Sheldon - Oh and so sad that at one point she starts deliberately losing to her boyfriend.