Ode to Billy Joe (1976)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Max Baer Jr.

Writer:

Herman Raucher (writer)

Release Date:

4 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

What the song didn't tell you, the movie will.

Plot:

Billy Joe confesses his love to the lovely Bobbi Lee only to cover his growing fear that he may, in fact...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Song | Homosexual Teenager | Barn Dance | Bridge | Chicken Coop

Cast

Robby Benson	...	Billy Joe McAllister
Glynnis O'Connor	...	Bobbie Lee Hartley
Joan Hotchkis	...	Anna 'Mama' Hartley
Sandy McPeak	...	Glenn 'Papa' Hartley
James Best	...	Dewey Barksdale
Terence Goodman	...	James Hartley
Becky Bowen	...	Becky Thompson
Simpson Hemphill	...	Brother Taylor
Ed Shelnut	...	Coleman Stroud, Bus Driver
Eddie Talr	...	Tom Hargitay
William Hallberg	...	Dan McAllister
Frannye Capelle	...	Belinda Wiggs
Rebecca Jernigan	...	Mrs. Thompson
Ann Martin	...	Mrs. Hunicutt
Will Long	...	Trooper Bosh

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Greenwood, Mississippi, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the dance, one of the band is playing an Ovation guitar. The movie is set in 1960, but the company Ovation Guitars was not founded until 1966.

Quotes:

Billy Joe McAllister: HEY! I've been holding up this here bridge for over an hour so it wouldn't fall on you.
Bobbie Lee Hartley: Right Neiborhly of Mr.McAllister.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Ode (1999)

Soundtrack:

Ode to Billie Joe

That's What I Love/Hate About the South

If this film had been directed by Truffaut or Bergman it would have swept Cannes. The fact that many viewers find it almost impossible to understand is testimony to the film's authenticity. As a life-long Southerner I feel compelled to state that anyone from the South over the age of 35 either knows or is one of these characters. The time period represented is one which lives in the memories of those alive today. Mississippi is particularly well drawn. I lived in Mississippi for four years and this film captures that distinct Mississippi flavor of charm,vindictiveness,religious observance,and sin. The bridge scene is what Southern pride and "redneck" are all about. Daddy just WON'T back up. One of the main themes of Southern art is the fact that many of the characters are so far from introspection and so close to instinctive, impulsive, animalistic behavior. When someone is "different" tragedy and/or myth tends to happen. Tennessee Williams mined that vein. Like the characters in this film, his people often dimly understood that they needed to either leave home or accept self-revelation in the confines of their environment. Most couldn't do either. The result is usually some sort of denial,death, or sacrifice. Great films/novels/short stories about the South have a sense of yearning and fatalism which I find very honest and moving. If you are into Russian literature, you are probably into Southern literature too! My thanks to Max for this beautiful film.