Ode to Billy Joe

Tragic movie.

The backstory on this 1976 film is interesting. 10 years earlier the country music singer Bobbie Gentry had written a song with the same title which tells of a young man committing suicide by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge. But Gentry's lyrics never reveal why the fictional Billy Joe killed himself and in interviews about the song she was very coy and unrevealing.

So, they made a movie about it. Robbie Benton, teen idol of the 70s, plays the title character although this movie is really about the young girl who loves hm: Bobby Joe Hartley, played by Glynnis O'Connor. I thought these two young actors were incredible in their roles and they held this otherwise flawed movie together. The subject matter can feel a little strange at times (there aren't many movies these days that delve into the sexual desires of a 15 year old girl) but if you can get past that, I think you'll enjoy this movie. It's not an all time great one but just for Benton and O'Connor's acting alone, it was worth watching.

I recall seeing this movie when it first came out - I was surprised at how empty the theater was. This is a movie based upon the beautifully charismatic song by Bobby Gentry from the 60's.

I thought the storyline was very engaging and realistic. It touches on a subject which may put some people off, but it is done in a mature way and isn't shown on-screen. A slice of life from the rural deep south. Easy on the eye and easy on the ear. I remember the acting performances being very good. For those of us who haven't experienced this type of upbringing, it was a good insight.

The song itself, is one of the great songs of 60's. For me the movie worked well. I could feel the long hot summers and the simplistic lifestyle and also showed you some of the darker side of life which was kept very quiet. It's a pity it never comes round on TV - it obviously wasn't a hit at the box office, but don't let that cloud your judgment. I think it's worth seeing. If you like Fried Green Tomatoes and The Trip To Bountiful, there's no reason to believe that you won't enjoy this.

While this good film is no masterpiece, it certainly has earned its place in Hollywood lore. First of all, the screenplay was co-written by Bobbie Gentry. She hand picked Herman Rauncher( Summer of Forty Two) and spent weeks helping him with the screenplay Belinda( the stripper in the film) is a song from Bobbie's masterpiece album, PatchWork. Benjamin( the imaginary childhood friend) started out life as a Bobbie Gentry song too. Her vision is all over this film. Her grandparents farm in Mississippi even served as the back-drop for the story.Billie Joe is the first gay character portrayal in film history without a hint of stereotying. He is full of real depth and humanity. On a production budget of 1 million dollars, this film had a box office run of 50 million. Business savy Bobbie Gentry still owns 10% of it in her deal with Warner Brothers. Because of its success,Coal Miners Daughter would receive a huge production budget in 1979.

If this is truly supposed to be an adaptation of the Bobbie Gentry song, it makes utterly NO sense. I'm gay, so I'm usually sensitized toward picking gay references out of pop culture, but to make Billy Joe in the film struggle with his sexuality is fairly ridiculous.

If you read the lyrics to Bobbie Gentry's song, it seems pretty darn obvious that what the narrator and Billie Joe are throwing off the Tallahatchee Bridge is their out-of-wedlock baby.

Just Google search the lyrics, listen to the song, and see if that interpretation doesn't make much more sense than how the movie presents the story.

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.