Billie

Bit of fluff about teenage Billie Carol (Patty Duke), tomboy (if in any doubt of that, the short-cropped boyish haircut tells you that fact) who joins the boys track team at her high school and faces the mild wrath of her father (Jim Backus) who is running for mayor (Billie wishes she were a boy - and so does dad - uh oh). Billie "hears the beat" when she runs and even helps the other boys on the team (none of whom can run as fast as spirited little Billie) learn the beat in a fun dance number. New boy in school, Mike, wants to become a track star so recruits Billie as his "teacher" - but can't keep his eyes off her when she dances. And meanwhile issues about "women's rights" are loosely brought into the film as Billie gets upset 'cause the boys treat her "like a girl and not an equal". A subplot involves big sister Jeannie who returns from college with a secret she only reveals to sis Billie.

This film is pretty light fare, nostalgic fun that reminded me so much of the 60s teenage films I liked as a kid - it's also a semi-musical with one good dance number, plus a few sort of catchy, a few not so catchy songs thrown in. As a fan of Patty Duke (one of my favorite old TV shows since childhood is the rarely seen "Patty Duke Show") it was great to see her in this fun, teenage role - she's very energetic, likable and cute in this (even though forced into appearing on screen in this rather ugly powder blue short set as well as a pretty hideous powder blue dress, amongst other things - and what's with that bleached blonde hairdo?!). 60s TV is also well-represented as this film is jam-packed with numerous familiar stars and character actors from popular 60s sitcoms - Bewitched, That Girl, Gilligan's Island, Leave it to Beaver - all represented here. Even well-loved character actor Charles Lane appears briefly in a few scenes as the track coach, and there's even a big "Shaggy Dog" in this. Nothing great- but enjoyable, light fun.

Roll back the clocks for this one! A very fine movie for it's nostalgia. I enjoyed seeing what teenagers were like back in the 1960's.

This is a movie/musical rolled into one. It stars, Patty Duke who plays the character "Billie", a tomboy who causes a problem with her school when she is put on the all "boys" track team by the impressed school coach. You have to remember that this movie was released in 1965 when women's rights were not as prevalent as today.

If you have never heard Patty Duke sing, then you just have to see this movie... She sings as beautiful as a songbird! Bobby Diamond, who played on the TV series, "Fury" (1955-1960), is also in this movie and sang to my enjoyment as well!

Although not intended to be funny, some parts of this movie were very comical and had me in stitches! I enjoyed watching the way the people danced back then. It looked like they were having a great time!

In conclusion I'd like to say, that "Billie" is a very fine movie for it's time period. If only there was more of it. The ending left me with wanting more...more...more!

"Billie" was filmed during the hiatus between the second and third seasons of "The Patty Duke Show." This "Tomboy" comedy was based on a play, "Time Out For Ginger" which was filmed as a 1962 pilot starring Candy Moore, who would play Lucy's daughter in the early seasons of "The Lucy Show." This film, with it's innocent storyline about a teenage girl who can outrun any boy in the school could never be made today. Our jaded sensibilities would cry out "lesbian subtext" at the scenes where Billie, at an awkward stage, would wish she were a boy. A sentiment shared by her chauvinist father, played by Jim Backus. The cast is peppered with many familiar faces from 1960s TV, including Ted Bessell, Richard Deacon, Charles Lane, Dick Sargent and Billy De Wolfe. At this stage in Miss Duke's career the powers that be decided that she was to be a singing teen idol. She had a high-ranking song hit with "Don't Just Stand There" a few months before this film was released. Ms. Duke can't really sing. However, listening to her, there is something compelling in hearing her TRY. She is really doing her best, giving her small all to the pleasant, if dated songs in the picture. One more thing to mention in this film is the appearance of the marvelous Jane Greer as Billie's mother. The famous film-noir actress has some really good lines in this film, and she plays well with old-pro Jim Backus as her husband. It must have been a great temptation for the producers, the same ones who produced "The Patty Duke Show" to utilize William Schallert and Jean Byron, from the series, to play her parents. As it stands, "Billie" comes off almost as a pilot for a new Duke series to supplant "The Patty Duke Show."

This is an excellent family film. Billie is a high school girl who joins a boys track team in a time when things like this just wasn't done. Lots of smiles and laughs. Great entertainment for everyone. Rates up there with Disney's Parent Trap. It stars Patty Duke when she was still a child star. Highly recommended.

Steve Kaden

I remember my parents taking me to see BILLIE at the local drive-in when I was a kid. Patty Duke, pre-Valley of the Dolls, played this tomboyish teenage girl who could outrun all the boys in her school thanks to something in her head that she called "the beat", but boys don't like to go out with girls who run faster than they do, so Billie is pretty much alone until she compromises her feminist ideals, sings a corny song about becoming a woman, and purposely loses a race so that she can have the boy of her dreams, who I believe was played by Warren Berlinger. I think Jim Backus played her father, who was running for Mayor on a "Women belong in the home" platform while his daughter was out running track with the boys. This movie was kind of corny, but Patty played the role energetically and I liked her blonde, Mia Farrow haircut.