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Ode to Billy Joe

Country: USA, Language: English, 105 mins

  • Director: Max Baer Jr.
  • Writer: Herman Raucher
  • Producer: Max Baer Jr.; Roger Camras

CGiii Comment

A film based on a rather dreary song...

The first 80 minutes is like watching The Waltons & Little House on the Prairie combined...then, the last 20 minutes...is botched by some truly bizarre direction...a gigantic gap in the story followed by that Hallmark-card voice-over!!!

The final scene is a stab at redemption...and, clearly shows the potential (and maturity) that this film had...pity, it came too late.


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

Billy Joe confesses his love to the lovely Bobbi Lee only to cover his growing fear that he may, in fact, be homosexual. One night, at a barn dance, he gets a little drunk and rather than going with the hired whores, gives into his desires and sexual relations with an unnamed man. The guilt causes him to run away, hide in the woods and eventually confess everything to Bobbi Lee who doesn't want to believe him only because she was enjoying the forbidden nature of their love. In the end, he cannot accept his sexuality nor can he hide behind Bobbi Lee and that's why he throws himself off the Tallahachee bridge.

Cast & Characters

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