Ode to Billy Joe (1976)

When we were fourteen years old in 1976, my best friend and I went to our local movie theater to see Ode to Billy Joe. We were both captivated by the movie. >>>>>*****SPOILER ALERT!*****<<<<< However, our understanding of Billy Joe's inability to have sex with Bobbie Lee was fuzzy. We heard Billy Joe when he told Bobbie Lee that he had "been with a man", but our understanding of his words, and why he was so disturbed, was vague to us. When the movie ended, I remember asking each other, "Well, WAS she pregnant, or not?" Oh, how times have changed. I still live in California, but my best friend has lived in Texas for many years now. Just a few days ago we were talking about this movie, remembering how we'd seen it when we were girls. So I decided to take a trip back to more innocent years and watch Ode to Billy Joe again, 42 years later. I am so glad I did. The movie, like the song, is so simple, so sweet, yet it is as deep, mysterious, and as mystical as the Tallahatchie River itself. Although I had a few moments here and there of being a bit skeptical of Robby Benson, a Jewish kid who grew up in NYC, playing the part of a boy in the deep south in the early 1950's, I immediately realigned my feelings. Who could possibly have played the role of Billy Joe better and more poetically than Robby Benson did? I don't think anyone could have. Glynnis O'Connor was stunning as Bobbie Lee. In fact, each actor in the film was so wonderfully well-cast that the experience of watching them and hearing them, along with the eerily alluring Mississippi location in which the movie was filmed, creates a dream-world of magic. If you watch this movie, I believe that you will find yourself lost in it. Ode to Billy Joe certainly tells a very realistic story of the torment almost any teen feels when struggling with accepting they might be gay. What a testament to our progress as a society that, while a teen might still struggle with sexual identity, he or she can find ways to open up to others. Hardly the case, just a few decades ago - in any location. I will say that the only flaw in this movie is that if I would have written the script I would have made Billy Joe and Bobbie Lee a year or two older than they are in the story, only because Bobbie Lee is awfully worldly for a fifteen year old girl living on a remote ranch in the deep south in the 1950's. Nevertheless, Ode to Billy Joe is a beautiful movie, and I highly recommend it for anyone from twelve to 105.

Great film.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEADI remember watching this a LONG time ago when I was a kid, so I'm partial to it for sentimental reasons. It's kind of funny, but I hadn't seen this one in ages, and it wasn't until the other day when I was watching RiffTrax doing their take on "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" that my memory was jogged by the radiant image of Glynnis O'Connor, when I recalled that she was also in "Ode to Billy Joe."This film is a lovely depiction of life in the rural deep South, as well as the social structure, which has its own peculiarities, but people are people, even though in some parts they may speak differently. Gossips and hypocrites aren't rare no matter where you travel, unfortunately, and neither are the consequences. This is obviously a love story, but there is also something profoundly remarkable about it, which we see in the scene where Billy Joe confesses the cause of his torment to Bobbie Lee. Upon learning his secret, one might expect Bobbie Lee to recoil in shock, maybe even horror, but it doesn't faze her one bit, such is the depth of her love for Billy Joe. That's the power of love, unburdened by any other considerations, it can conceivably work miracles, if we'd let it. In the end, the power of love shows its force once again as Bobbie Lee recolves to protect Billy Joe's reputation even though it means tarnishing her own.I was never much of a Robby Benson fan, but it's hard to imagine anyone else in that role. Glynnis O'Connor really steals the show. She's a wonderful actress and a natural beauty who lights up the screen. I'd highly recommend this film to anyone who hasn't yet seen it. Younger viewers most likely be familiar with the song that inspired this film, but the themes depicted are timeless, and the movie is well made. I should also like ot mention that the director, Max Baer, played Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies." Just a little bit of fun trivia.