Movies
Ode to Billy Joe
Herman Raucher, the scriptwriter, has fleshed out the bare-boned, impressionistic song by Bobbie Gentry, and in the fattening process he has changed the feeling altogether. The song was nothing if not homely, whereas the movie is nothing if not huggable. The people are all witty and sympathetic: no coldness, no loneliness, no ignorance, no poverty. This new creation is enjoyable on its own terms, and is most valuable as a corrective of the usual movie image of the South (lyrically photographed, here, by Michel Hugo). Robbie Benson and Glynnis O'Connor, as Billy Joe and Bobbie Lee respectively, are quite winning as two teens in the warm-up stage of mating -- he a cocky, pushy attacker and she a graceful, gentle defender. The script is particularly good on their playful use of language: like the girl in Badlands, Bobbie Lee feeds her dreams on Torrid Romance Magazine, but she uses its idiom ("my ample breasts," and so forth) because she delights in it, and not because she believes in it. Directed by Max Baer. 1976.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: PG
