Ode to Billy Joe (DVD)

This movie was made about the song. I had no idea. I've heard the song for years and enjoyed it. I had always wondered about it's meaning. It is a very simple movie. I definitely wouldn't say it's an oscar winning performance. I still don't know if the movie was exactly what the song is truly about. The movie wasn't what I expected. But I would recommend watching if you have ever wondered about the song and it's meaning.

I was a big Robbie Benson fan with "Ode to Billy Joe" fulfilling on every promise a fan could hope for. It is more than likely, Robbie Benson's most triumphant acting, if the storyline was waaay too controversial even for 1976, at the center of the birth of the LGBT movement. It fed into every negative stereotype about the exploration of a young man's sexual awakening. Based on the basically one hit wonder of the same name by Bobby Gentry (she did have one more Top 5 pop single with "Fancy".....but, this became her signature hit). Ironically, it almost prevented my favorite group, Diana Ross and The Supremes, "Reflections" from hitting #1. Diana and The Supremes remained contemporary, recording their own version less than a year later on their, ironic again, "Reflections" album. (In a further bit of irony, Diana would record an original Robbie Benson composition, "Nobody Makes Me Crazy Like You Do" on her 1985 platinum album, "Swept Away").Back to the movie, it was a summer release that seemed to take years before it was released on DVD. It is hard to say whether it helped or hurt Benson's career. The movie reportedly registered $50 mil on a very modest $1 mil budget so it was highly profitable.The movie captures the innocence of youth colliding with the bible thumping, judgmental Deep South. It was rightfully the kind of place that if the character, Billy Joe, discovered he was gay.......he would have fled Tupelo, Mississippi on the next, fastest mode of transportation. Glynnis Johns played his love interest with sensitivity and the right mix of naivety. But, of course, the man guilty of deflowering young Billy Joe was portrayed as a lecherous old man, preying on an opportunity. Perhaps, or rather because of that portrayal, it has not been embraced by the LGBT community. (Though I suspect, there are thousands of Robbie Benson gay fans who found enough to vaguely relate to).If you can get passed the deliberately false overtones, there is a beautiful, sensitive portrayal by Robbie Benson (and Glynnis O'Connor). To some, it may not rise above its "television movie of the week" saga. At the time, it was extremely difficult to greenlight most scripts with this kind of theme. Who knows if it was the recognition of the hit song that could have been a fading memory in most people's minds. Benson nor O'Connor had no star power at the time, though Max Baer was established in Hollywood from the success of "The Beverly Hillbillies"....though he was primarily known as an actor, though he may have directed a few episodes of the sitcom. I personally think Robbie Benson deserved an Emmy and/or Golden Globe nomination for his engaging performance. Unfortunately, the outcome of the storyline was and still is, to a lesser degree, today. Organizations like "Trevor" offer hope for young gays stuck in remote places like Tallahatchie, MS. with access to the Internet, all a young teen has to do is Google the subject and hundreds of possibilities will be at their disposal.You would like to think in 2013, a young viewer watching this film, would know there are other alternatives. If this happened today, would the young man feel the need to explore his sexuality or would he immediately make himself wrong. I would like to think not. But you never know. There are no undertones indicating that the character could be gay though he hesitated being confronted with a modern day brothel. It would be arresting to even the most sophisticated and informed adult today. Take Amsterdam's Red Light District still causes one to pause......and there are no sex acts going on in those windows like what Benson's character witnessed. Was Baer's intention to make an anti-gay film. That is not so easy to say. Yes, it is polluted with bad cliche's, but, it is important to keep remembering the time and place where Billy Joe McAllister came from. There are factions of the Human Rights Campaign serves this part of Mississippi today. But make no mistake, it is still the rural south, flushed in the Bible Belt.

Great old movie.

Loved this as a teenager. Makes sad still

I've only been able to watch about 5 minutes at a time. It keeps stopping

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.

I do know from my father’s life growing up in Mississippi county in 1940s and 50s the life shown in movie is accurate. Acting and production of film was good.

I quote from the official Amazon review here, albeit only one line or so long:" A seventeen-year-old boy is seduced into a homosexual act."Jeezus, people - SPOILERS much?!There's a whole lot more to the story presented here, but the way this particular plot point is handled in the movie is careful, subtle, and a mystery kept as a surprise until near to the very end. And you give it away in this offhand manner.You folks should really take a bit more care.5 star movieNo star handling of its listing here

Im so pleased that this finally got released on dvd after being cancelled in 2009!Based on the song by Bobbie gentry & without giving any 'spoilers',its a beautifully made tragic coming of age story about 2 teenagers growing up in 1950's Mississippi & the confusion of first love.I loved the pairing of Glynnis O'connor & Robby benson in the 1973 film 'Jeremy' & they were the perfect choice for this too.

Really unusual film set about the song of the same title, Robby Benson looking cute, is the BillyJoe of the title, This is a very good teenage drama with an unusual ending.

I looked forward viewing the dvd, however it will not play at all. Very disappointing. I first saw the film as a teenager and was after some nostalgia...

An old film I watch many years a go and loved glad to get the chance to watch again loved every second and can't get the song out of my headI have had many DVD from this company and always had very good service andthey always seem to have a lot of films I like will use again