The Legend of Billie Jean An '80s Style Ode to Girl Power

When I was a young child, my parents relocated to the southern city of Corpus Christi, Tx. This city is your typical southern beach town. It's not quite as big as the other popular Texas cities and because of this we really didn't get too many of the extras (such as live concerts by popular bands or anything exceptional).

Then it so happens that a movie was to be filmed in our city and they were looking for extras. I was only 8 years old at the time and jumped at the chance to be in a few scenes where they needed children from my age group. This was a fun experience for me and because of this, my family and I have seen The Legend of Billie Jean over a dozen times or more. Even though we moved from Corpus Christi several years ago, this movie still brings back nostalgia anytime I watch it.

A BRIEF SUMMARY

The Legend of Billie Jean is a straight out of the 80's movie, but really it isn't what most of those teen movies back then were about. Unlike Sixteen Candles or any of the other romantic teenage love stories, this movie is more about a poor girl's fight for justice when she was treated unfairly because of her economic status and her attractive looks.

The story takes place in a southern beach town in Texas. A brother and sister who are also best friends are treated harshly when the town bully decides he can treat Billy Jean however he sees fit. The bully and his friends take it a bit too far when they decide to trash a beloved motor scooter owned by Billie Jean's younger brother. Being extremely poor, they are too afraid to go to police because they assume it would not do any good. They try anyways and the police chalk it up to a childish prank and send them on their way.

Therefore Billy Jean and Binx (her brother) head out to to the bully's father place of business to settle the matter themselves. Turns out that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when the bully's father tries to seduce Billie Jean for the money. Binx finds a gun at this point (while trying to get the money himself out of a cash register) and accidentally shoots the father. Billie Jean and Binx (along with some help from friends) take off by car going who knows where but knowing they have to avoid the law at all costs at this point. Without any money, the group of kids become petty thieves and steal food and other supplies in order to survive life on the run.

But these are good thieves and they leave a trail of "I owe you" letters at every place they steal from. Yes, not too bright but these are just poor kids who have never committed a crime in their life. Finally, Billie Jean wants the chase to end. After breaking into the mayor's home, she befriends his odd but friendly son. He helps her set up a video tape to get the truth out to police.

She cuts off all of her hair in order to look like Joan of Arc and sends a video tape out to the local police department. News spreads quickly to the media and the movie takes a twist when Billie Jean is finally looked at as the hero and victim of this mess instead of a criminal and murderer as the bully and his father keep suggesting. Young girls from all over cut their hair as well and help Billie Jean at any cost to make sure justice is served and her brother gets his precious motor scooter repaired.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS

Billie Jean Davies = Helen Slater does a wonderful job portraying the lead role. Helen is better know for her role in SuperGirl but also did an "o.k" performance in another 80s movie called The Secret of my Success (alongside Michael J. Fox). In this role, Helen nails the southern girl role down to a "T" except for one flaw. Her accent is a bit forced and it comes off sounding like she is trying too hard to sound southern.

However, Helen was a beautiful girl back then and handled the performance of fighting off men's advances like a champ. In the video that Billie Jean made to clear her name, she shouts, "FAIR IS FAIR". Helen does an excellent job at this and that is what I will only remember most about the movie = FAIR IS FAIR. She kept me drawn in to the movie and in my opinion, this movie would not be anything without her. She is also a very nice lady in person and took the time out to play with my then 3 month old nephew during film breaks. There were so many rumors at the time that Helen was quite a difficult person, but in my opinion I did not find this to be true.

Christian Slater = Christian Slater now has a long line of movies under his belt, such as Broken Arrow , Heathers , Hard Water , Young Guns 2 , and True Romance. This movie was Christian's first feature movie, playing Binx Davies (Billie Jean's little brother). Christian did a decent job being that this was his first feature movie, but once again he had a hard time pulling off a convincing southern accent.

However, he has great on screen chemistry with Helen Slater. They both had blonde hair in the movie and a few similar looks. They made it believable they were poor teens and extremely close. Christian did exceptionally well as a typical teenage boy that lost his prized possession, but watching his later movies it is easy to tell how much he has improved.

Barry Tubb = Barry plays Hubey Pyatt, the town bully, and boy does he play a good bully. From the beginning of the movie, I could not stand the guy. He plays a rich surfer type bully that makes cat calls and harasses Billy Jean whenever he gets the chance. He follows her and her brother around like a stalker then laughs about it knowing there isn't much that they can do about it. After seeing his father in the film, it is easy to see why Hubey is like he is. Toward the end however, there is a slight smile on Hubey's face when his father is confronted (suggesting that Hubey really knows that he and his father are wrong, although it is never said). Barry Tubb is best known for his part as Wolfman in Top Gun.

Richard Bradford = Richard Bradford plays Hubey's father Mr. Pyatt or otherwise just called "Pyatt". I don't believe his first name was ever mentioned. Anyways, he is the man that everyone that sees this movie will love to hate. Richard Bradford does an excellent job as a money hungry jerk and pulls off the southern accent flawlessly, even down to his annoying laugh. As the movie progresses, Pyatt gets worse and worse. He starts using pictures of Billy Jean taken without permission by his son to make money.

The more famous Bille Jean gets, the more money Pyatt makes. Whenever confronted on his stories or scams, Richard Bradford does a disgusting but wonderful job of making his face turn red and gritting his teeth. He proudly displays the shirt he was wearing when he was shot and considers himself the victim through out the entire movie. "Pyatt" never changes his tune, even at the end when he shown just for what he really is.

Yeardley Smith = Yeardley Smith is most famous for her voice. She is voice of Lisa Simpson from the hit t.v. show The Simpsons and also the voice of Lisa for all the Simpsons video games. In this movie, Yeardley plays a young girl living the same trailer park as Billie Jean that tags along when they go on the run. She is comedy relief of the movie, throwing in sarcastic wit and funny lines throughout the movie. It's not hard to see why she was chosen as the voice of Lisa Simpson. Her voice is high pitched and very unique and sounds almost like a Smurf at times. Even though Yeardley is originally from France, she plays a southern girl so well that I would have never thought she been anywhere else but the South. This movie definitely needed a character like this since the movie is so dramatic, and Yeardley did a perfect job.

Peter Coyote = Peter Coyote plays Lieutenant Ringwald and I must say out performs everyone. When Billie Jean arrives to the police precinct to report the damage to the motor scooter, she is met by Ringwald who dismisses her. When things get heated, Ringwald is basically kicking himself for messing up. This however, gets him more involved in the investigation and he is set on finding out just what really happened. Peter Coyote does a superb job at playing a sympathetic cop to the kids and yet takes a no nonsense approach to Pyatt. His voice, cues, acting, and accent are all impeccable.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

I am pretty biased to this movie because I was actually there when a lot of filming was done. However, now that I am older and look back on this movie, I see a lot of things that were kind of cheesy and not believable. First of all, the characters do mention that they are in Corpus Christi several times. Corpus Christi at that time had a population of over 250,000 ( and well over that now). The movie tries to indicate that this is a small southern town with lots of bad southern accents. Fact is, the majority of the city's population speak with no accent since there is a large military population and thousands of retired folks who moved to Corpus for the warm weather, cost of living, and beaches.

Second, the kids never leave Corpus Christi. They have grown nationally popular (especially in Texas), they have no money, they stay in the same area, yet they are never found until they turn themselves in. Even when they are surrounded (at a mall scene) the kids manage to escape ( and they are only surrounded because they called the cops to meet them). The ending is disappointing as well. It is never told if there was an arrest, a court trial, what happened to Pyatt (besides being exposed as a fraud it would have been nice to have known if he was sued,arrested etc.).

At one point during the movie a romance starts between Billie Jean and the mayor's son Lloyd (played by Keith Gordon). Even though his house was broken into by Billie Jean and gang, they develop a relationship. Then it is just left to the imagination what would become of them.

Other than that, this movie is entertaining. It was neat to see Billie Jean running in my old neighborhood after being chased off of a golf course and the fact that I knew the area well added to the appeal. However, it's still a wonderful message for girls that standing up for their rights can be done and can actually help other people as well.

There is a scene where Billie Jean helps an abused boy. She is so famous by this point that the boy's drunken father let's the son go without a fight. The characters are believable for the most part and the story line is interesting enough to watch to the very end. I didn't really like the Joan of Arc comparison that is made throughout the whole movie, but I do understand it.

There is not a soundtrack to this movie, but it contains two popular 80s songs that fit the movie perfectly. Pat Benatar's Invincible which was a top 20 hit in the 80s is played several times throughout the movie. Billy Idol's Rebel Yell is played during a scene when they are running away from the police in a mall scene. Both songs work great in the movie and makes it that much more appealing.

All in all, I would recommend this movie to any 80s movie fan or to anyone that likes movies about girls standing up for themselves. Aside from some cheesy lines and scenes that just were not believable, this movie is STILL entertaining of for me to watch again and again.

OTHER INFORMATION

The Legend of Billie Jean was directed by Matthew Robbins who is most famous for writing Mimic and writing AND directing Batteries not Included . This film was filmed in 1985 and is only available on VHS at this time. Hopefully it will go to DVD but I don't think it's likely.

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older