User Reviews

"Billie" was released when I was 15, and I only dimly remembered it, but because I admire Patty Duke's talents, and especially because I have in adulthood come to really appreciate Jane Greer's, I watched it again recently. It was all vaguely familiar, especially the horrible musical score, which came back to me like a bad headache. But there was no way, and I mean no freaking' way, that I could remember my 1965 reaction to "Billie," the story of a teen-aged tomboy. All I remember is Patty Duke, track and field, and bad music. Is "tomboy" even used any more? In the nearly half-century since "Billie" was made, Americans have been exposed to masculine girls from Cher in "Silkwood" to Ellen Morgan (a.k.a. DeGeneres) to Patty Bouvier. UPDATE, MAY 2017: Since I wrote that sentence, those choices seem almost quaint and old- fashioned. That's how far we've come from the days of a 'love that date not speak its name.'

"Billie" could never, ever be made again in Hollywood. Any modern teen-angst movie about a tomboy would inevitably, in 2010, raise questions of homosexuality. Not that Billie is a Lesbian. Gee, gosh, and golly, no. There isn't even a suggestion of it. However-- and accuse me of profiling, if you will, because I am-- my gaydar was spinning like Brian Boitano the moment Duke sprinted onto the track field, looking for all the world like a pint-size peroxide Pete Rose.

It's a formulaic movie, of course, and therefore pretty lousy, though Greer, Duke, Billy DeWolfe and Jim Backus all perform admirably. It's also a family movie, almost ridiculously so. In the end, not only does Billie end up with a boyfriend, but her mother and her sister both end up pregnant.

Meanwhile, I couldn't help but wonder what teen-aged girls at the time-- future Lesbians such as Christine Kehoe and Janis Ian and Suze Orman -- thought when boyish Billie passionately admits "I wish I was a boy," only to have her father reply frankly, "So do I." It was a moving moment when Billie was just a tomboy to 15-year-old me; now that I view her as possibly a latent Lesbian, it was quite a powerful moment.

Copyright 1 September 1965 by Chrislaw-Patty Duke Productions. U.S. release: 1 September 1965. New York opening at the Astor, the Trans- Lux East and others: 15 September 1965. U.K. release: 13 December 1965. Australian release: 25 August 1966. 7,800 feet. 87 minutes. Censored to 85 minutes in Australia.

SYNOPSIS: Billie Carol (Patty Duke), tomboyish teenager can do anything any boy on the athletic team of Harding High can do, only better. This embarrasses her father, Howard Carol (Jim Backus), who is running for mayor on a "male supremacy" ticket. Billie's boy friend is Mike (Warren Berlinger) who is also on the team but runs her a poor second. This gets him mad and he demands she quit so that he may shine. She refuses and they break up. At this point, a undignified photo of Billie and her father falls into the hands of Mayor Davis (Billy De Wolfe) whom Billie's father means to unseat, and he makes the most of it. A rumor gets around that Billie's older sister Jean (Susan Seaforth) is pregnant, and Davis makes the most of this, too.

NOTES: "Time Out for Ginger" as presented by Shepard Traube opened on Broadway on the 26 November 1952 at the Lyceum, running a successful 248 performances. Nancy Malone, Polly Rowles, Philip Loeb and Conrad Janis starred.

COMMENT: A big welcome back to Billy De Wolfe, making his first film for some time. His debates with Jim Backus are the highlight of the film. Other veterans present include Jane Greer, Charles Lane and Richard Deacon. Don Weis' direction is nondescript enough, but there are some amusing lines and, all in all, the film is an agreeable surprise.

OTHER VIEWS: The association of Peter Lawford, Patty Duke and Don Weis in Chrislaw Production's "Billie", the gay, romantic Technicolor United Artists release, is a reunion of long time friends as well as a combination of top-flight Hollywood talent. Weis is producer- director of this, Miss Duke's first Hollywood starer, and Lawford is its executive producer. At Metro a few years ago, Weis directed two television pilots in which Lawford starred — "Dear Phoebe" and "The Thin Man" — and went on to direct additional episodes of each. With two Directors Guild Awards and an additional Guild award nomination to his credit, Weis' motion picture and television accomplishments lead one to believe that he hasn't had a day off since coming to Hollywood and such, indeed, is pretty nearly the case. After working as a script clerk and dialogue director for, among others Stanley Kramer, he went to M-G-M where he directed such films as "Bannerline", "A Slight Case of Larceny" and "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". — U.A. Publicity.

March 7, 2019 Thursday 11:14 p.m.

Review of "Billie" 1965

I love this movie. Patty Duke is always a ray of sunshine anytime she appears on any size screen

It is however surprising to see that the generation 54 years ago did not understand gender roles as we do today. Today we know that a girl/ woman can participate in athletics and still be feminine. The most notable fictional current day example of that is the character of "Eve" played by Kaitlyn Dever in the currently running television show "Last Man Standing." It is accepted that Eve participates in sports - along with activities associated with ROTC training - and watches sports with her father. In fact it is often mentioned that she is the father's favorite bec. she is involved in things that he can relate to unlike her sisters. She also dresses up for parties and dances - and is very much interested in boys. In our post Title Nine era is is surprising to see that her high school doesn't even have girls track team. At the end of the movie it is disappointing to our modern day sensibilities that Billie feels like she has to quit the track team that she so strongly fought to be on because she feels like she can't be on the track team and fully be a girl.

Some obvious problems with the movie. Films and t.v. shows have never realistically portrayed teenagers with actors the age of teenagers. In some ways that is understandable considering child labor laws and requirements, it makes it easier to have a post teen on set. You don't have to deal with limited hours and having a teacher on set, and you also don't need to deal with having to have a parent on set. I assume it is also easier to work with a post teen bec. of the added maturity and work ethic. However the age difference in this film (as it often was with other films of this era) of the leading h.s. boy is too big of a stretch to even be believable. Doing the math Mss Duke would be 19 playing a 16 year old and her co-star Warren Berlinger would have been 28 playing a 17 year old. With Duke it is understandable. Having a 28 year old playing a 17 year old is not.

Susan Seaforth Hayes is fun to watch as the secretly married older sister - and Ted Bessell as her husband. I am always surprised though when couples get married without including their families in their weddings. Immorality is a serious thing, but so sad that character Jean's erroneously assumed immorality is brought into their father's political race. Maybe it is just my LDS upbringing where it is assumed that couples get married before finishing college it is surprising to see that the characters or Bob and Jean were afraid to tell about their marriage to Jean's parents. I wonder if that was typical of that era? Nice to see though that when finding out about the marriage and the pregnancy that they were immediately privately and publicly supportive of the couple.

Fun to see Dick Sargent, and Billy De Wolfe in other roles from "Bewitched" and "Good Morning World."

In the post musical era I enjoyed the song and dance numbers in this film - similar to those in the almost same time period "Bye Bye Birdie" 1963. The musical numbers are what gives the film the fun that it has. Miss Duke's voice - actual singing is also nice to watch. I think one of the songs was also used in "The Patty Duke Show."

"Billie" in trying to make the character look like a tomboy and to separate the character from Duke's character of "Patty Lane" that she was also currently playing during the time the film was shot they chose a boyish hairstyle for the character which didn't really work.

Wacky that the mom announces that she is pregnant at the end of the film.

Fun to see that girls during that time period always wore skirts or dresses to school. Fun to see what they would tyically wear.

So sad that more family films that are just good fun are not made in our so called modern era. A must see of anyone who enjoys just fun colorful films.

Linda Ann Sheldon - Oh and so sad that at one point she starts deliberately losing to her boyfriend.