''Ode to Billy Joe'' is a 1976 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
, directed and produced by
Max Baer Jr.
Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, producer, comedian, and director widely known for his role as Jethro Bodine, the dim-witted relative of Jed Clampett (played by Buddy Ebsen) on ''The Beverly Hillbillies' ...
, with a
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
by
Herman Raucher
Herman Raucher (born April 13, 1928) is an American author and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the autobiographical screenplay and novel ''Summer of '42'', which became one of the highest-grossing films and one of the best selling nove ...
, and starring
Robby Benson
Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films '' One on One'' (1977) and ''Ice Castles'' (1978). He subsequently ...
and
Glynnis O'Connor
Glynnis O'Connor (born November 19, 1956) is an American actress of television, film, radio, and theater. She first gained wide attention in the mid-1970s with leading roles in the television version of ''Our Town'' and in the short-lived series ...
. It is inspired by the 1967 hit song by
Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is a retired American singer-songwriter, who was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material.
Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Sou ...
, titled "
Ode to Billie Joe
"Ode to Billie Joe" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry released by Capitol Records in July 1967, and later used as the title-track of her debut album. Five weeks after its release, the song topped ''Billboard's'' Pop single ...
."
Made for $1.1 million, the film grossed $27 million at the box office, plus earnings in excess of $2.65 million in the foreign market, $4.75 million from television, and $2.5 million from video. However, reviews were mostly negative.
Gentry's song recounts the day when Billie Joe McAllister committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by jumping off the
Tallahatchie Bridge on Choctaw Ridge,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
. When Gentry discussed the screenplay with Raucher, she explained she did not know why the real person who inspired the character of Billie Joe had killed himself. Raucher thus had a free hand to pick a reason. His novelization of the story, published the year of the film's release as a
movie tie-in
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...
, used the same rationale for the suicide.
Plot
Set in 1953, the film explores the budding relationship between teenagers Billy Joe McAllister (Benson) and Bobbie Lee Hartley (O'Connor) (who corresponds to the unnamed narrator of the original song), despite resistance from Hartley's family, who contend she is too young to date. One night at a jamboree, McAllister gets drunk and seems nauseated and confused when entering a makeshift brothel behind the gathering. It turns out that in his inebriated state, he had sex with another man, later revealed to be his sawmill boss, Dewey Barksdale (
James Best
Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. Duri ...
).
After his intimate encounter with Barksdale, Billy Joe disappears for several days. He then returns, and Bobbie Lee finally submits to her passions at a secluded spot near the bridge and encourages him to make love to her. Owing to his guilt, however, Billy Joe cannot consummate their relationship. He admits to Bobbie Lee that he has been with a man, and when she tries to reason that he was drunk, so maybe didn't have complete control of himself and didn't really know what was going on, he confesses that he knew what he was doing, knew it was wrong, and did it anyway because he wanted to. Tearfully, he bids her an enigmatic goodbye, and subsequently kills himself by jumping off the bridge spanning the
Tallahatchie River
The Tallahatchie River is a river in Mississippi which flows from Tippah County, through Tallahatchie County, to Leflore County, where it joins the Yalobusha River to form the Yazoo River. The river is navigable for about .
At Money, Mississipp ...
. The local preacher, who saw Billy Joe and Bobbie Lee together, and other townsfolk spread the false story that Billy Joe committed suicide because he learned he had impregnated Bobbie Lee out of wedlock. For the sake of the family, Bobbie Lee's brother insists that she either quietly pursue an abortion or, if she insists upon having the baby, leave town.
In the film, as in the novel, the object thrown from the bridge is Bobbie Lee's ragdoll, symbolizing throwing away her childhood and innocence and becoming an adult.
Knowing that no one will ever believe that she and Billy Joe did not have sex and that she was never pregnant, Bobbie Lee decides to leave home. Very early one morning, with suitcase in hand, she walks to town to get a bus. On the way she meets Barksdale on the bridge, where he tells her that he is headed to her house to confess to her father and clear her name. She advises him against doing so, noting that revealing the truth would forever tarnish Billy Joe's reputation. He initially holds fast to his desire to confess, but Bobbie Lee calmly stresses that the news would further devastate Billy Joe's family and leave Barksdale himself subject to criminal prosecution. She also assures him that she does not mind her fate and then adds, "Oh, I'll be back before long; I'm only 15. What do I know of the world?" Finally agreeing with the girl's logic, he offers Bobbie Lee a ride to the bus station, which she graciously accepts. The film ends with the two of them walking across the bridge together.
Cast
*
Robby Benson
Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films '' One on One'' (1977) and ''Ice Castles'' (1978). He subsequently ...
as Billy Joe McAllister
*
Glynnis O'Connor
Glynnis O'Connor (born November 19, 1956) is an American actress of television, film, radio, and theater. She first gained wide attention in the mid-1970s with leading roles in the television version of ''Our Town'' and in the short-lived series ...
as Bobbie Lee Hartley
*
Joan Hotchkis
Joan Hotchkis (September 21, 1927 – September 27, 2022) was an American stage, screen and television actress, writer and performance artist. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio and the Dramatists Guild, Hotchkis was best known for playing ...
as Anna 'Mama' Hartley
*
Sandy McPeak
Sandy McPeak (February 21, 1936 – December 31, 1997) was an American actor best known for such films and television series as ''Winnetka Road'', ''L.A. Law'', ''Centennial'', ''Ode to Billy Joe'', ''Patton'', '' The Osterman Weekend'', ''Kelly' ...
as Glenn 'Papa' Hartley
*
James Best
Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. Duri ...
as Dewey Barksdale
* Terence Goodman as James Hartley
* Becky Bowen as Becky Thompson
* Simpson Hemphill as Brother Taylor
* Ed Shelnut as Coleman Stroud
* Eddie Talr as Tom Hargitay
* William Hallberg as Dan McAllister
* Rebecca Jernigan as Mrs Thompson
Production
The June 12, 1975 issue of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' announced the completion of a $3.5 million deal between Max Baer, Jr. and Warner Bros. Pictures for a film based on Bobbie Gentry's hit song, “Ode To Billie Joe.” Baer offered Gentry and her publisher a large percentage of the film's receipts, and paid Herman Raucher $250,000 and a share of the profits to write the screenplay. Raucher was chosen because he had written the hit film ''
Summer of '42
''Summer of '42'' is a 1971 American coming-of-age film based on the memoirs of screenwriter Herman "Hermie" Raucher. It tells the story of how Raucher, in his early teens on his 1942 summer vacation on Nantucket Island (off the coast of Cape C ...
''. Baer had intended to cast unknown actors in the lead roles of “Bobbie Lee Hartley” and “Billy Joe McAllister,” eventually picking
Glynnis O'Connor
Glynnis O'Connor (born November 19, 1956) is an American actress of television, film, radio, and theater. She first gained wide attention in the mid-1970s with leading roles in the television version of ''Our Town'' and in the short-lived series ...
and
Robby Benson
Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films '' One on One'' (1977) and ''Ice Castles'' (1978). He subsequently ...
, who had previously starred together in the teen film ''
Jeremy''.
The July 2, 1975, issue of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' announced that the locations for the film would include Gentry's hometown of
Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the riverp ...
, along with other local communities.
Scenes at the old sawmill were filmed at Cross Lumber Company in
Vaiden, Mississippi
Vaiden is a town in Carroll County, Mississippi, United States and its first county seat. The population was 734 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area.
History
Vaiden was founded about 1857 and named after ...
. The bridge featured in the film crossed the
Yazoo River
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before the ...
on County Road 512 near
Sidon, Mississippi
Sidon is a town in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 509 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area.
Geography
Sidon is located at (33.408096, -90.208813).
According to the United ...
. It was later demolished and replaced by a modern concrete span in 1987, with plaques at both the eastern and western ends commemorating the film.
Release date
The film premiered on June 2, 1976, at the Paramount Theatre in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
, as a benefit for the Mississippi Film Foundation. The premiere was attended by numerous dignitaries, including Mississippi Lieutenant Governor
Evelyn Gandy
Edythe Evelyn Gandy (September 4, 1920 – December 23, 2007) was an American attorney and politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1976 to 1980. A Democrat who held several public offices throughout her career, she was th ...
. In honor of Gentry being the first woman to be inducted into the Mississippi Hall of Fame, and the film's release in 550 theaters across the Southern United States, June 3, 1976, was declared "Billy Joe Day" by Mississippi Governor
Cliff Finch
Charles Clifton Finch (April 4, 1927 – April 22, 1986) was an American politician who served as the 57th Governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi, from 1976 to 1980.
Early life
Finch was born on April, 1927 in the village of Pope in Pan ...
. Gandy officiated at the placing of a bronze tablet on the Tallahatchie Bridge near
Rising Sun, Mississippi
Rising Sun is an unincorporated community located in Leflore County, Mississippi. Rising Sun is approximately south of Greenwood and north of Sidon on U.S. Route 49E . Some citizens refer to the area north of Rising Sun near the Hwy 82 and H ...
. The celebration was attended by stars Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor and producer Roger Camras. On the same day, a similar event was held in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, to commemorate the opening of the film.
Burbank Mayor Leland Ayers dedicated a -long replica of the Tallahatchie Bridge, constructed above Olive Avenue. Director Max Baer, Jr. attended the event.
The film opened nationwide on June 4, 1976.
Soundtrack
''Ode to Billy Joe (Sound Track from Max Baer's Motion Picture)'' is the soundtrack album to the film. It was released on May 10, 1976, by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
.
The album was issued on CD for the first time in 2017 by California-based label Kritzerland.
Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is a retired American singer-songwriter, who was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material.
Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Sou ...
re-recorded her iconic hit song, "
Ode to Billie Joe
"Ode to Billie Joe" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry released by Capitol Records in July 1967, and later used as the title-track of her debut album. Five weeks after its release, the song topped ''Billboard's'' Pop single ...
," for the film, with the spelling of the name changed to "Billy." Gentry stated that the original spelling had been a typographical error; this is corroborated by her original handwritten lyrics of the song.
Commercial performance
"Ode to Billy Joe - Main Title" was issued as a single in April 1976. It peaked at No. 65 on the US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
chart.
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, Gentry's label when the original 1967 recording was released, reissued it as a single in June 1976 to capitalize on the film's success. The album did not chart.
The original 1967 recording was on the Billboard chart for 20 weeks and was the Number 1 song for four weeks.
Track listing
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ode To Billy Joe (Film)
1976 films
1976 drama films
1976 LGBT-related films
1970s coming-of-age drama films
1970s teen drama films
American coming-of-age drama films
American teen drama films
American teen LGBT-related films
1970s English-language films
Films about suicide
Films based on songs
Films scored by Michel Legrand
Films set in 1953
Films set in Mississippi
Films shot in Mississippi
Films with screenplays by Herman Raucher
Southern Gothic films
Warner Bros. films
1970s American films