The Legend of Billie Jean
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| The Legend of Billie Jean | |
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 The Legend of Billie Jean movie poster |
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| Directed by | Matthew Robbins |
| Produced by | Rob Cohen |
| Written by | Lawrence Konner Mark Rosenthal |
| Starring | Helen Slater Christian Slater Keith Gordon Yeardley Smith Peter Coyote |
| Music by | Craig Safan |
| Cinematography | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| Editing by | Cynthia Scheider |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 19, 1985 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Legend of Billie Jean is a 1985 drama film, directed by Matthew Robbins.
Taglines: When you're seventeen, people think they can do anything to you. Billie Jean is about to prove them wrong.
The last thing she ever expected was to be a hero.
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[edit] Plot summary
The movie begins with Billie Jean Davy (Helen Slater), a Corpus Christi, Texas high school girl, riding with her younger brother, Binx (Christian Slater), on a motorscooter. They stop at an ice cream stand and are having fun until a group of boys, led by Hubie Pyatt (Barry Tubb), start trouble with them. Hubie tries to grab Billie Jean, but Binx dumps his milkshake on Hubie, and they ride off. Later, they stop to take a swim in a lake. After their swim, Billie Jean tells Binx about Vermont, and Binx expresses a desire to go there. During their conversation about travelling there, Hubie and his friends arrive, apparently looking to settle a score with Binx.
They find Binx's scooter, and begin to ride it violently across the lake's shore. Billie Jean and Binx swim across the lake to try and stop them. As they get out of the water, one of Hubie's friends takes a picture of Billie Jean pulling herself out of the water as Binx tries to get his scooter back. Hubie knocks Binx down, and steals his scooter.
Billie Jean, Binx, and their friends Putter (Yeardley Smith) and Ophelia (Martha Gehman) go to the police about the scooter. They speak to Detective Ringwald about it, but he doesn't take them seriously. He assumes it's just a harmless squabble between some kids. Later, Binx goes to get his scooter back on his own. He comes home severely beaten, and his scooter is trashed.
Billie Jean, Binx, and their friend Ophelia go to Mr. Pyatt's place of business to give him the bill for the motor scooter repairs. Binx is told to wait in the car. Hubie is inside the store, and he tells his father not to believe Billie Jean, because "they're from the trailers". Mr. Pyatt takes Billie up to a room to give her money, but he tries to rape her. Tired of waiting in the car, and not realizing what is happening upstairs, Binx goes into the store himself, leans over the counter, and opens the cash register. There is a pistol in the till. Just as he picks up the gun, his sister comes running down the stairs, with Mr. Pyatt right behind her. When Mr. Pyatt sees that Binx has the gun, he turns on him. Confused and scared, Binx accidentally shoots Mr Pyatt in the shoulder. The kids race away, stopping at home to pack a few things (where they also pick up Putter) and they become fugitives.
By the time Detective Ringwald realizes that he made a mistake in not listening to Billie Jean, the situation is spinning out of control. It is only made worse when the teens meet Lloyd, a lonely rich kid, who fakes his own abduction so he can join them on the road. Now they are wanted not only for robbery and attempted murder, but for kidnapping as well. And Lloyd's father is a powerful politician, who is willing to use whatever means are necessary to retrieve his son and show the voters that he's tough on crime.
Throughout it all, she only wants the $608 to fix her brother's scooter, and an apology from Mr. Pyatt. Lloyd helps Billie Jean make a video of her demands, and before she makes the tape she cuts her long, blond hair into a crew cut as a sign of her rebellion.
As the media coverage increases and Billie Jean's scrapes with the law get closer and closer, she becomes a teen icon - a symbol of youth empowerment, and the evidence of the injustices adults are capable of. Girls all over Texas are cutting their hair short, and doing everything they can to help Billie Jean escape from the police and get what she wants.
Finally, she devises a plan to get the money without being caught: Binx dresses up in her clothes and walks out to take the cash. But Hubie realizes that it's not really Billie Jean, and he breaks through the police barricades and runs towards Binx. As Binx turns toward Hubie, a police sharpshooter sees that Binx has a pistol, and shoots him.
As Binx is rushed away in an ambulance, Billie Jean comes out of hiding to confront Mr. Pyatt once and for all. He is now running a souvenir stand on the beach, where he is selling Billie Jean t-shirts and wanted posters. Her struggle has been very profitable for him. He tries to pay her off, but money is not enough. With a crowd of Billie Jean fans watching, Mr. Pyatt flies into a rage, admits what he did, but tells the onlookers that it was all her fault. She kicks Pyatt in the groin and sets fire to his shop. Realizing that they had been contributing to the profits of the real criminal, the crowd of fans begins to throw their souvenirs into the fire as well. As the shop goes up in a giant blaze, Billie Jean walks through the crowd, past Detective Ringwald, and into the night.
The film ends in the snowy ski mountains of Vermont with Billie Jean meeting up with a recovering Binx. Binx comes out of the ski lodge and finds himself captivated at the sight of a snowmobile.
[edit] Trivia
- The film was expected to be a big hit, especially with the MTV crowd, as evidenced by the immediate heavy rotation of its theme song, "Invincible" by Pat Benatar; however, its reviews were poor, and it only grossed approximately US$3.5 million.
[edit] Main cast
- Helen Slater ... Billie Jean Davy
- Christian Slater ... Binx Davy
- Keith Gordon ... Lloyd
- Yeardley Smith ... Putter
- Barry Tubb ... Hubie Pyatt
- Martha Gehman ... Ophelia
- Peter Coyote ... Detective Ringwald
- Richard Bradford... Mr. Pyatt
- Dean Stockwell ... Senator Muldaur
