Buster and Billie
Encyclopedia
Buster and Billie is an American motion picture released by Columbia Pictures
. The film was of the tragic romance/revenge film genres. It was directed by Daniel Petrie
, whose credits include films such as Fort Apache, The Bronx
(1981).
In the title roles were future Airwolf
star Jan-Michael Vincent
as Buster, and Joan Goodfellow as Billie. In supporting roles, Buster and Billie also featured Pamela Sue Martin
of Dynasty
fame as Buster's girlfriend Margie, and Robert Englund
, who later shot to fame in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series as Freddy Kreuger, in a small role as Buster's friend, Whitey.
This film is also notable as one of the earliest American mainstream movies to have male frontal nudity.
Buster's friends, being sexually repressed, often visit a girl from an underprivileged background named Billie-Jo Truluck (Joan Goodfellow) who dourly gives them what they want. In the meanwhile, Buster becomes disenchanted with Margie's refusal to have sex with him, and begins seeing Billie in secret.
In the beginning, he sees Billie just for sex, but eventually finds himself falling in love with her. Buster is so taken with Billie that he decides to break off his engagement with Margie to be with Billie. Billie finds another lease on life with Buster, and they are happy for the first time in their lives. Happiness for them, though, is short-lived.
Buster's friends are extremely jealous that they cannot have Billie for their own use anymore, and decide to teach Buster a lesson. They corner Billie one day when she is out, and when she refuses to submit to them, they rape and kill her in the heat of the moment. Buster eventually finds her dead, and is hysterical. He then goes to the pool hall where his friends are, with the guilt evident on the faces of the main perpetrators of the crime.
Enraged, Buster kills two of them, while injuring the other two. He is then put into jail for this, but is released. He rips up entire garden beds in the town, and takes these flowers to Billie's graveside in her memory.
gave the film a *1/2 score, and said that it was a "blubbery account of high school romance in 1948 rural Georgia...[and that it] can't overcome cliched premise." Other critics, such as Steven Scheuer, said that it was "an uneven but perceptive film" and that, in the lead roles, Vincent played his role "with strength and charm" while Goodfellow was "touching as the acquiescent town tramp."
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. The film was of the tragic romance/revenge film genres. It was directed by Daniel Petrie
Daniel Petrie
Daniel Mannix Petrie was a Canadian television and movie director.Petrie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Mary Anne and William Mark Petrie, a soft-drink manufacturer. He moved to the United States in 1945...
, whose credits include films such as Fort Apache, The Bronx
Fort Apache, The Bronx
Fort Apache, The Bronx is a 1981 crime drama film made by Producers Circle, Time-Life Television Productions Inc., and distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Martin Richards, Thomas Fiorello, with David Susskind as executive producer...
(1981).
In the title roles were future Airwolf
Airwolf
Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme....
star Jan-Michael Vincent
Jan-Michael Vincent
Jan-Michael Vincent is an American actor best known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the 1980s U.S. television series Airwolf .-Early life:...
as Buster, and Joan Goodfellow as Billie. In supporting roles, Buster and Billie also featured Pamela Sue Martin
Pamela Sue Martin
Pamela Sue Martin is an American actress best known for playing Nancy Drew on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries TV series and Fallon Carrington Colby on the ABC nighttime soap opera Dynasty.-Biography:...
of Dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
fame as Buster's girlfriend Margie, and Robert Englund
Robert Englund
Robert Barton Englund is an American actor, voice-actor and director, best known for playing the fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger, in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. He received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in...
, who later shot to fame in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series as Freddy Kreuger, in a small role as Buster's friend, Whitey.
This film is also notable as one of the earliest American mainstream movies to have male frontal nudity.
Plot
The film is set in a small Georgia town in 1948. It follows the adventures of Buster Lane (Jan-Michael Vincent), a handsome, popular high-school senior, who is engaged to be married to his high-school sweetheart Margie Hooks (Pamela-Sue Martin). He is the 'big man on campus' and the leader of his group of friends. Buster, though, is different from these other young men.Buster's friends, being sexually repressed, often visit a girl from an underprivileged background named Billie-Jo Truluck (Joan Goodfellow) who dourly gives them what they want. In the meanwhile, Buster becomes disenchanted with Margie's refusal to have sex with him, and begins seeing Billie in secret.
In the beginning, he sees Billie just for sex, but eventually finds himself falling in love with her. Buster is so taken with Billie that he decides to break off his engagement with Margie to be with Billie. Billie finds another lease on life with Buster, and they are happy for the first time in their lives. Happiness for them, though, is short-lived.
Buster's friends are extremely jealous that they cannot have Billie for their own use anymore, and decide to teach Buster a lesson. They corner Billie one day when she is out, and when she refuses to submit to them, they rape and kill her in the heat of the moment. Buster eventually finds her dead, and is hysterical. He then goes to the pool hall where his friends are, with the guilt evident on the faces of the main perpetrators of the crime.
Enraged, Buster kills two of them, while injuring the other two. He is then put into jail for this, but is released. He rips up entire garden beds in the town, and takes these flowers to Billie's graveside in her memory.
Critical reception
Like all films, Buster and Billie has split many film critics on opposite sides. Leonard MaltinLeonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
gave the film a *1/2 score, and said that it was a "blubbery account of high school romance in 1948 rural Georgia...[and that it] can't overcome cliched premise." Other critics, such as Steven Scheuer, said that it was "an uneven but perceptive film" and that, in the lead roles, Vincent played his role "with strength and charm" while Goodfellow was "touching as the acquiescent town tramp."