Watch Billie For Free

You won't be disappointed!

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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.

Silly bit of fluff about a teenage tomboy named Billie (Patty Duke) who can run super fast due to music in her head she calls "the beat." She can run faster than all the boys, which causes the expected problems. This is an old but fun gender equality story. It's sincere in what it's trying to do even though it's pretty dated in how it's trying to do it. Patty Duke is fun and looks cute in track shorts. 28 year-old Warren Berlinger is her friend (and potential boyfriend). He's a poor fit to play a high schooler. He even has a bald spot! Jim Backus plays the dad and Jane Greer is the mom. Backus' character is one of the more interesting in the film, seeing as how he is a politician running on a traditionalist conservative platform yet his personal views are somewhat in conflict with this. He's a hypocrite, in other words. Other familiar faces like Dick Sargent, Charles Lane, and Richard Deacon also appear. It's likable stuff but not for everybody. The scenes of Patty Duke running with that big grin on her face and the '60s music playing is pretty cheesy stuff. Patty sings some corny songs, as well. The subplot about the older sister is positively stupid. You're not going to enjoy this movie much unless you are able to not take it that seriously.

Based on a decade old play Time Out For Ginger which was a one set comedy in the living room of the house of the protagonist Carol family, Billie was considerably expanded with many new characters introduced and the story takes us all over the small town where Jim Backus is trying to unseat Billy DeWolfe as mayor.Expanded I say, but hardly updated. You would absolutely never know there was a counterculture revolution of the Sixties going on in seeing this film. It could have been and maybe should have been made in the Fifties.Patty Duke plays the title role and the film property is produced by John Ross who was her legal guardian and career Svengali at that point. He was taking Patty's American character from the Patty Duke Show on television and making her a track star as well.A little bit of Annie Get Your Gun is also tossed into the mix as Duke who damages a lot of the male egos on the track team has some problems landing the boy of her dreams. Warren Berlinger initially gets some pointers from Duke and she helps him make the team. But later the male dominant ego gets the better of him. Berlinger is way too old for his part and looks it. He was 28 when he was doing Billie. Robert Diamond late of Fury was also having trouble transitioning to teen roles. He was 22 and also looks it. Diamond plays another track team member and Billy DeWolfe's son. Patty was 18 doing this, but her small build makes her look younger. There's a subplot involving Patty's older sister Susan Seaforth who is married to Ted Bessell, but hasn't broken the news to Backus and mother Jane Greer. Why escapes me, but Backus tries to fix her up with his campaign manager Dick Sargent, this being while Seaforth is a little bit married and a little bit pregnant.Billie's secret of her success on the track field is that she has the 'beat'. A certain innate natural rhythm that star athletes have, we all have whether we know it or not. Find your beat and ratchet it up and you too can be a star. Bearing that in mind there is a whole lot dancing in Billie and the choreography was nicely done.Billie is a nice film that was way out of step with the times when it was released.

This film has the feel of a TV movie, and it should have been shown there instead of in the theaters. Terribly dated plot, with dialogue that made me wince more than once. Patty Duke is a good actress and so was Jane Greer. It was jarring to see them in this fluffy film. If you look closely during the track and field scenes, it is obvious that Ms. Duke is not doing the stunts. Instead, it looks like an actor in a bad wig. The "beat" explanation for the title character's running prowess was typical teen B-movie silliness. The musical numbers were out of place. Honestly, would mid-1960's teenagers been belting out quasi-Broadway tunes? Would have been more believable if the songs were pop and/or rock. Someone thought that Ms. Duke's appeal to teens during that time would sell records, so they had her sing, which was a huge mistake. I admit that the scenes between Jim Backus and Greer were nice, as were some of the serious scenes between him and Ms. Duke. The script and storyline could have been better, though.