The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)

This is the ultimate 80s guilty pleasure. Fighting against the establishment with a great soundtrack and gloriously bad fashion. Love every minute.

Billie Jean (Helen Slater) lives in a Texas trailer park with her brother best friend Binx (Christian Slater). Local bully Hubie picks on them. He steals Binx's scooter and then trashes it while beating up Binx. Detective Ringwald (Peter Coyote) brushes Billie Jean off. She goes to get the money herself. Hubie's dad lures her upstairs and tries to rape her. Meanwhile Binx finds a gun in the cash register. The gun goes off accidentally and Hubie's dad is shot. Billy Jean, Binx, friends Putter (Yeardley Smith) and Ophelia (Martha Gehman) go on the run and become legends as she fights for "fair is fair". They break-in and befriends horror-fan weirdo Lloyd (Keith Gordon) who volunteers to be their hostage. He turns out to be the son of District Attorney Muldaur (Dean Stockwell).It is fun and energetic. It's not subtle. Richard Bradford is being a super villain. There is a lot of silliness going on. It has no believability. Yeardley Smith is ridiculous. But it's a fun campy 80s movie and there are stuff to like about it. Helen Slater and Peter Coyote are great at their roles. It's no surprise that they're the only two reasonable characters in the whole movie. Although Helen Slater striking that pose is hilarious. The movie tries to say something about girl empowerment with the Joan of Arc theme but the movie can't be taken seriously.

Here is a movie that is very firmly set in the early 80's involving a teenager who becomes a folk hero. As a drama, it has some entertaining moments that I couldn't help get caught up in. At the same time, I found myself fast forwarding often and taking long breaks that caused me to need several days to finish the film.The movie starts out by showing Billie and her family being picked on by the rich kids. They go to far when they beat up her brother and damage his moped. Billie goes to his father to collect the repair bill, but he tries to sexually assault her. Things get out of control, and Billie's brother shoots the man in the arm. Now Billie and her friends have to go on the run. The media picks up on the story and it starts to become a local sensation. Things get even more frenzied when Billie meets up with a sympathetic rich kid who dabbles in filmmaking. He helps her make a PSA in which she appears with short hair proclaiming "Fair is fair!" and once it airs, she becomes a hero with a rock star following. People want to help her and look to her for help.It seemed a little to forced the way the crowds began to back Billie Jean. The ending was also complicated, with Billie confronting the dad and telling everyone about what he did. In the process, she causes a fire that ruins lots of property, but is apparently cleared since she isn't shown going to jail for resisting arrest, the shooting, or the vandalism. I think I would recommend skipping this one.

Billie Jean Davy (Helen Slater) and her brother Binx (Christian Slater) are unjustly accused of shooting a man. They go on the run with two friends...but their "crime" gains notice and Billie Jean finds herself a modern day Joan of Arc. Teenagers everywhere help her out to find justice.This movie is maddening. It has a good story and a great message but it's constantly inter cut with chase sequences and rock videos. I realize that was done to pull in the teenage audience but it's distracting. There also seem to be huge gaps in the story (I'm assuming the film was cut). Even worse all logic is thrown out the window at the end with a few highly improbable plot twists thrown in. And the movie just ends VERY abruptly. Still I sort of like this.It's never boring and, while I complained about the rock videos, I DO love 80s music so that was fun. Also Pat Benatar's great song "Invincible" (which perfectly fits the movie) is played twice. Acting is almost all good. Christian Slater in his feature film debut is very good. Keith Gordon (who I usually hate) was also good. And Peter Coyote and Dean Stockwell have small roles and they're always good. As for Helen Slater--she's wooden. No emotion ever enters her face. She has one blank expression the entire movie but, I have to admit, I LIKED her! She's very attractive and when she cuts her hair she's just unbelievably beautiful. So, one one hand, I find her acting terrible, but, on the other hand, I love her! Go figure. This was a bomb in theatres (this IS a hard film to market) but has gained a cult following on video and DVD. I recommend it with reservations. It has a good message that really becomes muddled by the end, but it was great to see the 80s fashions and hear the songs again. I give it a 7.