Buster and Billie (1974)

Like many reviewers, I saw this in a drive-in 1974. I never forgot it, found it on YouTube (uncut version!), and watched it today.This film has numerous flaws: questionable writing, some very stilted acting, over-long scenes in dire need of editing, clichéd tropes, occasional sub-standard camera work, but...There is something unforgettable about this film. Perhaps it has a nostalgia factor for us Baby Boomers, and I don't know if first-time younger viewers would find it equally as moving. But I'd like to think there is a poignant timelessness to this underrated film that could be appreciated by many.Part of the appeal is the childlike, naive character of Billie (played on-pitch by Joan Goodfellow, who's fallen into obscurity). She has a quiet, luminous quality that's rarely captured on screen. She barely speaks throughout the film, yet brings so much emotion via body language and expressive use of her eyes. For me, she is the soul of this film.This tragic love story is not a new or unique one, but if you remember "Buster and Billie" from your old drive-in-days, I suggest you give it a second viewing. I did, and found it a rewarding experience.

First, if you are going to see this flick, do not see an edited version on TV, see the uncut video version (if there is one, which I doubt). I don't want to sound like a copycat of Matchstick's review but I wanted to write about when I saw this flick first (and only one time since). I was 10 years old, my family situation was a horrific mess that summer of 74. I was actually living with people I had never met before (not even distant relatives) who were taking care of me for the summer and it was a screwed up time needless to say (although thank God they were good (?) people). They took me along with them to see a double feature of Buster and Billie and Easy Rider, in that order. Man what a movie to watch at 10! Well, I guess nowadays kids are exposed to more adult stuff but I'm glad it was run before Easy Rider cause man I was noddin off on my own trip when those cats were in New Orleans! After the films were over you should have seen the looks those adults who brought me in to the movies got when people saw that I was watching both those films! Spoilers... I definitely remember the skinny dipping and the full frontal stuff (Jan Michael from what I remember didn't suffer from the George Castanza "shrinkage" from the water, lol only in the movies right, guess thats the difference between the Big and little screen, eh?), and the double murder in the bar (or was it a triple?) caught the entire audience by surprise I think. Classic Ending that really made the movie special too. Highly recommended in the uncut version, (probably not a wise choice to show a 10 year old, but I think I turned out OK despite it).

If you are at all sensitive or a person who cries at movies, do not watch this unless you have prepared yourself with a box of kleenex and only the closest of friends who you know will not make fun of you. (or watch it alone.) I first watched this movie at a time when I was having "boy troubles" and the object of my desire happened to look exactly like Jan Michael Vincent, the star of this movie (yeah, he was hot). This just added to the pain.... I bawled my eyes out for about 10-15 whole minutes AFTER the movie had already ended and was turned off. I wept so loudly and couldn't control my crying eyes whatsoever. My housemates laughed at me, but it was an affectionate laugh. They had also been affected by the movie, but not to my extent. The story is SO SAD. SO SAD!!! The saddest story EVER!As much as I loved the movie, I will never watch it again, even though I taped it. It is just too sad and I don't want to go through all that bawling and crying again. This is most emotionally draining, saddest movie I have ever seen. Be prepared to cry your eyes out with this one.

This is the kind of movie that hard-core movie fans watch again and again and talk about endlessly. I have seen it a dozen times and there is more to it each time. But we have to ask how it narrowly missed greatness.The chemistry between Jan Michael Vincent and Joan Goodfellow works as it is; but Hollywood was so intent on making JVM a "star" that much stronger actors were passed over. The biggest imponderable is this: Roberta Pedon read for the part of "Billie"; if she had been chosen for the role (despite her well-known drug problems and troubled past) and a stronger male actor cast as "Buster", this movie could have become a downbeat version of "Casablanca" for the baby-boom generation. Joan Goodfellow plays the "Billie" role in an intentionally understated and professional manner; but Vincent can't seem to decide whether he is playing a tormented lover or a kung-fu fighter. He fails at both.