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IMDb > The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)

The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
5.6/10   2,912 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 15% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Matthew Robbins
Writers:
Lawrence Konner (writer)
Mark Rosenthal (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Legend of Billie Jean on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 July 1985 (USA) more
Genre:
Action more
Tagline:
When you're seventeen, people think they can do anything to you. Billie Jean is about to prove them wrong. more
Plot:
A Texas teenager cuts her hair short and becomes an outlaw martyr with her brother and friends. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
We've got the right to be angry! more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Helen Slater ... Billie Jean Davy
Keith Gordon ... Lloyd

Christian Slater ... Binx
Richard Bradford ... Pyatt

Peter Coyote ... Ringwald
Martha Gehman ... Ophelia

Yeardley Smith ... Putter
Dean Stockwell ... Muldaur
Barry Tubb ... Hubie

Mona Lee Fultz ... Donna Davy
Bobby Jones ... Kenny

John M. Jackson ... Kenny's Father
Rodney Rincon ... Police Sergeant

Caroline Williams ... Woman in Pickup
Rudy Young ... Man in Pickup
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Fair Is Fair (USA) (working title)
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Runtime:
96 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Certification:
Iceland:12 | USA:PG-13 (re-rating on appeal) | USA:R (original rating) | UK:15
Filming Locations:
Corpus Christi, Texas, USA more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The movie Billie Jean and the others watch about Joan of Arc is Saint Joan (1957). more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Billie Jean turns the TV channel and the movie Saint Joan appears, the TV is on channel 5. Whenever it's shown again on screen, it's on channel 6. more
Quotes:
Putter: Far out, I'm coming!
Billie Jean: This is serious, Putter!
Putter: I can be serious, Billie Jean, please I can't stay here without you, I'll just die!
Billie Jean: Go away, Putter!
Putter: [to Ophelia] Billie Jean said I can come, don't move!
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Pat Benatar: Choice Cuts - The Complete Video Collection (2003) (V) more
Soundtrack:
Rebel Yell more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
16 out of 16 people found the following comment useful:-
We've got the right to be angry!, 6 April 2004
Author: Pepper Anne from Orlando, Florida

Why does everyone knock the Legend of Billie Jean so much? For me, it's one of my favorite 80s teen movies. And it's a good exploration into the concept of vigilante justice as a natural response to not only a cumbersome justice system, but also a discriminatory one.

Helen Slater is teenager Billie Jean, a nice girl from "the trailers" of Corpus Christi, Texas. When Hubie Pyat (Barry Tubbs) and some other local pranksters trash her brother Binx's (Christian Slater) motor scooter, she demands compensation. But Hubie refuses to pay and his father uses the opportunity to offer that Billie Jean trade some sexual favors to him for the cash. In the midst of her flight from the pervert, there's scuffle, and Mr. Pyat is accidentally shot. So, Billie Jean, her brother, and two friends involved in the accident, suddenly finds themselves on the run from the police.

Rather than surrendering, they use their new teenage fugitive status to stage something of a protest ("fair is fair"), and Billie Jean becomes their hero and icon for teenage rebellion as well as feminism. They become the martyrs of teenagers while the adults dismiss the entire thing as a bunch of rambunctious teenagers gone out of control. So, there is political significance in the story of Billie Jean in looking at the criminal justice system (although some of the discrimination against Billie Jean such as denying her any sort of expedited compensation occurs as a result of the system not intervening at all). If Billie Jean was an adult, would she have been taken seriously? What if Billie Jean were a male? Would that change the situation. Indeed, this movie suggests that it would.

In a decade filled with themes of teen angst, this one offers one story of the possibility of teen (and female) empowerment in a way that Pump Up the Volume or other movies like that did. I always thought it was a pretty good 80s movie and one that, judging by the message boards, still caters to a loyal audience as many of those long-lasting 80s movies do. Plus, as far as important 80s movie characteristic go, it's got good actors (Helen Slater, Christian Slater, Peter Cyote, and Kieth Gordon), and a good soundtrack (featuring Pat Benetar's "Invincible" and the Divinyls).

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Music is the reason there is no dvd. beave-4
haircut very popular for boys 23 years later escapereality
If they did a remake..... SugarMomma73
Originally Rated R? mcbain20
'Fair Is Fair' JGrossoiii
Man on motorcycle ... Reed Diamond? moviehawg59
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