The Ballad of Billie Blue was Erik Estrada's second ever film role, and remarkably, it was also his second role in a "Christian Action Film." His role here is not as big as his previous one in the fondly remembered 1970 Christian exploitation flick, The Cross and The Switchblade, and in fact, The Ballad of Billie Blue is quite difficult to track down.
In The Cross and the Switchblade, Estrada played a troubled member of a Hispanic gang that was warring with an all black gang, their turfs being Harlem and Spanish Harlem respectively. Pat Boone played the travelling preacher who arrives in NYC to "save" them.
In the Ballad of Billie Blue, Estrada plays essentially the same character, that of a young Hispanic hoodlum, however, he has a very small role (despite the VHS copy that I rented called "Breakin' Out STARRING ERIK ESTRADA ... which was obviously marketed to cash in on his C.H.i.P.s fame). The Ballad of Billie Blue is the story of a country music star who starts drinking and drugging heavily (the character is played by Ray Danton who played a rapist in the 1959 juvenile delinquency picture, The Beat Generation) at the height of his fame. One night while drunk and high in a motel room, he clocks someone over the head with a bottle, killing them. For this Billie Blue goes to prison, where he is chained at the ankle to Erik Estrada. Marty Allen, the old hack comedian best known for being one half of the 1960s comedy duo Allen & Rossi, has a role as a mean spirited press agent, always harping on Billie Blue. Allen & Rossi, although it is forgotten today, had the thankless job of following the Beatles on Ed Sullivan when the liverpool lads had their American television debut.
Billie Blue sings several terrible country pop songs throughout the film, which provide us with many of the film's campiest moments. While serving time in the state pen, Billie Blue is turned on to the ways of the Lord by a visiting minister (not Pat Boone). Eventually he is released from prison, and upon first stepping out, he hears the sounds of gospel music in the air. He follows it to a church downtown, and pushes open the doors. There he stares up in awe at a giant neon cross. The shot freezes on the cross and instead of the words "The End" appearing on the screen it says, "The Beginning." For the record "The Beginning" instead of "The End" has been used in Red Planet Mars (1952) The Phantom Planet (1961) and In the Year 2889 (1968), probably several more.
In The Cross and the Switchblade, Estrada played a troubled member of a Hispanic gang that was warring with an all black gang, their turfs being Harlem and Spanish Harlem respectively. Pat Boone played the travelling preacher who arrives in NYC to "save" them.
In the Ballad of Billie Blue, Estrada plays essentially the same character, that of a young Hispanic hoodlum, however, he has a very small role (despite the VHS copy that I rented called "Breakin' Out STARRING ERIK ESTRADA ... which was obviously marketed to cash in on his C.H.i.P.s fame). The Ballad of Billie Blue is the story of a country music star who starts drinking and drugging heavily (the character is played by Ray Danton who played a rapist in the 1959 juvenile delinquency picture, The Beat Generation) at the height of his fame. One night while drunk and high in a motel room, he clocks someone over the head with a bottle, killing them. For this Billie Blue goes to prison, where he is chained at the ankle to Erik Estrada. Marty Allen, the old hack comedian best known for being one half of the 1960s comedy duo Allen & Rossi, has a role as a mean spirited press agent, always harping on Billie Blue. Allen & Rossi, although it is forgotten today, had the thankless job of following the Beatles on Ed Sullivan when the liverpool lads had their American television debut.
Billie Blue sings several terrible country pop songs throughout the film, which provide us with many of the film's campiest moments. While serving time in the state pen, Billie Blue is turned on to the ways of the Lord by a visiting minister (not Pat Boone). Eventually he is released from prison, and upon first stepping out, he hears the sounds of gospel music in the air. He follows it to a church downtown, and pushes open the doors. There he stares up in awe at a giant neon cross. The shot freezes on the cross and instead of the words "The End" appearing on the screen it says, "The Beginning." For the record "The Beginning" instead of "The End" has been used in Red Planet Mars (1952) The Phantom Planet (1961) and In the Year 2889 (1968), probably several more.
