There's nothing like zero sleep in NYC most of your stay, then partying for 12 hours before getting straight on a plane, finally finding your bed and crashing...only to wake up to THE LEGEND OF BILLIE JEAN. The movie that made me want to cut off all my hair, reconsider my sexuality, and want to drive around like an outlaw. This movie is summer 80's style for me. I want to put on my thrashed boots and baggy high waisted shorts with four belts and march through my neighborhood looking for fun. There are crazy scenes where she has on those 85' style baggy pants like Bananarama street urchin. Cool bolero ties and denim torn vests. Skimpy and yet strong.
The movie came out in the 80's, and I was mesmerized by it. I remember thinking that over and over, "She's so cool, she's so cool".
The premise of the movie is that Billie Jean's brother (played by a super young Christian Slater) has his scooter taken by a local bully/brat and they trash it. She just wants them to get it fixed, or replaced by the bully's dad. She goes to his tourist shell shop to ask for the money owed to them- the creepy dad tries to make a move on her, refuses to pay her, and her brother panics and pulls the gun out of the register and shoots the guy in the arm. Billie Jean and her pals end up on the run.
The movie then takes an interesting turn, as she becomes sort of a hero, martyr, celebrity. She ends up hacking off all her hair like Joan of Ark. Because this movie was way before the insane media obsession, it sort of is an early look at how media can spin something and make someone "famous". Girls who see her on the news chanting "FAIR IS FAIR" start cutting their hair like her and dressing with one earring. The soundtrack features Billy Idol during a scene where she is outrunning the cops to REBEL YELL and many scenes where Pat Benatar is playing as random fans of her give her rides to escape. I especially love when the cops ask her pal Putter, "Where is Billie Jean?" and she replies "She's everywhere."
There's a lot of good action, fashion and corny 80's sayings
"I think she is the toughest thing to happen out there." as said by a fan
I always sort of had a crush on Peter Coyote in this too. He had that concerned "investigator suit" look and Texas accent.
My friends and I would lay around in the summer and watch this over and over.
"The film was expected to be a big hit, especially with the MTV crowd, as evidenced by the immediate heavy rotation of its theme song, "Invincible" by Pat Benatar, which peaked at number four on America's Top Forty; however, its reviews were poor, and it only grossed approximately US$3.5 million.
The film's only home video release as of 2007 was on pan & scan VHS in 1985 and has yet to be released on DVD." (wikipedia)
For those of you who have never seen it: the taglines on the poster said:
When you're seventeen, people think they can do anything to you. Billie Jean is about to prove them wrong.
The last thing she ever expected was to be a hero.
There is also a young Keith Gordon, pre Back to School, and his directing days, "Waking the Dead" anyone?
Posted by: danielle | July 22, 2008 at 02:30 PM
Ok- geometric jewels, cutting hair off, wearing shortie shorts, thrashed boots- yes I can see you pulling all these off but I draw the line at you wearing a chopped rainbow wetsuit as a top.
Do. Not. Want.
Posted by: orchide | July 22, 2008 at 02:52 PM