Billie, at first glance, appears to be a pleasant, innocuous teen comedy about the title character (Patty Duke) who can outdistance every boy on her high school track and field team (But then again, so can her Old English Sheepdog, Clown). The track coach (the omnipresent gruff character actor of that era, Charles Lane) immediately gets her to join the squad.
Her father (Jim Backus) happens to be running for mayor, essentially on the platform that men and women should not be competing. And when the school principal (Richard Deacon) confronts the patriarch about Billie, he has to change his tune with the public, with the help of his campaign manager (Dick Sargent).
Additionally his eldest daughter Jean (Susan Seaforth) is back from college and the guy she's been seeing (Ted Bessell) with the claim she's ready to quit school. But why? Did she break up?
The puzzlement is in how this film pushed the envelope on women's rights, both in sports and in society... a little. While a girl running Varsity track was seen as important enough for a Life Magazine cover story, no one really sees it as a big deal, except maybe Billie's teammate, Mike (Warren Berlinger) who discovers he likes Billie as more than a friend. The end result is a bit of a pull back on the story's push against the glass ceiling.
There are a few songs scattered here, notably the title song, an earworm that gets scored into several ensuing scenes, two slight ballads from Duke, and a locker room performance by her fellow runners that aspires to be a cross between "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" from "South Pacific" and "Gee Officer Krupke" from "West Side Story," (which admittedly overstates it).
Finally, speaking of Broadway, the biggest surprise and the best treat is the uncredited appearance of Dance Diva Donna McKechnie in two scenes! First she is one of the cheerleaders celebrating Billie during the film's opening credits. Then you'll see her in a red and white shirt in a scene where Billie teaches her classmates how to "hear the beat in your head" to run faster. Donna attempts to blend in as just another dancer, but she can't. She's Donna McKechnie!
Seeing all these now renowned sitcom players interacting is fun on its own and is enough to recommend the film, but getting to glimpse McKechnie in her young twenties, going full Donna, lifts this to a must view!
Her father (Jim Backus) happens to be running for mayor, essentially on the platform that men and women should not be competing. And when the school principal (Richard Deacon) confronts the patriarch about Billie, he has to change his tune with the public, with the help of his campaign manager (Dick Sargent).
Additionally his eldest daughter Jean (Susan Seaforth) is back from college and the guy she's been seeing (Ted Bessell) with the claim she's ready to quit school. But why? Did she break up?
The puzzlement is in how this film pushed the envelope on women's rights, both in sports and in society... a little. While a girl running Varsity track was seen as important enough for a Life Magazine cover story, no one really sees it as a big deal, except maybe Billie's teammate, Mike (Warren Berlinger) who discovers he likes Billie as more than a friend. The end result is a bit of a pull back on the story's push against the glass ceiling.
There are a few songs scattered here, notably the title song, an earworm that gets scored into several ensuing scenes, two slight ballads from Duke, and a locker room performance by her fellow runners that aspires to be a cross between "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" from "South Pacific" and "Gee Officer Krupke" from "West Side Story," (which admittedly overstates it).
Finally, speaking of Broadway, the biggest surprise and the best treat is the uncredited appearance of Dance Diva Donna McKechnie in two scenes! First she is one of the cheerleaders celebrating Billie during the film's opening credits. Then you'll see her in a red and white shirt in a scene where Billie teaches her classmates how to "hear the beat in your head" to run faster. Donna attempts to blend in as just another dancer, but she can't. She's Donna McKechnie!
Seeing all these now renowned sitcom players interacting is fun on its own and is enough to recommend the film, but getting to glimpse McKechnie in her young twenties, going full Donna, lifts this to a must view!