In 1974 I saw a film that left a big impression on me at the local drive in. For years I remembered this film and was surprised when video came along that I couldn’t find it anywhere though apparently it was released. When disc came around the same thing happened. And it never played on TV. How could this movie I had such great memories of disappear from everywhere?
For 45 years it was thought that the movie had disappeared with the exception of those VHS tapes and bootleg copies. In 2019 Sony finally found that they had the original elements of the film in their vaults. Now Zephina Media has done a complete restoration of those film elements and digitally scanned them to bring this film to life again. It’s been released on blu-ray now. The movie is BUSTER AND BILLIE.
Taking place in Georgia in 1948, Jan-Michael Vincent starts a Buster, the popular boy in high school who has his own small group of friends and gets into mischievous trouble but nothing serious. Buster is going steady with Margie (Pamela Sue Martin) the popular girl in school. It seems like a match made in Heaven. But all is not as it seems.
Buster’s friends, including the always picked on Whitey (Robert Englund in his first feature film), hang around the local pool hall drinking beer. They also have another favorite thing to do. Go out and pick up Billie (Joan Goodfellow) the local girl from the wrong side of the tracks and take her to the woods to have their way with her. When asked why he doesn’t go with them Buster replies to Jake (Clifton James) the pool hall owner that there are some things that should remain private and who he sleeps with should be one of those.
While Buster and Margie have plans to marry after graduation she still rebuffs him when he tries to become intimate with her. It isn’t long before he too visits Billie’s house and takes her out. But something begins to happen. He begins to see Billie as a human being. A sad young girl who has no hope of escaping the life her dirt poor parents have left her with.
As they begin to grow closer Buster and Billie spend more time together. His friends don’t know who she’s spending time with but what they consider their plaything is no longer there and it frustrates them. Tensions reach a fever pitch when Buster breaks up with Margie and escorts Billie with him to church. At some point things are bound to explode. What happens will shock the viewer and touch your heart.
The movie might sound much grittier than it is. Certainly some of the topics involved are those most would likely not want to discuss. But it is the bittersweet romance, the affection between these two characters that is most remembered here. I was always a fan of Vincent but he shows more depth to this character than most other films I have seen him in. Goodfellow should have gone on to so much more. Her ability to convey emotions and feelings with little more than a look on her face is amazing. The two characters, while involved in a physical relationship that turns emotional, are two people who find a deep bond of love rather than simply sex.
The supporting cast does an equally great job with perhaps only Martin leaving much to be desired. Her character comes off shallow in comparison to Goodfellow. Perhaps that was what was being conveyed but there is no nuance to her performance and it feels the most cliché of the film. Englund does a great job as Buster’s sidekick, the young boy who looks up to Buster as his hero. There is no evidence of his later years in horror here.
What happens in the last third of the film is not only tragic but brutal. It’s the kind of thing that will turn the stomach and make you look away. But it fits into what has happened and is an integral part of the story. The follow up in the last minutes of the film will stay with you for a long time after. They stuck with me 45 years later after seeing the film just one time.
Zephina Media deserves to be congratulated for bringing this
film back to life. At the time the critics loved or hated it. Odds are those
feelings won’t change. As for me I’m glad to have this here now to watch and
re-watch. To me it was the perfect drive in film without the exploitation tag
involved. I’ll remember it that way and suggest other find this one and give it
a view.
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