From my favorite movies..

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Silly bit of fluff about a teenage tomboy named Billie (Patty Duke) who can run super fast due to music in her head she calls "the beat." She can run faster than all the boys, which causes the expected problems. This is an old but fun gender equality story. It's sincere in what it's trying to do even though it's pretty dated in how it's trying to do it. Patty Duke is fun and looks cute in track shorts. 28 year-old Warren Berlinger is her friend (and potential boyfriend). He's a poor fit to play a high schooler. He even has a bald spot! Jim Backus plays the dad and Jane Greer is the mom. Backus' character is one of the more interesting in the film, seeing as how he is a politician running on a traditionalist conservative platform yet his personal views are somewhat in conflict with this. He's a hypocrite, in other words. Other familiar faces like Dick Sargent, Charles Lane, and Richard Deacon also appear. It's likable stuff but not for everybody. The scenes of Patty Duke running with that big grin on her face and the '60s music playing is pretty cheesy stuff. Patty sings some corny songs, as well. The subplot about the older sister is positively stupid. You're not going to enjoy this movie much unless you are able to not take it that seriously.

Based on a decade old play Time Out For Ginger which was a one set comedy in the living room of the house of the protagonist Carol family, Billie was considerably expanded with many new characters introduced and the story takes us all over the small town where Jim Backus is trying to unseat Billy DeWolfe as mayor.Expanded I say, but hardly updated. You would absolutely never know there was a counterculture revolution of the Sixties going on in seeing this film. It could have been and maybe should have been made in the Fifties.Patty Duke plays the title role and the film property is produced by John Ross who was her legal guardian and career Svengali at that point. He was taking Patty's American character from the Patty Duke Show on television and making her a track star as well.A little bit of Annie Get Your Gun is also tossed into the mix as Duke who damages a lot of the male egos on the track team has some problems landing the boy of her dreams. Warren Berlinger initially gets some pointers from Duke and she helps him make the team. But later the male dominant ego gets the better of him. Berlinger is way too old for his part and looks it. He was 28 when he was doing Billie. Robert Diamond late of Fury was also having trouble transitioning to teen roles. He was 22 and also looks it. Diamond plays another track team member and Billy DeWolfe's son. Patty was 18 doing this, but her small build makes her look younger. There's a subplot involving Patty's older sister Susan Seaforth who is married to Ted Bessell, but hasn't broken the news to Backus and mother Jane Greer. Why escapes me, but Backus tries to fix her up with his campaign manager Dick Sargent, this being while Seaforth is a little bit married and a little bit pregnant.Billie's secret of her success on the track field is that she has the 'beat'. A certain innate natural rhythm that star athletes have, we all have whether we know it or not. Find your beat and ratchet it up and you too can be a star. Bearing that in mind there is a whole lot dancing in Billie and the choreography was nicely done.Billie is a nice film that was way out of step with the times when it was released.

This film has the feel of a TV movie, and it should have been shown there instead of in the theaters. Terribly dated plot, with dialogue that made me wince more than once. Patty Duke is a good actress and so was Jane Greer. It was jarring to see them in this fluffy film. If you look closely during the track and field scenes, it is obvious that Ms. Duke is not doing the stunts. Instead, it looks like an actor in a bad wig. The "beat" explanation for the title character's running prowess was typical teen B-movie silliness. The musical numbers were out of place. Honestly, would mid-1960's teenagers been belting out quasi-Broadway tunes? Would have been more believable if the songs were pop and/or rock. Someone thought that Ms. Duke's appeal to teens during that time would sell records, so they had her sing, which was a huge mistake. I admit that the scenes between Jim Backus and Greer were nice, as were some of the serious scenes between him and Ms. Duke. The script and storyline could have been better, though.

This is an excellent family film. Billie is a high school girl who joins a boys track team in a time when things like this just wasn't done. Lots of smiles and laughs. Great entertainment for everyone. Rates up there with Disney's Parent Trap. It stars Patty Duke when she was still a child star. Highly recommended.Steve Kaden