The Legend Of Billie Jean

You can't always judge a movie by it's cover or title. Such is the case with 1985's The Legend Of Billie Jean. Guessing by the horrible title and poster, I thought it was going to be awful. My sister really wanted to see this so I gave it a shot. I was way off on my preconceived notions.

Helen Slater stars as Billie Jean, a high school senior from the wrong side of the tracks. When her and her brother Binx, Christian Slater, are hanging out at the local drive in, Billie Jean spurns the advances of some rich boys, who in turn steal Binx's scooter. An angered Binx goes to get his ride back and gets badly beaten and his scooter gets trashed. The police aren't much help, so Billie Jean goes to the father, Richard Bradford, of the ringleader and demands that he pays for the damages to the scooter. The father tries to rape Billie Jean and Binx comes to her rescue by shooting him in the shoulder.

The two hit the road with their best friends Putter, Yeardley Smith, and Ophelia, Martha Gehman as a state wide manhunt is issued for the teens. While being pursued, they become folk legends. Billie Jean is inspired by Joan Of Arc and cuts her hair short, which starts a trend with their followers, making her the voice of her generation. But the authorities and the injured father want to put an end to their crusade.

This movie totally took me by surprise. Wanting to hate it, but by the end I was rooting for Billie Jean. Both Slater's turn in great performances, as does the rest of the cast which includes Keith Gordon, Dean Stockwell and Peter Coyote. And the theme song by Pat Benatar, Invincible, rocks.

I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Slater at a comic book convention about 7 years ago which was very cool. Most of the crowd were asking her about Supergirl and all of my questions were about this movie and Ruthless People. I like to think that maybe I was a good diversion. She was very kind.

Kind of a Thelma And Louise for the teen set, The Legend Of Billie Jean is a great little revenge picture.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.