Okay, making a film of the Bobbie Gentry song was a dubious idea to begin with; but it's hard to imagine a more boorish attempt. I lost count of the references to the Chattahoochie Bridge ("nothing good ever happened on that bridge") and the repetitions of the name Billy Joe McAllister. Forgivable, perhaps. What's less so is Herman Raucher's painfully expository dialogue ("Bobbie Lee, you know the Rural Electrification Project doesn't provide power to remote areas!"), the cast's excruciating Southern accents (all bad, but not even uniformly so)and the teenagers' Gone With the Wind diction. Though Jethro's intent was apparently serious, this film is high camp and can be enjoyed thus: Treat it as a frat boy drinking game. Watch the film with a bottle of tequila, and take a long swig every time someone says the word "bridge".
Review of Ode to Billy Joe
