I was not able to get this movie out of my head days after seeing it. Buster and Billie is a powerful and poignant coming-of-age story, but also just very stark tale of how brutal and cruel people can be sometimes. This film takes place in the 50's I believe, but it's almost hard to determine the year. It's set in rural Georgia, so it has a very back-woods atmosphere about it. High-school buddies gather around to exchange girl and car stories, and the talk of the town is 'Billie' (Joan Goodfellow), a very shy, poor girl who lets this gang of upper-class boys do what they will to her. They basically come knocking at her door late at night (she lives in a run-down shack with her 2 negligent parents), take her out into the woods for gang-sex! Billie goes willingly, but with obvious sorrow. She's a lonely girl with no friends and 'this is the only way she knows how to find affection', (as Buster later tells his father). Buster (Jan-Michael Vincent) is a care-free, cocky young man who seems to have a penchant for taking odd-ball people under his wing. He drives his truck like a maniac, and annoys the heck out of the local school bus driver. His best friend is Whitey, played by a very young, awkward Robert Englund of Nightmare on Elm Street fame! Whitey apparently was a tortured 'geek' when he first arrived at school, but ever since Buster became his friend, Whitey became popular. Buster is also a 'lone ranger' among his friends – he never joined the group visits to Billie's house late at night. He remarks to Jake the bartender that two things in a man's life should be private..."Taking a s___ and getting laid." Buster is also engaged to marry Margie (Pamela Sue Martin), his high-school sweetheart. Because his girlfriend doesn't let him go 'all the way' when they park at night (she's waiting until the wedding night, of course), Buster starts to lose patience with her. At school, after a physical beat-down with the grumpy bus-driver, Buster notices Billie smiling at him. His friends steer him clear of her, saying he shouldn't be seen with her at school. Buster introduces himself to Billie at lunch-hour, and invites her on a date. She accepts, very, very shyly. She obviously has a crush on him, and the fact that he speaks to her like a human being is something totally new. So Buster takes Billie out on a date. It's still a sexual encounter, but the fact that he takes her in his own truck and treats her very gently is something she has never experienced. So as their dates continue, Buster starts to fall in love with her as well. He breaks up with Margie and takes Billie with him to church, nonetheless, in front of the whole town! It's scandal - his friends and his parents are shocked. Even the bartender Jake is offended that Buster would break up with a 'nice girl' like Margie, and start taking up with a 'bad girl' like Billie. But Buster doesn't give into all the pressure from his friends or family. He continues to see Billie, and Billie starts to show her real personality- she's a bit of a free spirit like Buster. She loves to be in the truck when Buster drives fast. They jump in the river together, naked (this is the infamous JMV full frontal scene – where he looks like an Adonis!). Fatefully, all is not meant to be so idyllic. One rainy, stormy afternoon Billie innocently encounters the car-load of Buster's so called friends. A horrifying chase and rape scene ensue, and Billie's fate is sealed. Buster finds out – he just knows something has happened –and he discovers her body in the dark, damp woods behind her house. His rage is insurmountable, and he tracks his friends down in local bar. In a frightening display of physical violence (as only JMV can display), he swiftly kills two of them, and seriously maims the others! The movie ends with Buster at Billie's grave site…sadly saying goodbye.Wow, it's some movie! Anyway, the performance by Jan Michael Vincent is great. It wouldn't call it great acting, but his gentle manner combined with his ability to threaten physical violence form a unique blend in this movie. His sheer beauty is also just staggering to see – he was truly one of the most beautiful actors to even grace the silver screen. Joan Goodfellow is heart-wrenching in this movie—too bad she didn't appear in more films! And any fan of Robert Englund will enjoy this as well – he's such a funny geek in this!!

I happened to see this movie at a drive-in when I was 6 yrs. old. I don't know what the hell my parents were thinking taking a 6 yr. old (me) and my 4 yr. old sister in an Oldsmobile Vista-Cruiser station wagon. Sure, we were real comfy with the seats folded down lying on blankets and pillows munching on popcorn, but wow, this movie really had an effect on me, and it wasn't real good. As a young child, I was able to grasp the concept of a deep love between Buster and Billie but when things began to get ugly, it really freaked me out. All I remember after Buster's full frontal shot was Billie getting raped and then her being wrapped in cloth or mummified in some way (this was 28 yrs. ago so the visual details elude me) and then Jan Michael Vincent doing some kind of crazy karate move where he flips some dude with his arm on a pool table and killing a few guys. I have to tell you this shook my 70's innocent Disney perspective on life to the core! When we got home and I was in my pajamas, brushing my teeth, I started crying my eyes out. My mom came in and said, "Oh, sweetie, why are you crying? Was it because Billie died at the end of the movie?' I said, "No". But...umm ya...hell ya, it was because you subjected me to this terrible rape and murder that would be hard even for an adult!! Again, WTF were they thinking (incidentally, I will make them both read this review). Wow, glad I got that out of my system! BTW, hope I don't seem too harsh on my parents, after all, they seemed to think it was "OK" to let me stand up in the middle of the front seat in the blue Chevy Chevelle whilst speeding away and lie down in the back window when I was "sleepy". WTF was up with my parents and most parents who owned automobiles until the early 80's!?!? LOL. Anyway, don't let your 6 yr. olds see this movie (and don't let them sleep near the back windshield) sheesh!

How's that full frontal scene with JMV walking towards the camera! The audience at the cinema that session went absolutely ballistic as they realised has taking it ALL off and was about to display the full monty python! It was an audience of 18 year olds and they were just blown out of their seats, so to speak. Then of course, we all settled down to the awful raping and the usual bashing and walked out crying. A big surprise in its day and a lot of peoples almost favourite teen experience movie. Also a good JMV film and a great memory of 70s cinema. Probably his best along with BIG Wednesday in 1978. Incredible to know JMV is now over 64 years old and not in good health. He was then, and is still so popular and well remembered.

This is the kind of movie that hard-core movie fans watch again and again and talk about endlessly. I have seen it a dozen times and there is more to it each time. But we have to ask how it narrowly missed greatness.The chemistry between Jan Michael Vincent and Joan Goodfellow works as it is; but Hollywood was so intent on making JVM a "star" that much stronger actors were passed over. The biggest imponderable is this: Roberta Pedon read for the part of "Billie"; if she had been chosen for the role (despite her well-known drug problems and troubled past) and a stronger male actor cast as "Buster", this movie could have become a downbeat version of "Casablanca" for the baby-boom generation. Joan Goodfellow plays the "Billie" role in an intentionally understated and professional manner; but Vincent can't seem to decide whether he is playing a tormented lover or a kung-fu fighter. He fails at both.