Ode to Billy Joe (1976)

Robby Benson: Billy Joe McAllister

Photos 

Quotes 

• Bobbie Lee Hartley : It's gonna be all right. We've just been waiting so long and trying so hard. Oh, it's all right Billy Joe.

  Billy Joe McAllister : It ain't all right! I ain't all right!

  [long pause as Billy Joe walks a few steps away from Bobbie Lee] 

  Billy Joe McAllister : Bobbie... I have been with a man! Did you hear me? Which is a sin against nature! A sin against God! I don't know how I could have done it, I swear! I don't know how I could be wanting you and do that.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : But you were drunk. Maybe you just imagined it.

  Billy Joe McAllister : I didn't imagine nothing!

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : But you were drunk. Everyone saw how drunk you were.

  Billy Joe McAllister : I... I knew. I knew what was happening.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Who was it?

  Billy Joe McAllister : I ain't gonna say.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Why? I wish I could understand.

  Billy Joe McAllister : I wish I could.

• [first lines] 

  Billy Joe McAllister : HEY! I've been holding up this here bridge for over an hour so it wouldn't fall on you!

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Right neighborly of you, Mr. McAllister.

• Bobbie Lee Hartley : You don't seem to understand, fool. My Papa's problem is not with you; his problem is with me and the fact that I'm only...

  Billy Joe McAllister : Fifteen. Yes, I know. You're also thirty-two.

  [looks at her breasts] 

  Billy Joe McAllister : And you best start usin' 'em real quickly before they go bad and fall off.

• Billy Joe McAllister : Can you please inform your Papa that I am comin' to call. I would appreciate some ice tea, as befits a gentlemen caller. With lemon and sugar - and a straw, if you got one.

• Billy Joe McAllister : Am I supposed to understand that?

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Oh, nobody's supposed to understand that! Einstein couldn't even understand it!

• Bobbie Lee Hartley : [kissing Billy Joe]  It's trouble.

  Billy Joe McAllister : I don't care.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : I'm supposed to say no!

  Billy Joe McAllister : You can say whatever you damn please.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Well, the girl says no for three and a half pages!

  Billy Joe McAllister : You can say no for a whole damn book.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : No, no, no. No, no, no. Well, that's one page.

  Billy Joe McAllister : That's good. Go on, use 'em all. Get 'em out of your system!

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : No. No. No. No, no, no. No.

  Billy Joe McAllister : That's another page. No?

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Yes.

  Billy Joe McAllister : Go on, you're doin' fine.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : No, Billy Joe,

  Billy Joe McAllister : Go on: no...

  Bobbie Lee Hartley , Billy Joe McAllister : No, no, no, no.

  Billy Joe McAllister : Go on: no

  Bobbie Lee Hartley , Billy Joe McAllister : No, no, no, no.

  Billy Joe McAllister : Okay! That ought to do it.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : No!

  Billy Joe McAllister : Now, come on. Give me a big ole yes.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : No.

  Billy Joe McAllister : Come on, girl. You done give me five pages of no's - easy! Now, come on. Give me a yes.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : Oh, Billy Joe.

• Billy Joe McAllister : Gal, what I'm tryin' to get across to you is that - I've been havin' some fitful dreams in which you are so warm blooded that - if we do half of what we did in my dreams, we'd be makin' love with a regularity that would close this town!

• Billy Joe McAllister : I don't want to call on you no more. I want to have you. And I think it's about time, if you don't feel the same way about me, you ought to tell me so I can get the hell out of this county.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : What are you asking me to do?

  Billy Joe McAllister : Girl, I am on to your scent! I'm down wind of you everywhere I go! I mean, you're wigglin' your own tail feathers and I'm respondin'. Now, you go Mama says, Papa says, Jesus Christ says, all you want. The fact of the matter is that if we was squirrels or cottontails out there in the forest in the middle of the night, we'd be snortin' and ruttin' in a very healthy manner! Oh, God. I would not be roamin' the woods in this predicament.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : What do you want me to do, Billy Joe? I'll do whatever you say.

  Billy Joe McAllister : I just - want you to think it over. I want you to think it over. I'll meet you on the bridge. When the day's almost gone, I'll meet you on the bridge.

• Bobbie Lee Hartley : Billy Joe, let me be! I'm 15 years of age. Now, you may think that's old. But, my Papa sees me as nothing but a child.

  Billy Joe McAllister : Well, your Papa is clearly behind the times.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : He is also on the porch.

  Billy Joe McAllister : And does your Papa know that you've been sportin' a brassiere for at least two years I known of.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : It ain't the same one. The first one was a trainer. I'm up to a 32 now. B-cup, I believe.

  Billy Joe McAllister : Well, I be-lieve you're gonna be a 96 and trippin' all over yourself before your Papa let's you out of his sight.

  Bobbie Lee Hartley : If I was a 96, I'd not be out of anyone's sight!