Billie

Patty Duke is a tomboy high-school track star who outperforms all of the boys on the Harding High School team, including her macho boy friend (Warren Berlinger). All of this causes big problems for her politically ambitious father (Jim Backus) who is running for mayor on an unashamedly male chauvinist platform. BILLIE is a technically competent film, and Duke's portrayal of a capable athlete and independent person is ahead of its time (although she eventually does demonstrate that she "knows her place"). Ultimately, however, the film is undone by its predictable and all-too-easily resolved situations.