Ambiguity in Billy Joe ode by Bobbie Gentry

yes. brother taylor, the minister was fishing and saw them throwing sometihng off the bridge. what was thrown was the ragdoll. and it was mr barksdale that billy joe slept with, not the preacher.

In the song it's their aborted baby they throw off the bridge.
In the movie they drop Benjamin the rag doll by accident.
The song and the movie dont have a whole lot to do with eachother.
Billy Joe wasnt gay in the song.
I dont know why the movie chose to go in that direction.

LOUD & PROUD HAL LOVER
LIVING IN THE PAST
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Okay I've read all the posts and I can no longer refrain from giving my ideas on the Song, the movie and the mystery of object thrown from the bridge.And my morbid obsession with everything having to do with this tale.
The Song
Just from the conversations and mentioned activity in the lyrics
We know that these are hard working ,church going folks.
The father is a farmer trying to keep his farm going and all he knows of Billie Joe is that he was an idiot.So he could care less about his tragic death.To Papa it was inevitable.

Mama is busy with cooking and cleaning and the dream of a possiblity of that nice young preacher Brother Taylor having dinner with them and perhaps taking a shine to their daughter and then they could marry her off to him.

Brother (meaning the female singers brother ,not the preacher)can only recall old memories of Billie and some friends horsing around obviously awhile back..because his asking and not being sure if he saw him or not means he hadn't seen him for awhile and then has trouble with the idea of seeing him alive recently and then finding out that now he's dead.As would anyone..but then gets back to the business of chowing down his meal.

And finally attention is turned to sister who has remained silent through the whole meal and has noticablly lost her appetite..as mama who's feeling unappreciated for her hard work states.As she is eagerly telling her daughter
about the preacher hoping to bring a smile to her face, she suddenly remembers he had said he had seen her daughter or someone that looked like her and another person on the bridge and that they were throwing something off of the bridge.Not making a big deal about it just mentioning it. Daughter isn't responding ,she's obviously upset after hearing that Billie Joe has jumped off the bridge.Clearly she's the only one that takes the news hard. So you know she had some kind of relationship with him.

This relationship would have had to be a secret one...due to the way her family views Billie Joe and plus being from the wrong side of the tracks,they would have never approved. She would have easily snuck off to meet him seeing how her parents would have gone to bed early as hard working as they were. Farm clothes back then , the ones a girl would be wearing choppin' cotton were baggy and layered,so a pregnancy would be easy to conceal. And back in the day especially in the south sex education was pretty much non-existant so it's feesble that a young girl wouldn't know she was pregnant until it was too late.As for parents they weren't as involved in their children's lives as they are now days. A church going southern woman wouldn't even entertain the thought that her daughter would be having sex before marriage.These were simplier times remember.So it's an unwanted baby delivered to 2 scared and confused kids, who think they're only option is to throw it in the river off the bridge in an area where no one goes because nothing never ever comes to no good up there on chalktaw Ridge.To Billie Joe that baby was probably the only happiness he had experienced in his life and having to destroy it and how they disposed of it was something he just couldn't live with. The girl chooses to believe it never happened.She has to believe that so she can go on with her life,because just think what it would do to the family if they knew.The preacher just happens to be passing by and the movement of something being thrown is what catches his eye.but he isn't stopped or fishing watching this transpire..or else he would have been able to focus in on who it was up there.

So in the end we learn that life just went on...Papa has died, mama's only purpose was to take care of her family with papa gone and a depressed daughter she has nothing to keep her occupied so she becomes completely shut off from the world. Brother gets married and starts a career as a store owner , so that leaves no one to tend to the farm...so you know things are pretty bleak around there so the girl's way of dealing with all this in her shaky at best mental state is to pick flowers and give them to the one true love she had. Probably wishing she could join him if she didn't have mama to take care of.

As for the movie...Billie Joe is a hormonal, horny mess. He does everything in his power to do this courtin' thing correctly once he sets his sights on Bobbie Lee who has showed some interest in him as a suitor. we are shown that her sexual feelings have also been awaken,by way of a torrid dimestore novel that obviously has been read over and over again from it's appearence and a ragdoll boyfriend, Benjermin that makes all her romantic fantasy come true.But abandons him in a cedarchest once she becomes attracted to the persistant Bobbie Joe. She's stuck somewhere between being a woman and a child. Not sure how she should handle her out of control desire..she keeps igniting the flame going farther and farther with her sexual expermentation with the increasingly frustrated Billie Joe in a series of secret rendevous's.After all she has dog to keep her virtue intact if she calls him in time to rescue her.Even accidently falling into the lake doesn't cool these youngin's down.But just when she decides to give in to their passion, the unthinkable happens.
This is where we are force fed the out of nowhere unbelieveable twist to this already stupid plot..See the writers know that the majority of people think that it's a baby that is thrown off the bridge...so it can't be a baby. It would be expected. They needed something really shocking to reveal so people would tell they're friends they should see the movie.At the time this movie was made,the gay community were taking strides to come out of the closet and making their presence known...controversy just what this dog of a movie needed.
So Billie Joe just can't wait for Bobbie Lee anymore,especially once a sexual outlet presents itself to him. He has sex with his boss after getting drunk with him at the big jamboree.Does want to waste his money on the hookers so why not with a man. Then has lovers remorse in the morning and runs way into the forest. Without explanation on how Bobbie Lee knows where to find him, she comes to him with her mind made up to give herself to him.To prove she means business she has brought her ragdoll boyfriend ,intended to be nothing more than a visual aide,symbolically showing she's ready for the real thing by throwing the imginary one away...but then changes her mind which enrages Billie Joe who's had it with her stalling, they wrestle with the doll, an impromtu tug o war that results in the tossing Benjirman off the bridge.so they finally are trying to do it..but he can't and tells her that he had sex with a man and liked it but can't bare to live his life this way blah blah garbage garbage yada yada...who cares by now.
His body is found the next day as is Benjimens, but is dismissed as just weird that a kids toy would be found there too..News spreads fast, the townfolk already have they're minds made up that she's pregnant and that's why he did it
Bobbie Joe weighs the reality and the rumor reason and decides to save his reputation instead of her own because it would be more acceptible to people. She talks the sawmill boss lover out of confessing to the liason(which ..why would he in the first place)to Billie Joe's family...then as the music swells we see the movie get all neatly wrapped up with the flash of still pictures showing the happy ending for everyone involved. BIG DEAL !!

I know I've given you the impression that I hate this movie...but just like they're sick twist here's mine....I love it..It makes me laugh, I love their stupid accents and I had the biggest crush on Robbie Benson.So of course I watch it every oppertunity I get.I just don't like the fact that it's forever associated with the Hauntingly beautiful and thought provoking "ODE TO BILLIE JOE"