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Writer/Director Matthew Robbins is a longtime friend and collaborator of Stephen Spielberg, having helped write and had cameos in a number of his movies.  The 'look' adopted by the Filmakers for Helen Slater's character proved to be very influential throughout the rest of the 80's. Yeardley Smith does the voice of Lisa Simpson on "The Simpsons". -Thanks to JillThis was Christian Slater's first feature film. It grossed $3.1 million at the box-office, unbelievably making more money than his star-making film "Heathers". Kieth Gordon (who plays the kid they "kidnap") started as an actor, but is largely recognized now as a director. Some of his films include the fantastic 1988 political drama "The Chocolate War" (with Wierd Science's Illan-Mitchell Smith) and 1991 military drama called "A Midnight Clear" (with Ethan Hawke). -Thanks to Janene_machineThe movie was originally rated R for language, but it was changed to PG-13 on appeal. Helen Slater is not related to Christian Slater (her real name is Helen Schlacter), just in case you wondered. -Thanks to Peter BaldingerKeith Gordon was also in John Carpenter's "Christine". -Thanks to NateThe C-101 dj's name was Matt "The Cat"! he was a real dj in Corpus Christi. -Thanks to Eric GarciaKeith Gordon (Lloyd, who gets kidnapped) also played in "Back to School" (1986) as Rodney Dangerfield's son, Jason Melon. -Thanks to TawnyaKathryn Childers, who played the news anchor, really was a TV news reporter for several years in Corpus Christi. In the movie they have several scenes where the radio is on C-101. That is a real radio station there, one of the oldest to Corpus, we still have it and the dj in the movie, was I believe, one of the real djs on that station at the time. -Thanks to April« Click here to add some Legend of Billie Jean trivia Rediscover your favorites! If you like The Legend of Billie Jean or 80's Drama / Historic classics, then be sure to check out this list: ..... Outsiders ..... Elephant Man ..... Rain Man ..... Drugstore Cowboy ..... Stand By Me ..... Wall Street ..... Mask ..... Amadeus ..... Full Metal Jacket ..... Witness ..... Breakfast Club ..... Glory ..... Platoon ..... Scarface ..... Six Weeks ..... Urban Cowboy .....[More] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The mall chase scenes were actually filmed in Sunrise Mall, located at 5858 S Padre Dr. in Corpus Christi,Tx. Although the mall has lost some of its luster from the 1980's, with many empty business spaces, it is easily recognizable from the film. The waterfall/escalator,of course,is still there and one gets a very 80's nostalgic sensation when looking at it. Even after not having seen the film in years, it is the quickest "attraction" to find. There was even a Kay-Bee toy store with, yup, walkie talkies right near the store's entrance. [Thanks to Rafael Orduna] However, neither of the malls in Corpus have ajoining parking garages. The downtown Bank of America has this skyway that joins the parking garage to its building. When Billie Jean is running away from the cops at the mall, she turns a corner and suddenly the set looks all office-like. This is the skyway. Then she runs into the garage to join the others and they shove a dumpster against the door. There's a big "2" painted on the wall to indicate the level. This is the Bank of America's parking garage, clear on the other side of town from the mall. You can even see a bit of the sign when they drive out of the garage. Incidentally, they don't keep dumpsters in that parking garage. There's no way a garbage truck would be ablt to fit in there and empty it. The beach scene was actually at Bob Hall Pier (which is still there), not too far from Corpus Christi on South Padre Island. It was filmed in November 1984. The end scene with the large likeness of Billie Jean that burns was filmed in the parking lot of Dockside Surf Shop (still there). Dockside doubled as the store in which the father was shot. The distance between the two locations is about 10-15 miles, which makes it one heck of a run. I remember that the fire scene at the end was filmed at around 1 am or so. The miniature golf course where they hid out was created for the movie and was located on the North Beach side of the Harbor Bridge. The scene where the kids purchase their groceries and pay for their gas was at a Diamond Shamrock on the road (freeway?) between Corpus Christi and Portland. [Thanks to Steve Holsonback] The chase scene in which the truck overturns on the side of the freeway was at the intersection of Carrol Lane and S.P.I.D.. The funny thing about this particular scene was when Billie Jean's car takes a right on to a side street off S.P.I.D. and then immediately is on a street in downtown Corpus, which is approximately 10 miles away. Also the Sonic in the movie is located in Flour Bluff, which is the eastern most part of Corpus near Padre Island. If you notice, back then it was on a two way road on the main street of Flour Bluff. It is now a major freeway which takes you to the Island. The movie made Corpus appear like a small Texas town, when in fact it's population at the time of the filming was 250,000 people. It is now a city of well over 300,000. [Thanks to Trey] The big house that the kids break into and eat is located on Ocean Drive and was still there until recently. [Thanks to April] Sadly, the house where the kids meet Lloyd burned down recently killing a prominent doctor, his wife and son. Only their ten year old daughter escaped. The house did not have a swimming pool. That was shot at a different location [Thanks to F Cavazos] They also filmed a scene a few blocks from my house in Aransas Pass TX. It was the scene where Billy Jean rescues an abused girl from her dad. WE had a whole crowd of people walking down Lamont st in Aransas pass. Then the next scene in the film, they round a corner and get on an onramp for the crosstown expressway in corpus, 30 miles away. The abandoned miniature golf course was set in a place called "Magic Isles" which was an amusment park which had closed down a few years ago. [Thanks to Brian Mihelic] I was one of the gang members who take Binx's (Christen Slater) scooter. I am the guy who is wearing the Kami-Kazie headband driving the charger and the guy who falls into the foutain at the mall. Some factual information. The movie was actually filmed from late summer to winter. We shot the drive scene over a 3 month period with a lot of jump cuts. The scene starts out in the refinary district of Corpus as we set out after Billy Jean & Binx. The jump cuts include: The inter-coastal by-way between Padre Island and Flourbluff. Another jump cut was shot near Kingsville Texas. The lake scene where the scooter gets stolen was shot on privit property between Free Port and Corpus some where above Rockport, TX. I had my 15 mins of fame in the early to mid 80's as a character actor. Now I am a Vice President for a Communications Company. [Thanks to Rex Lee] Can you help? Do you know any of the Corpus Christi, Texas filming locations used for The Legend of Billie Jean? [Please send them in] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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There never was a soundtrack for this movie, but the movie's theme song, "Invincible," was another top 20 hit for Pat Benatar. The movie also includes Billy Idol's hit song "Rebel Yell." « Click here to add new music trivia for Legend of Billie Jean Soundtrack Available: Never On Any Format | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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