Billy Green Bush Movies
In films from 1971, Billy Green Bush has usually projected a good-ol'-boy image. Though there were the occasional villains in his TV and film manifest, Bush was most often seen as sheriffs and state troopers. His credits extend from such landmark 1970s efforts as Five Easy Pieces (1971) and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) to such 1990s potboilers as Friday the 13th Pt. IX: Jason Goes to Hell (1993). Bush has also twice essayed the role of Vernon Presley, first in the 1988 TV movie Elvis and Me, then in the short-lived weekly series Elvis (1990). Billy "Green" Bush is the father of twin actresses Lindsay Greenbush and Sidney Greenbush. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideGary Grimes stars in this revisionist western as Ben Mockridge, a 16-year-old boy who has long dreamed of living the life of a cowboy. Wanting adventure, he persuades Frank Culpepper (Billy Green Bush) to take him along on a cattle drive, and Ben learns the hard way just how lonesome, exhausting, and violent the life of a cowhand can be. As one of the men on the drive puts it, "Being a cowboy is what you do when you can't do anything else." Hal Needham, who would later direct a string of successful films starring Burt Reynolds, can be spotted in a small role as Burgess, one of the cowboys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Grimes, Billy Green Bush, (more)
In this drama, a Louisiana black man has brought his family to Los Angeles to fulfill his dream of opening his own bakery. For him, it was a great gamble as he had no credit, and little money. Still, he manages to get the bakery going. Unfortunately, the business is not able to sustain itself and the fellow is forced to close it down and take a sanitation job. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Billy Green Bush guest-stars as Cowboy, a wonder chopper pilot. When Henry (McLean Stevenson) refuses to ship Cowboy home, the outraged pilot threatens dire consequences. Before long, the 4077th is plagued by all manner of weird calamities, ranging from a runaway jeep to an exploding toilet. But the worst is saved for last, when Henry is obliged to take a helicopter ride with the combustible Cowboy. This episode originally aired on November 12, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The FBI beats the bushes for John Morgan (Billy Green Bush), a notorious bank robber. Morgan's success in the past has hinged on the fact that he is a "lone wolf", neither trusting nor relying upon anyone. But when Morgan falls in love with beautiful barmaid Laura Ann Millpark (Lane Bradbury), it is only a matter of time before he makes that proverbial One Wrong Move. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
This anti-war drama centers on four Vietnam veterans who are driving cross country to California. By the time they hit New Mexico, they are down to $69. They started out with over $9,000 between them. To get some quick cash, they rob a gas station. The irate owner begins shooting at them and they in turn show him that they are carrying a veritable ammunitions dump in their trunk. Donning their Green Beret uniforms, they get revenge upon the town and then begin waiting for the authorities to show up so they can have a showdown with them too. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Pursued by police and rival gangs, a motorcycle gang, headed by Waco (Robert Porter) takes refuge in a convent located in a remote region of the Arizona desert. They smuggle heroin in their motorcycles. They capture one policeman (Billy "Green" Bush) who was following them, taunt him and let him go. This treatment inspires a brutal relentlessness on the cop's part, which serves them poorly. When they are forced to leave the convent, they take a novice nun (Elizbeth "Tippy" Walker) with them as a hostage. By the end of the film, she has fallen in love with Waco, and chooses secular life over monastic life. This film features numerous picturesque sequences of desert motorcycle riding. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Police detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) returns to finds himself in hot water with the police over his acceptance of help from a neighborhood anti-drug group. The group has done some things which are far from textbook legal, such as stealing and destroying a large shipment of drugs. Though they pulled off their robbery without loss of life, a corpse is found at the scene of the heist. Tibbs, now suspended from the force, uses their help to string together clues which enable him to break up a large drug ring. This is the third movie made starring Poitier and based on John Bail's novels In The Heat of the Night and They Call Me Mister Tibbs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, (more)
Monte Walsh (Lee Marvin ) and his pal Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) are two over the hill cowboys seeking work in the town of Harmony, Arizona in the final days of the Old West. They take a job at the ranch of Cal Brennan (Jim Davis) and meet an old friend Shorty (Mitch Ryan). Monte goes off to visit old flame Martine (Jean Moreau), a saloon girl suffering from tuberculosis. The ranch closes and Chet marries Mary Eagle (Allyn Ann McLerie), a widow who owns a profitable hardware store. He tries to talk Monte in to giving up his cowboy life and settling down. He asks Martine to marry him, but she declines and cites her deteriorating health as the reason for her refusal. Monte goes on a drinking binge and rides a wild horse through town. He is indignant when a rodeo owner offers him a job. Monte states he would rather spit on himself that resort to such degrading work. Shorty is soon unemployed and guns down local lawman (LeRoy Johnson). Distraught after the death of his beloved Martine, Monte goes after Shorty when he guns down Chet. This film marks the directorial debut for cameraman William A. Fraker. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Marvin, Jeanne Moreau, (more)
A disaffected man seeks a sense of identity in one of the key films of Hollywood's 1970s New Wave. Once a promising pianist from a family of classical musicians, Bobby Eroica Dupea (Jack Nicholson, in his first major starring role) leads a blue-collar life as an oil rigger, living with needy waitress girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black) and bowling with their friends Elton (Billy "Green" Bush) and Stoney (Fannie Flagg). Feeling suffocated by responsibilities, Bobby seeks out his sister, Tita (Lois Smith), and, discovering that his father is gravely ill, he reluctantly heads back to the patrician family compound in Puget Sound with a pregnant Rayette in tow. After a road trip featuring a harangue from hitchhiker Palm (Helena Kallianiotes) about filth, and Bobby's ill-fated attempt to make a menu substitution in a diner, he tucks Rayette away in a motel before heading to the house. There Bobby seduces his uptight brother Carl's cultured fiancée, Catherine (Susan Anspach), but Rayette shows up unexpectedly. As Rayette's crassness collides with the snobbery of the Dupea circle, Bobby loses patience with both sides. After trying to reconcile with his mute father, Bobby departs, unwilling to give in to either destiny. Director Bob Rafelson and screenwriter Adrien Joyce (aka Carole Eastman) used the creative control afforded by the low budget to craft a European-influenced character study, catching a cultural mood of anomie and resentment as it was embodied in Bobby. Neither older generation nor hippie, Bobby fits in nowhere, and his desire for independence conflicts with his emotional emptiness. Nicholson's nuanced performance of simmering frustration resonated with 1970 audiences caught between Nixon's "silent majority" and the troubled counterculture; a substantial hit, Five Easy Pieces was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and established Nicholson as a star. Offering no "easy" answers to Bobby's existential crisis, Five Easy Pieces is one of the pre-eminent films in the early-'70s cycle of alienated American art movies, as even the fantasy of rebellion is reduced to merely running away. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, (more)
Ben and his fellow cattlemen find themselves at the mercy of Chicago meat packer Emmett J. Whitney (Walter Barnes). Having purchased the rights to all railroad cattle cars, the greedy Whitney refuses to allow anyone to use those cars unless they allow him to purchase their stock at the outrageously low price of three dollars per head. Enraged, Ben puts his fortune-and the Ponderosa-on the line to beat Whitney at his own game. The supporting cast includes Kathleen Freeman as Ma Brinker, James McCallion as Luther, Mark Tapscott as Steve Rance, Billy Green Bush as Spanier, and Arthur Peterson as Lloyd Walsh. Written by Joel Murcott, "Long Way to Ogden" was originally telecast on February 22, 1970. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
Adapted from William Faulkner's final novel, The Reivers top-bills Steve McQueen, but the major character is feisty 11-year-old Lucius McCaslin, played by Mitch Vogel. Growing up in Mississippi in the early 1900s, Lucius finds himself (through a hectic series of circumstances) in a bordello, where he is nearly killed trying to defend the "fast lady" (Sharon Farrell) who has befriended him. He has been brought to the house of ill repute by ne'er-do-well farm hand Boon Hoggenbeck (Steve McQueen), with whom he has been tooling about the countryside in a vintage automobile, together with his very distant African-American relative Ned (Rupert Crosse). This adventure segues into the next, as the three man combine their resources to train a broken-down racehorse. Meanwhile, Vogel's grandfather (Will Geer), who owns the fancy automobile that the "reivers" hope to win back, threatens to reappear at any moment to tan Lucius's bottom. Not exactly as wholesome as a Disney film, The Reivers is nonetheless acceptable family entertainment, with Steve McQueen delivering one of his best and most laid-back performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, (more)
Hoping to land a hot scoop that will increase his prestigate as a reporter, Tim (Bill Bixby) uses the CCTBS time machine to solve the robbery of the famous Beaudelaire jewels. Instead, Tim is forced to help the jewel robbers--and ends up in jail for his troubles. Martin (Ray Walston) goes undercover as a convict to save Tim and expose the real crooks, who were allegedly behind bars when the heist took place. Look for a young Billy Green Bush (here billed as "William") as a bank guard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide



















