After watching this film on CMT recently, having not seen the film since I was a young man in the '70s, I was impressed by the fact that the filmmaker had definitely captured a time and an attitude prevalent in the South. Unfortnetely, we are still struggling against anti-gay sentiment in the USA (read ex-gay ministries and conversion therapy). We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go when it pertains to normal human sexuality. And the commentators that indignantly insist that Billy Joe was raped-- I suggest that they watch the whole film in it's entirety (thanks CMT for not cutting out the scene where Robby Benson--the Billy Joe character --admits to Bobby Lee that he willingly had sex with the man). A very sad and evocative film dealing with very real issues of homophobia, denial, hypocrisy and intolerance!