Life With Billy is a 1994 Canadian made-for-television drama film.
Set in the province of Nova Scotia in the 1970s, the film explores the story of real-life Jane Hurshman Corkum (January 25, 1949 – February 22, 1992), a battered woman relentlessly abused by her common-law husband William "Billy" Stafford. Jane murdered Billy in 1982 by shooting him while he slept. Life With Billy reveals the traumas that she endured over her lengthy partnership with Billy, including Billy's abuse of their children.
Life With Billy won 3 Gemini Awards. It was based on the book of the same title, as well as the sequel book Life After Billy, both written by Brian Vallée. The film starred Nancy Beatty, Stephen McHattie, Deb Allen, Glenn Wadman, Matthew Ferguson, Joadi Newcomb, Nancy Marshall, Tony Quinn and Richard Donat. It was filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This film provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Billy also targets his and Jane's preschooler-aged son Darren as well as her teenage son Allan Whynot (from a previous relationship) for explosive displays of wrath.
- Asshole Victim: Billy.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Jane reveals in court that Billy, having a fetish for it, would take their pet German shepherd dog and walk Jane around naked on all fours with the dog's leash on, before then forcing the German shepherd to have sex with Jane, who refused at first but was beaten if she didn't do it, thus leading to her being raped by the animal multiple times for Billy's amusement.
- Big Bad: Billy Stafford. If you think it's Jane from the film's intro, wait for it.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jane wins her court case, but is treated as a social pariah in Nova Scotia and, 10 years after Billy's death, Jane is found dead at the Halifax Waterfront in her car, presumably from suicide. Sadly, this was her fate in real-life, as well.
- Cop Hater: Billy, but he beats his wife and kids, so it figures.
- Domestic Abuse: The film's plot revolves around this.
- Driven to Suicide: Allan Whynot appears to be readying himself to jump off the nearby bridge until Jane stops him, because Billy quitting his job (hosting a retirement party meanwhile) will give the man more time at home to terrorize the other family members.
- Dysfunction Junction: Pretty much every character in the film.
- Fan Disservice: Even setting aside the fact that Billy is abusive, the times where he and Jane do have sex are never attractive in any way whatsoever:
- Their first time having sex, Jane realizes that Billy snuck her into a stranger's boat to do it, lying to her that the boat was his.
- After they move in together, Billy makes a point of not allowing Jane to use birth control despite the fact that her last pregnancy was a bad one that almost killed her.
- Jane describes sex with Billy as nothing short of horrific, stating that he wanted to do it "back-ass, like dogs" and describing how, to make anal sex less painful, Billy greased a PVC pipe with Vaseline, shoved the pipe "up my bum" and forced her to keep the pipe inserted for weeks on end. The pipe was several inches in diameter.
- Jane tells the court about how Billy would force a pet dog to rape her multiple times while walking her on the dog's leash naked around the room. Billy apparently had some... "interesting" fetishes.
- Fat Idiot: Mandy. Totally brushes off the abuse towards Jane, and then even has the nerve to lie in court, which makes it sound like Jane was just a psycho and not a battered woman.
- Gorn: Pretty heavy for a made-for-TV movie. They can get away with more of that in Canada, but a gunshot to the head shows not only blood, but also pink brain matter and skull fragments blown up all over the window next a wide-eyed, shaking Jane. This is just the intro scene, too.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Billy is prone to unpredictable acts of violent rage at next to no provocation. Just to name one example, he smacks Jane's elder son Allan Whynot onto the floor for eating potato skins on his dinner plate (because he thinks doing so is animal-like).
- Mama Bear: Jane attempts to intervene on her younger son's Darren behalf when Billy repeatedly assaults him, getting mistreated herself after that for her troubles.
- Monster Misogyny: Billy is the epitome of this; for example, after Jane has their infant son and returns home from the hospital, Billy observes her naked and remarks, "stretch marks, fat, big line (from the C-section) down your gut... what a hot mess you are." He also mocks her in front of her father-in-law at a bowling alley during her pregnancy, stating loudly that she "pisses on everything just like a dog!"
- Nice Guy: Ronnie Wamboldt aids Jane in the setup for killing Billy, mainly because he has watched Billy beat her for years and he feels sorry for her.
- Nightmare Fetishist: A man who batters his wife and also has a bestiality and anal sex fetish is a match made in Hell.
- Panty Thief: Billy accuses an RCMP Mountie of being a panty thief when the Mountie begins searching Jane's dresser drawers for poached meat. Billy also suggests that the Mountie is welcome to take a pair if he wants, to wear under his uniform.
- Police Are Useless: Two RCMP Mounties show up at Billy's trailer looking for poached deer meat. Billy mocks them relentlessly and calls them "pigs" until they leave. When one Mountie tells Billy to "grow up", he throws a wild fit and begins making threats and irrational statements. He also accuses one Mountie of wearing women's panties under his uniform.
- Trashy Trailer Home: Billy and Jane live in a group of rather unappealing trailers populated mostly by poor and working-class folks. The trashiness is averted at first, until we get to see the constant drinking, daytime-pyjama-wearing, Billy hopping home while drunkenly chanting the catchphrase of Speedy Gonzalez, among other things...
- Ungrateful Bastard: Jane purchases a bucket of fried chicken for Billy (noting it's something he likes). Instead of thanking her, he jumps to the conclusion that she bought the meal just to impress him, then follows up with his first onscreen act of domestic violence.
- Would Hit a Girl: Billy holds no restraint if someone seemingly crosses him, even if they're female. Jane is not the only victim, as two other female common law partners before him suffered (but eventually managed to escape) and he even violently throws neighbor Bernice out of the house (just for conversing with Jane about her situation).
