Cat Ballou
Directed by Elliot Silverstein
Walter Newman and Frank Pierson from a novel by Roy Chanslor
1965/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Harold Hecht Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Cat: Some gang! An Indian ranch hand, a drunken gunfighter, a sex maniac, and an uncle![/box]
Not as funny as when I saw it as a kid but it still has its moments, most of them provided by Lee Marvin.
Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) has just graduated from teacher college and is returning home to her father’s ranch. On the train, she meets up with outlaw Clay Boone (Michael Cullen) and his uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman). It is love at first sight for Clay and Cat and the two men become her allies. When she gets home, she finds that her father (John Marley) is being threatened and intimidated by evil land developers. Eventually, he is gunned down by black-hatted gunslinger Strawn (Lee Marvin).
The friends decide that the best way to fight fire is with fire and hire a gunslinger of their own. Unfortunately, Kid Sheleen (also Marvin), despite his reputation is a terrible drunk who can’t shoot straight without a nip or three. Cat decides to get back at the land developers by robbing trains carrying their payroll. Things proceed along until Cat has a noose around her neck which is where we started the movie. With Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole providing kind of a Greek chorus through verses of “The Ballad of Cat Ballou”.
Now a lot of this seems sort of silly but it is amusing and a pleasant way to spend an afternoon,
Lee Marvin won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Cat Ballou was nominated in the categories of Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Song (“The Ballad of Cat Ballou); Best Music, Scoring, Adaptation or Treatment.
