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Cat Ballou
The 1965 western comedy Cat Ballou remains the entertaining movie classic it is thanks to a clever story and a pair of charismatic performances from its stars.
Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda) is a timid schoolteacher who returns home to protect her father (John Marley) when she learns that a legendary gunfighter named Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) has been threatening to kill him. Cat enlists the aid of another gunfighter named Kid Shelleen (also Marvin) to help protect her father, but Shelleen turns out to be a drunken bum who hasn't shot a gun in years and when he fails in his mission to protect Mr. Ballou, it is the springboard for a war between Cat and a greedy land developer named Sir Henry Percival (Reginald Denny) who she believes hired Strawn to kill her father.
Cat finds allies in a drunken but well-intentioned Shelleen, a pair of shady young outlaws with prices on their heads (Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman), and an intelligent young Indian named Jackson Two Bear (Tom Nardini).
This comedy remains fresh and funny after over half a century thanks to a well-structured screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson that somehow tells a classic western good guys/bad guys story but presents a surprisingly contemporary heroine at the center of the proceedings. The majority of the male characters in this story spend a good deal of time drooling over the title character, but this lady has no time for romance and is interested in nothing but her mission of getting Strawn and Sir Harry. Cat never uses sex as a weapon and only uses her feminine wiles in her final confrontation with Sir Harry. I also loved that the character of Jackson Two Bear is the smartest male character in the story.
Lee Marvin commands the screen in his dual role as Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn, two characters so alike and yet so different that you almost forget they are being played by the same actor. Despite the farcical nature of the story, Marvin plays both roles with a straight-faced sincerity that earned him the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor of 1965. As she always does, Fonda brings an extra layer of intelligence and strength to the title character that really isn't in the screenplay. Fonda is enchanting in what was probably her first really significant role and commands the screen like a veteran. Callan and Nardini are terrific and I loved Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as the Balladeers narrating the story. Rowdy western fun from start to finish.
The 1965 western comedy Cat Ballou remains the entertaining movie classic it is thanks to a clever story and a pair of charismatic performances from its stars.
Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda) is a timid schoolteacher who returns home to protect her father (John Marley) when she learns that a legendary gunfighter named Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) has been threatening to kill him. Cat enlists the aid of another gunfighter named Kid Shelleen (also Marvin) to help protect her father, but Shelleen turns out to be a drunken bum who hasn't shot a gun in years and when he fails in his mission to protect Mr. Ballou, it is the springboard for a war between Cat and a greedy land developer named Sir Henry Percival (Reginald Denny) who she believes hired Strawn to kill her father.
Cat finds allies in a drunken but well-intentioned Shelleen, a pair of shady young outlaws with prices on their heads (Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman), and an intelligent young Indian named Jackson Two Bear (Tom Nardini).
This comedy remains fresh and funny after over half a century thanks to a well-structured screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson that somehow tells a classic western good guys/bad guys story but presents a surprisingly contemporary heroine at the center of the proceedings. The majority of the male characters in this story spend a good deal of time drooling over the title character, but this lady has no time for romance and is interested in nothing but her mission of getting Strawn and Sir Harry. Cat never uses sex as a weapon and only uses her feminine wiles in her final confrontation with Sir Harry. I also loved that the character of Jackson Two Bear is the smartest male character in the story.
Lee Marvin commands the screen in his dual role as Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn, two characters so alike and yet so different that you almost forget they are being played by the same actor. Despite the farcical nature of the story, Marvin plays both roles with a straight-faced sincerity that earned him the Oscar for Outstanding Lead Actor of 1965. As she always does, Fonda brings an extra layer of intelligence and strength to the title character that really isn't in the screenplay. Fonda is enchanting in what was probably her first really significant role and commands the screen like a veteran. Callan and Nardini are terrific and I loved Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as the Balladeers narrating the story. Rowdy western fun from start to finish.