Cat Ballou Poster

Cat Ballou (1965)

Comedy | Western 
Rayting:   6.9/10 13.5K votes
Country: USA
Language: English
Release date: 24 June 1965

A young schoolteacher turns into an outlaw to avenge her murdered father.

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User Reviews

bkoganbing 2 April 2007

Cat Ballou's significance in film history is not the quality of the film itself, though it's a pretty funny piece of work. It's because it vaulted Lee Marvin up from the ranks of featured players and made him a star with an hysterical Oscar winning performance.

It's also the only time in film history that anyone won an Oscar for a dual role. Marvin is featured as deadly contract killer, Jack Strawn and as his alcoholic brother Kid Shelleen.

The brothers get into a range feud and opposite sides. An eastern conglomerate headed by Reginald Denny is putting the squeeze on John Marley right at the same time as his daughter Jane Fonda in the title role is coming back from eastern finishing school.

Marley and Fonda have a hired killer strong arming them, so at the suggestion of a curious gang of friends she's developed, Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman, and Tom Nardini, she goes and gets her own outlaw.

Of course the dueling Marvins do have it out and I think you can guess who won.

Sometimes it's easy to forget about some of the others in Cat Ballou because of Marvin's Oscar. Jane Fonda looks like she's having a great old time, satirizing certain themes that are sacred in Hollywood westerns. She plays her role as the budding Calamity Jane absolutely straight and lets the comedy fall around her.

One favorite I have from the film is Hollywood veteran Reginald Denny. In the old days he was usually a rival or best friend to various leading men in the Hollywood English colony. He looks like he's having one grand old time playing the rakish Harry Percival the chief villain of Cat Ballou.

The film is helped along with those singing narrations by Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye. At one time Cole and Kaye are in a bordello and he's both singing and playing the honky tonk piano. Since Cole's velvet syrupy singing is what most remember him for, it's good to remember that in the beginning Cole was a jazz pianist and his original records were with the Nat King Cole Trio as a pianist. His singing was something added and then took over his career. Cole was one of the great and most unique voices of the last century, he left us way too soon.

Four years later John Wayne won his Oscar for the boozy Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. What I would have loved to have seen is Wayne and Marvin playing their Oscar winning characters in a dual venture. That would have been a movie to remember.

As is the funny and touching Cat Ballou.

BikeBill 21 October 1999

Fmovies: Let's face facts -- Fonda was OK in this movie, but Lee Marvin was in his glory as over-the-hill gunslinger Kid Shelleen. Add to that his second role as as the noseless Tim Strawn. Toss in the matter-of-fact way the Kid reveals that he and Tim had been brothers.

And leave us not forget my favorite scene -- the "suiting up" of the Kid prior to the ultimate showdown. It's almost like the investiture of an ancient high priest, down to the acolyte-like functioning of Jackson Two-Bears (played to perfection by Tom Nardini). Absolutely no dialogue, and set, as I recall, to music reminiscent of the Spanish corridas.

If anyone draws up a list of Lee Marvin's best films, they'd have to be nuts to not put this in the top three. His "Best Actor" Oscar for this film was well-deserved.

And equally high marks to whomever did the stunt work for Marvin. The antics on horseback during the last scenes, with a "drunken" Kid Shelleen in the saddle, have to be seen to be believed.

By all means, see this movie. Be ready to cheer for the "bad guys" as they seek revenge against the "badder guys". But do NOT, under any circumstances, think for a minute that the movie as shown on TNT is complete. The last time they aired it, they actually CUT part of the above-mentioned dressing scene -- an unforgivable sin of omission, in my book. Rent (or buy) the video or DVD instead.

Hitchcoc 9 April 1999

I have always enjoyed the tour-de-force effort of Lee Marvin in this movie. There are a series of scenes that make it an utter delight. When the rear of the stagecoach is opened and the crumpled up gunslinger rolls out on the ground, we know it's going to be a tough ride. When they get him sobered up enough to show his skill and in a demonstration of shooting, he misses the barn. He and his horse leaning against a building, both of them apparently drunk. Kid's rendition of Happy Birthday at the funeral of Cat's father. The ongoing chorus of "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" with Stubby Kaye and Nat "King" Cole. The scene where Kid Schelleen is bathed and preened in preparation for the big showdown is a classic. It's so much fun from beginning to end. This is a feel-good movie which never needs to be taken seriously.

f-grogan 17 October 2003

Cat Ballou fmovies. Quite a number of reviews of Cat Ballou seem centered on the theme "It didn't make me laugh" or "Lee Marvin didn't deserve Best Actor". Okay, deal with it. My dad took the whole family to the opening of Cat Ballou in a big midwestern town back in the day. We all thought it was funny, we knew it was a comedy, however the audience was not roaring with riotous laughter. That is sometimes a good sign that you are watching a satire. There was plenty of silliness and slapstick as well, and some real wild west weirdness (the sterling silver nose that Kid Strawn wears, etc.) Funny how the opening song stayed with me from 1965 on, although I don't believe I have ever seen the film from the beginning since that first time.

It's a hangin' day in Wolf City Wyomin' Wolf City Wyomin' She killed a man it's tru-ue, And that's a why their hangin' Hangin' Cat Ballou,

This oddball flick seemed to really say something about our view of the western film, and I think that is the one of the points that helped it win some awards.

back2wsoc 26 January 2003

In the most lighthearted roles of their careers, Academy Award-winner Jane Fonda (Klute, Coming Home) and Lee Marvin (winner of the Best Actor Oscar for this performance) shine as the title character, a virtuous young schoolmarm who sets out to avenge the death of her father Frankie (played by John Marley), and as drunken sharpshooter Kid Shelleen, who agrees to help the young woman go after the killer(s). Along for the ride are Clay Boone (Michael Callan), a handsome young felon who is sheltered by Cat and falls in love with her; Jed (Dwayne Hickman), Clay's Bible-thumping uncle, and Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini, who is hilarious), the Ballou's hired hand who philosophically comments on the treatment of Native Americans. Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye are enjoyable as troubadours who sing the plot of the movie as it moves along. Fonda never looked more beautiful, Marvin is a hoot (as Shelleen and his twin brother, the silver-nosed Tim Strawn), and the screenplay (by Walter Newman, Frank R. Pierson and Roy Chanslor, from his novel) is remarkable. Memorable scenes include the opening train sequence, the brawl at the square dance, the showdown between Cat and Sir Percival (played by character actor Reginald Denny) and the conclusion at the gallows. Delightful from start to finish! ***1/2 out of ****

Marta 27 February 1999

One of the best modern westerns made that John Wayne wasn't in. Jane Fonda is great as the schoolmarm-turned-outlaw Cat Ballou. When she begins to seek vengeance against the railroad for her father's death, you believe she's really going to get them.

I don't have to say much about Lee Marvin's performance; it's perfect all the way. His dual role, where he plays Kid Shelleen and his evil brother, Tim Strawn, gives him the chance to really stretch his acting talents. When Marvin plays the drunken Shelleen, he's a comic delight. Even his horse looks drunk. When he plays Strawn, the screen sizzles. If you need a reason to see this movie, Lee Marvin should be the reason.

Michael Callan is fine as Jane Fonda's love interest, and Dwayne Hickman steals the scenes he's in as Callan's "uncle"; he's really good in this film. John Marley is pretty funny, also, and Cat's father; his views on the Indian nation are revolutionary, to say the least. Tom Nardini is wonderful as the hired hand who goes along on Cat's quest, none too willingly.

All in all, this is a tour-de-force of acting and writing. Sharp, witty, warm and action-packed, this is a film everyone should see at least once. I've seen it many times, and it's never lost its luster for me.

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