Western Movie Review of Cat Ballou : She Ain't No Sweet Lady

by Maria
(New York, NY)

A funny movie? YOU BET IT IS...!

While I’m not a big western movies fan, perhaps not many women are, Cat Ballou was entertaining and a refreshing change from all these testosterone-ridden Westerns.


Cat Ballou is a western from 1965 starring the lovely Jane Fonda, the not-so-lovely (but talented) Lee Marvin in a dual role, Tom Nardini and Micheal Callan. It was directed by Elliot Silverstein and the screenplay adapted by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson from the original novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor.


The plot of this western comedy movie Cat Ballou basically goes something like this: Catherine Ballou (Fonda) starts as a sweet, innocent, young girl just out of school and eventually turns into a ruthless train robber and murderer. It’s definitely simplistic by today’s standard but it does reflect movie-making standards from that era.


The murder of Cat’s father, Frank Ballou, by Tim Strawn a hired gun who dons a prosthetic silver nose , is the catalyst for the butterfly (or black widow spider, depending on how you look at it) to come out of its cocoon. The transformation is rather quick – her father’s not even buried in the ground and she’s already planning revenge on those responsible for her father’s death, i.e. the entire Wolf City. She heads off to Hole-in-the-Wall, where she plots her revenge by staging a train robbery to steal all of Wolf City’s payroll money. The robbery goes off without a hitch, though it does have its hilarious moments. It is near the end, when she murders Sir Harry Percival (who we realize is the man who’s bath is constantly interrupted during the bank robbing scene) that she is caught and put into jail. Is this the end of Cat Ballou’s outlaw days or will her band of misfits be able to rescue her? Well, you’ll have to find that out for yourself..


While the performances from Fonda and Callan are not exactly stellar, Lee Marvin certainly deserved his Oscar for his role as Kid Shelleen. You can’t mention of this movie without thinking the iconic picture of Shelleen leaning by a wall on top of his horse, with its legs crossed. Marvin OWNED that role – from the time he hops out of that suitcase until he comes to our fair maiden’s rescue. A can’t miss moment is when he suits up for the first time – you know he means business and you can just feel the excitement. This man is going to do SOMETHING. His turn as his own brother, the heartless outlaw Strawn is so vastly different that you won’t even know that he’s being played by the same actor. His performance is believable – nothing personal, just doing his job. The final encounter between the brothers could have been more exciting, but was probably cut short because the movie is about Cat, not these two gunfighters.


Notable in a smaller, supporting role is Tom Nardini as Jackson Two-Bear, Frank Ballou’s hired hand, and later on, Cat’s right hand. Though his screen time is limited, he provides comfort to Cat and his practical nature is a balance to all the craziness on screen.


Of course, you couldn’t talk about this movie without mentioning the two "shouters" – Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye who breaks the fourth wall and lets us know what’s going on through their catchy song. Though on screen for a limited mount of time, you can see how much fun these guys are having. It was such a tragedy though that Cole never got to see the movie’s release, as he passed away months before the opening.


While probably not the greatest western comedy movie in the world, Cat Ballou is certainly a good break from all the seriousness of other classic western movies. May be that's the reason Cat Ballou is on AFI's Top 10 Westerns!!