- published: 21 Apr 2016
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Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy/Western film which tells the story of a woman who hires a famous gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, but finds that the man she hires is not what she expected. The movie stars Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, who won an Oscar for his dual role, Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman, and singers Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye, who together perform the movie's theme song.
The film was directed by Elliot Silverstein from a screenplay adapted by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson from the novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor. Chanslor's novel was a serious Western, and though it was turned into a comedy for the movie, the filmmakers retained some of the story's darker elements. The film references many classic Western films, most notably Shane.
Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda), an aspiring schoolteacher, is traveling by train to Wolf City, Wyoming, to visit her rancher father, Frankie Ballou (John Marley). En route she unwittingly helps accused cattle rustler Clay Boone (Michael Callan) elude his captor, the sheriff (Bruce Cabot), when Boone's Uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman), a drunkard disguised as a preacher, distracts the lawman. She reaches the ranch to find that the Wolf City Development Corporation is trying to take the ranch away from her father, whose only defender is an educated Indian, Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini). Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Catherine. She also hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin) to come and help protect her father from fast-drawing Tim Strawn (also Marvin), alias Silvernose, the hired killer who is threatening Frankie.
Actors: Toshirô Mifune (actor), Jack Palance (actor), Ernest Borgnine (actor), Charles Bronson (actor), Chuck Norris (actor), Jim Brown (actor), Richard Burton (actor), Nat 'King' Cole (actor), Glenn Ford (actor), Robert Forster (actor), John Cassavetes (actor), Gary Merrill (actor), Lee Marvin (actor), Lee Marvin (actor), Jack Palance (actor),
Genres: Biography, Documentary,Actors: William Callaway (actor), Harry Morgan (actor), Jay Silverheels (actor), Forrest Tucker (actor), William Blinn (writer), James Luisi (actor), Jo Ann Harris (actress), Jon Epstein (producer), Bob Claver (producer), Bob Claver (director), Bryan Montgomery (actor), Lee Joe Casey (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Western,Actors: Jack Elam (actor), Lesley Ann Warren (actress), Jerry Paris (director), Bo Hopkins (actor), Laurie Main (actor), Aaron Ruben (producer), Aaron Ruben (writer), Harry Ackerman (producer), Russ Dodson (actor), Joel Higgins (actor), Tom Nardini (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Western,Actors: Lee Marvin (actor), Burt Mustin (actor), John Marley (actor), Reginald Denny (actor), Charles Horvath (actor), Bruce Cabot (actor), Jack Lilley (actor), George DeNormand (actor), Jay C. Flippen (actor), Noble 'Kid' Chissel (actor), Nat 'King' Cole (actor), Herman Hack (actor), Arthur Hunnicutt (actor), Harry Harvey (actor), Chuck Roberson (actor),
Plot: Cat(herine) Ballou's family farm is being threatened by the Rail Road. She sends for Kid Shelleen, finding him to be the drunkest gunfighter in the west. When her father is killed by the rail road magnate's gunman, she vowes to fight on. Shelleen manages to ride sideways in several scenes, while minstrels sing the ballad of Cat Ballou in between scenes.
Keywords: 1890s, 19th-century, afi, altered-version-of-studio-logo, animal-in-title, artificial-nose, based-on-novel, bathtub, character-name-in-title, corset