Cat Ballou

The performances are good all around, each character with well-played and memorable funny bits. Jane Fonda plays it straight and serious next to the inept-ness of so-called outlaws Dwayne Hickman and Michael Callan and the over-the-top Lee Marvin (in a dual role as the Kid Sheleen, the drunken hero, and Tim Strawn, the bad guy with an artificial nosepiece). Marvin and the horse steal the show!

This movie is a lot of fun - pure entertainment - and the DVD people at Columbia/Tri-Star did a really good job putting together some extras. The audio commentary with Hickman and Callan itself is fun to listen to while watching the movie on repeat; it's very informative and even laugh-out-loud funny at times. The featurette with the director provides some good info on the movie, and the original trailer and vintage advertising (movie posters, etc.) is nostalgic.

The picture and sound quality is excellent; the visuals are clear and colorful, no noticeable scratches...the sound is very clear for being monaural. One side of the disc has the widescreen (definitive) version; the other side has the formatted version, which is also worth a look as it contains some extra information at the top and bottom of the screen on the scenes that were soft-matted.

I love this movie - it's nice to see that the DVD people took some interest enough to put together the special features on an almost 40-year-old film. Keep up the good work!


Lee Marvin at his best   August 22, 2004
Fred Camfield (Vicksburg, MS USA)
25 out of 26 found this review helpful

The late Lee Marvin was a very versatile actor, as demonstrated in this motion picture. He much deserved the academy award for his dual role, playing both the alcoholic gunman, Kid Shelleen, and the evil gunman who is his opponent. He said later that it was a fun role that did not take much of his time.

The story is set during the time of the railroad robber barons. They acquired needed right-of-ways by whatever means. When Cat's father is killed by the railroad's hired gun, she hires Kid Shelleen, sight unseen, and has to get him into shape. They dispense their own form of justice, but the law is on the side of the railroad. The motion picture has many memorable scenes that will stick in your memory.

Lee Marvin's performance made this a classic motion picture. Jane Fonda plays Cat, but without Lee it might have been a so-so film.


Worth seeing, if only for Lee Marvin's performance!   April 13, 2002
Linda Linguvic (New York City)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

This 1965 spoof of westerns was a big hit back then. It's the story of Katherine Ballou, nicknamed "Cat" and played by Jane Fonda, who comes home to her small Wyoming town after studying to be a schoolmarm. However, because her father refuses to sell his land to the speculators, he is brutally murdered. She goes gunning for revenge. But this is a comedy and it's all very lighthearted, especially since there are constant musical narratives by Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole. Lee Marvin won an academy award for his excellent portrayal of two aging outlaw gunmen and he's great. It's worth seeing, just to see his performance as he's a master not just of facial expressions, but also of total body language. Jane Fonda looks pretty as the sweet-young-thing turned outlaw. And there's enough love interest and comical episodes to keep the story moving. There's a train-robbing incident that is quite funny. And, of course, there's a happy ending.

I'm not much for comedies and so that fact that I was willing to spend the 96 minutes watching it all the way through says a lot for it. Recommended for light entertainment.


One of the Classics   April 14, 2004
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is truly one of the funniest (and funnest)western spoofs ever made. Lee Marvin is at his best, and Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye will leave you singing "Cat Baloooooo" to yourself for weeks. As an editorial aside, reviewers who have rated this flick down based on Jane Fonda's appearance in it are asses. I didn't think much of John Wayne's politics, but I sure enjoyed his movies.


Great, as long as you don't take Westerns too seriously   April 27, 2001
Allen Smalling (Chicago, IL United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

The amiable yet surprisingly fast-paced "Cat Ballou" is the grandma of later western spoofs like "Shanghai Noon," and it has worn remarkably well. In the opening, young Cat(herine) Ballou is returning to the West to be a teacher after her education Back East. Through no fault of her own, she gets tangled up on the train with two outlaws, a good-looking but decidedly narcissistic type (Michael Callan) and his somewhat dimwitted uncle (Dwayne Hickman).

Cat decides to visit her father's ranch first and is shocked to see that the ranch well has been befouled by manure and there is a price on her father's head, all because he refuses to sell the land to a British holding company. Before too long her father is killed, and she engages the help of a girlhood hero, Kid Sheleen (Lee Marvin) for revenge. Sheleen turns out to be less than the heroic type, but ultimately Cat's bitterness and the young men's propensity toward crime turn them all into an outlaw gang.

Expect gentle ribbing of such Western-movie staples as the black-clad assassin, the barroom brawl, the bawdy house, the train robbery, the righteous preacher-man, the corrupt sheriff, and the pompous capitalist. The more you know about Westerns the funnier this spoof is, yet if you take your Westerns TOO seriously this might seem a little. . . well . . . sacriligeous. Jane Fonda is absolutely beautiful in this 36-year-old film, as are the outdoor settings. A crisp and fun film to own.