Cat Ballou
| Cat Ballou | |
|---|---|
theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Elliot Silverstein |
| Produced by | Harold Hecht |
| Written by |
Walter Newman Frank Pierson |
| Based on |
The Ballad of Cat Ballou (novel) by Roy Chanslor |
| Starring |
Jane Fonda Lee Marvin Michael Callan Dwayne Hickman Nat King Cole Stubby Kaye |
| Music by |
Frank De Vol (score) Mack David (songs) Jerry Livingston (songs) |
| Cinematography | Jack A. Marta |
| Edited by | Charles Nelson |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
|
Release date
|
June 24, 1965 (US) |
|
Running time
|
97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $20,666,667 |
Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy Western musical film starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual role. The story involves a woman who hires a notorious gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, but finds that the gunman is not what she expected. The supporting cast features 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 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 darker elements. The film references many classic Western films, notably Shane.
Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda), who wants to be a schoolteacher, is returning home by train to Wolf City, Wyoming, to the ranch of her father, Frankie Ballou (John Marley). On the way, she unwittingly helps accused cattle rustler Clay Boone (Michael Callan) elude his captor, Sheriff Maledon (Bruce Cabot), when Boone's Uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman), a drunkard disguised as a preacher, distracts the lawman.
At the ranch, she learns that the Wolf City Development Corporation is scheming to take the ranch from her father, whose sole defender is his ranch hand, an educated Native American, Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini). Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Catherine, and she hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin) to help protect her father from gunslinger Tim Strawn (also played by Lee Marvin), the hired killer who is threatening him.
...
Wikipedia