Cat Ballou

Plot

Catherine "Cat" Ballou, a notorious outlaw, is set to be executed in the small town of Wolf City, Wyoming. Two banjo and guitar playing "Shouters", Professor Sam the Shade and the Sunrise Kid, sing the ballad of Cat Ballou and regale the audience with the tale of how she began her career of crime.

Some months prior, Catherine, then an aspiring schoolteacher, is returning home by train to Wolf City from finishing school. On the way, she unwittingly helps accused cattle rustler Clay Boone elude his captor, Sheriff Maledon, when Boone's Uncle Jed, disguised as a preacher, distracts the lawman.

Arriving home at her father Frankie Ballou's ranch, Catherine learns that the Wolf City Development Corporation is scheming to take his ranch. Frankie's sole defender is his ranch hand, educated Native American Jackson Two-Bears. Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Catherine. She hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen to help protect her father from gunslinger Tim Strawn, the tin-nosed hired killer who is threatening him.

Shelleen arrives and proves to be a drunken bum who is a crack shot only when he is inebriated. His presence proves to be useless, as Strawn abruptly kills Frankie. When the townspeople refuse to bring Strawn to justice, Catherine becomes a revenge-seeking outlaw, known as Cat Ballou. She and her gang rob a train carrying the Wolf City payroll, then take refuge in the desperado hideout "Hole-in-the-Wall". Shelleen is shocked to discover the legendary outlaw Cassidy is, now, a humble saloonkeeper in Hole-in-the-Wall.

The gang is thrown out when it is learned what they have done, due to Hole-in-the-Wall's continued existence being dependent on the sufferance of Wolf City. Strawn arrives and threatens Cat. Shelleen, motivated by his affection for Cat, works himself into shape. Dressed up in his finest gunfighter outfit, he goes into town and kills Strawn, then reveals he is Strawn's brother.

Cat poses as a prostitute and confronts Sir Harry Percival, the head of the Wolf City Development Corporation. She attempts to force him into confessing that he ordered her father's murder. A struggle ensues; Sir Harry is killed, and Cat is sentenced to be hanged. With Sir Harry dead, Wolf City's future is hopeless, and the townspeople have no mercy for Cat. As the noose is placed around her neck, Uncle Jed, again disguised as a preacher, appears and cuts the rope just as the trapdoor opens. Cat safely falls through and onto a wagon, and her gang spirits her away in a daring rescue.

Cast

• Jane Fonda as Cat Ballou
• Lee Marvin as Shelleen and Strawn
• Michael Callan as Clay Boone
• Dwayne Hickman as Jed
• Nat King Cole as one of the shouters
• Stubby Kaye as one of the shouters
• Tom Nardini as Jackson Two-Bears
• John Marley as Frankie Ballou
• Reginald Denny as Sir Harry Percival
• Jay C. Flippen as Sheriff Cardigan
• Arthur Hunnicutt as Butch Cassidy
• Bruce Cabot as Sheriff Maledon
• Burt Mustin as the accuser
• Paul Gilbert as Train Messenger

Production

Cat Ballou was director Elliot Silverstein's second feature film, with the pressure of filming leading to some quarrels with the producer Harold Hecht, although the film was ultimately a box office success.

Ann-Margret was the first choice for the title role, but her manager turned it down without letting the actress know. Ann-Margret wrote in her autobiography that she would have taken the part. Among others, Kirk Douglas and Dick Van Dyke turned down the role of Shelleen. Michael Callan was under contract to Columbia.

The film was shot on location in Colorado, including parts of Canon City and Texas Creek, as well as the ghost towns of Rosita and Buckskin Joe. It was also filmed around the Tunnel Drive Trail and the Wet Mountain Valley.

Nat King Cole was ill with lung cancer during the filming of Cat Ballou. A chain smoker, Cole died four months before the film was released.

Jay C. Flippen suffered a circulatory failure during filming and, as a result, later had his leg amputated, due to gangrene.

Reception

Box office

Cat Ballou earned over $20.6million in North America, making it the 7th highest-grossing film of 1965.

Critical response

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "a breezy little film" which "does have flashes of good satiric wit. But, under Elliott Silverstein's direction, it is mostly just juvenile lampoon." Variety wrote that the film "emerges middlingly successful, sparked by an amusing way-out approach and some sparkling performances." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post praised the film as a "springy satire", adding, "What makes this fun is the style. Forming a mighty cool duo, Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye sing their way in and out of the plot with folk songs which Cole 'Don't Fence Me In' Porter would have relished. The format is novel and stylishly delivered." Pauline Kael in Film Quarterly called it "lumpen, coy, and obvious, a self-consciously cute movie," adding that "mainly it is full of sort-of-funny and trying-to-be-funny ideas and a movie is not just ideas." Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "I'm in the minority, apparently. Cat Ballou, which is being hailed as a cowboy Tom Jones or something of the sort, seems to me about as funny as a soundtrack burp." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "The jokes in Cat Ballou are uneven, but the mood behind the film is happily consistent."

Awards and nominations

In his Academy Award acceptance speech, Lee Marvin concluded by saying: "I think, though, that half of this belongs to a horse somewhere out in San Fernando Valley", a reference to the horse Kid Shelleen rode, which appeared to be as drunk as Shelleen was.

American Film Institute

• 1998: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated
• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #50
• 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
  • Tim Strawn – Nominated Villain
• 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" – Nominated
• 2007: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
• 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:
  • #10 Western Film

Television pilots

Two separate television pilots were filmed. A 1970 pilot, written and produced by Aaron Ruben, featured Lesley Ann Warren as Cat, Jack Elam as Kid Shelleen and Tom Nardini repeating his role, while a 1971 pilot starred Jo Ann Harris as Cat, Forrest Tucker as Kid Shelleen and Lee J. Casey as Jackson Two-Bears.

In popular culture

• Cat Ballou is the favorite film of comedy directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly, as stated in The AFI 100 Years, 100 Laughs television special. The Balladeers from their film, There's Something About Mary, are inspired by similar characters in Cat Ballou.
• Imagery from the hanging scene of Jane Fonda was spoofed advocating her execution for treason, following her 1972 visit to Hanoi. A brief test shot from that scene was used as part of Alex DeLarge's sadistic reverie in the movie A Clockwork Orange.
• "Cat Ballou" is a card in the Spaghetti Western board game Bang!
• In a 2014 interview on NPR, actor Bryan Cranston called Cat Ballou the "movie that had the most impact" on him when he was growing up.
• Part of the opening animation of the Columbia logo featuring Jane Fonda was incorporated in the beginning of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).
• In episode 69 of the popular fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale, Cecil Palmer mentions that he watched this movie with his boyfriend Carlos the Scientist repeatedly. Later episodes confirm that Cecil is a fan of the film, and episode 192, "It Doesn't Hold Up" features Cecil discussing the film.

Notes

References

References

1. "Cat Ballou - Details". [[American Film Institute]].
2. "Cat Ballou, Box Office Information". The Numbers.
3. Cole, Georgelle. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110921222215/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4484/Cat-Ballou/#articles-reviews "Cat Ballou"] on [[TCM.com]]
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110921222215/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4484/Cat-Ballou/#credits "Music"] on [[TCM.com]]
5. Watters, Jim. (March 24, 1975). "Ann-Margret's Juicy Role".
6. Passafiume, Andrea. "Cat Ballou (1965)". [[Turner Classic Movies#TCM Movie Database (2006–2019).
7. (December 14, 2023). "Dick van Dyke Reveals Iconic Hollywood Roles He Passed on".
8. Vagg, Stephen. (6 April 2025). "Not Quite Movie Stars: Michael Callan".
9. "Custer, Fremont Counties Selected for Film Locale". ''Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph''. September 5, 1964. p. 22.
10. {{AFI film. 23121
11. Crowther, Bosley. (June 25, 1965). "The Screen: 'Cat Ballou'". [[The New York Times]].
12. (May 12, 1965). "Cat Ballou". [[Variety (magazine).
13. Coe, Richard L.. (June 24, 1965). "'Cat Ballou' Is Zingy Spoof". [[The Washington Post]].
14. Kael, Pauline. (Fall 1965). "Cat Ballou". [[Film Quarterly]].
15. Scheuer, Philip K. (June 19, 1965). "Why the Hullabaloo About 'Cat Ballou?'" ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. p. 19.
16. (September 1965). "Cat Ballou". [[The Monthly Film Bulletin]].
17. "The 38th Academy Awards (1966) Nominees and Winners". [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]].
18. "Berlinale 1965: Prize Winners". berlinale.de.
19. "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1966". [[BAFTA]].
20. "18th DGA Awards". [[Directors Guild of America Awards]].
21. "Cat Ballou". [[Golden Globe Foundation]].
22. "1965 Award Winners". [[National Board of Review]].
23. "1965 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". [[New York Film Critics Circle]].
24. "Awards Winners". [[Writers Guild of America Awards]].
25. [[Robert Osborne. Osborne, Robert]]. Outro to [[Turner Classic Movies]] presentation of ''Cat Ballou'' (May 14, 2011)
26. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees".
27. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs". [[American Film Institute]].
28. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains Nominees".
29. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees".
30. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees (10th Anniversary Edition)".
31. "AFI's 10 Top 10: Top 10 Western". [[American Film Institute]].
32. Goldberg, Lee. (1991). "Unsold Television Pilots: 1955-1990". [[Citadel Press]].
33. [[Terry Gross. link. (2017-10-21 [[NPR]] (March 27, 2014))
34. (December 31, 2018). "The Trippy Columbia Logo Art in "Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse"".