# Cat Ballou

Cat Ballou is a 1965 American western comedy film starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin, who won an Academy Award for or 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, only to find that the gunman is not what she expected. The supporting cast features Tom Nardini, Michael Callan, Dwayne Hickman, and Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye, who together perform the film's theme song, and who appear throughout the film in the form of travelling minstrels or troubadours as a kind of musical Greek chorus and framing device.
The film was directed by Elliot Silverstein from a screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson adapted from the 1956 novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor, who also wrote the novel filmed as Johnny Guitar. Chanslor's novel was a serious Western, and though it was turned into a comedy for the film, the filmmakers retained some darker elements. The film references many classic Western films, notably Shane. The film was selected by the American Film Institute as the 10th greatest Western of all time in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008.

## 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.
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 $20.6 million in North America, making it the 7th highest-grossing film of 1965.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 31 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
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

| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Actor | Lee Marvin | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Walter Newman and Frank Pierson | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Film Editing | Charles Nelson | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Score | Frank De Vol | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Song | "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David | Nominated |
| Berlin International Film Festival | Golden Bear | Elliot Silverstein | Nominated |
| Berlin International Film Festival | Best Actor | Lee Marvin | Won |
| Berlin International Film Festival | Special Mention | Walter Newman and Frank Pierson | Won |
| Berlin International Film Festival | Youth Film Award – Honorable Mention | Elliot Silverstein | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Foreign Actor | Lee Marvin | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Jane Fonda | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | Tom Nardini | Nominated |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | Elliot Silverstein | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Lee Marvin | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Jane Fonda | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Original Song – Motion Picture | "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Most Promising Newcomer – Male | Tom Nardini | Nominated |
| Laurel Awards | Top Comedy | Top Comedy | Won |
| Laurel Awards | Top Male Comedy Performance | Lee Marvin | Nominated |
| Laurel Awards | Top Female Comedy Performance | Jane Fonda | Won |
| Laurel Awards | Top Song | "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" Music by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack David | Nominated |
| National Board of Review Awards | Best Actor | Lee Marvin (also for Ship of Fools) | Won |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Lee Marvin | Nominated |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Written American Comedy | Walter Newman and Frank Pierson | Nominated |
In his Oscar 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 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.