Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

"Cat Ballou" has been a movie I enjoyed most of my life. My parents took me to see this picture at least twice in the theaters. I laughed at it back in 1965, and it still maintains its share of laughs. Set in Wolf City, Wyoming, in 1894, "Cat Ballou" stars Jane Fonda as a school teacher turned outlaw in a crusade for justice. After graduating college, Cat finds herself getting some quick life lessons when she abets a cattle rustler named Clay Boone (Michael Callan), who's been arrested and is likely heading to his death for his crimes. With the help of Cat and his Uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman, TV's Dobie Gillis), Clay escapes his fate.

Upon her arrival in Wolf City, she discovers her rancher father, Frankie (John Marley, "The Godfather"), is in more serious trouble. He has just one ranch hand, Jackson Two Bears (Tom Nardini), left to help him. He has sold the horses he once raised himself. Someone has poisoned his well. A hired gun named Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin) is now putting pressure on him to leave. Frankie Ballou is standing in the way of the Wolf City Development Company, owned by a wealthy Englishman named Sir Harry Percival (Reginald Denny), who wants this deal done any way he can get it. Mr. Ballou's refusal to sell his water rights to Wolf City has made him an unpopular and marked man.

Cat, an avid reader of literature of all sorts, writes a letter to her favorite dime novel gunslinger, Kid Shelleen (also played by Marvin), enclosing payment for his services. He arrives in Wolf City, drunk and riding in the baggage compartment of the stagecoach that brought him. When drunk and conscious, though, he's still a sure shot. When Jed and Clay meet Jackson and the Ballous at a barn dance, they agree to help protect Frankie. All of this protection goes for naught, as Strawn, who has the ability to show up out of nowhere, kills Frankie. When Cat and the others follow Strawn back into the city, they discover that Sheriff Cardigan (Jay C. Flippen) and the other residents are vouching for Strawn, saying he's been with them all morning.

Vowing they'll never make her cry, Cat decides to get even with Wolf City. With Shelleen's help, Cat and her gang rob the Wolf City payroll train and make their way to Hole In The Wall, a neighboring town notorious for harboring fugitives. They're so hot, they can't even hide among the other criminals. Meanwhile, Clay, who fell in love with Cat at first sight, suggests they head for St. Louis.

The comic tone of "Cat Ballou" is set at the very beginning of the film, when the lady on the Columbia Pictures logo takes of her robe, revealing a cowgirl outfit and a pair of six-guns. Singing narration is provided by balladeers (credited as shouters) Nat "King" Cole (in his final film) and Stubby Kaye ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit"). Jed and Clay aren't exactly the most dangerous criminals, but they take pride in committing their crimes without shooting a gun. Marvin, in his Oscar-winning performances, has a ball as Strawn and Shelleen. Strawn is a parody of the sort of heavy role he played in so many films, complete with metal nose and ugly mustache. Shelleen is the hero who succeeds in spite of himself. His most memorable scene comes when he mistakes Frankie's wake for a birthday party. Fonda is the ideal straight man to all the antics, a woman in love with reading, ideas, and revenge. The movie is a little mean-spirited, but the film's most unpleasant moments come and go quickly. I suppose this was done as a way to remain faithful to the film's western elements.

Director Elliot Silverstein, whose career found him spending equal amounts of time directing TV and theatrical releases, found the right mix of western, musical, love story and comedy and made a delightful film. "Cat Ballou" also pokes fun at the concept of progress and the notion that might makes right. "Cat Ballou" is one woman's quest for justice, and the band of outlaws and misfits who come to her aid. It's not a classic western, by any means, but it's a great dose of old-fashioned fun.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12