We learn from some singing narrators (Nat "King" Cole and Stubby Kaye) that Catherine "Cat" Ballou (Jane Fonda) is in jail and about to be hanged. Most of the film is an extended backstory telling us how she got there. The backstory starts with Ballou headed back home to Wolf City, Wyoming. It seems that her father, Frankie (John Marley), is having problems with the city, which wants to take over the water rights on his land, and which is prepared to do anything necessary to get it. On the way, Ballou meets and enlists the aid of two crooks, Clay Boone (Michael Callan) and Jed (Dwayne Hickman). Even with the additional aid of Frankie's ranch-hand, Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini), they're not enough, so she also sends for famed gunfighter Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin).
Cat Ballou is a good example of comedy in the classic literary sense. "Comedy" doesn't mean "a work that is funny", just like "horror" doesn't mean "a work that is scary". Genre terms do not imply particular emotions. Rather, they're about content and how content is handled. So comedies need not make you laugh, as this one did not make me laugh very frequently, even though some other people found it very funny. That might be one key to enjoying the film, especially for younger or newer audiences--do not watch it expecting to laugh until you cry, or even necessarily laugh at all.
Cat Ballou is worth watching, but it's not excellent, at least not until Marvin makes his appearance, and that doesn't occur until about 40 minutes into the film. If Cat Ballou were primarily Marvin's performance, it would be at least a 9. The other material is at best a 6, and dominates enough to bring my overall score down to a 7 out of 10.
The problem, for me, is that the other performances are just "serviceable". To an extent, most of the actors do not seem to know what to do with the material. The story is much more serious than you'd expect--the same plot could be lifted wholesale and put into a non-comedy western. It wouldn't likely be a very good serious western, though, as the plot is also formulaic and uninspired. None of the characters, with the exception of Ballou, are established very well, and I never really cared what happened to any of them. On the other hand, as a comedy, that might not be so important, and the comic approach somewhat saves the otherwise generic story.
Director Elliot Silverstein's pacing tends to be off, and even after Marvin appears, the film occasionally seems to drag. This is one of those films that's just barely over 90 minutes, but it seems like it's three hours long. That's not always a bad thing (I like long films), but in a lighthearted satire, it may not be the best quality.
Cole and Kaye are promising when we first see them, but the intermittent songs tend to go on too long, and most of them are the same song with different lyrics. I enjoyed them quite a bit at first, but after I while, my reaction to them was more, "Oy, now the film is going to stop for five minutes while they sing over and over about plot points that we've just been shown".
However, as I mentioned above, Marvin's performance is excellent (the discussion about whether he should have won the Oscar he did for this role is inconsequential to me--I strongly dislike the Oscars, never watch them (I dislike awards shows in general), and think that they routinely acknowledge poor films and ignore good ones; I have no respect for the Academy). He is amusing as an alcoholic gunfighter. I wanted to know more about his character, to follow him instead of Ballou. He brought depth to the role, easily implying a character with a complex backstory. The scene where we're introduced to Shelleen is easily the best in the film. The only really captivating scene where Shelleen is not the primary focus is the extended scene on the train.
Again, Cat Ballou is worth watching, but lower your expectations and have patience. It gets better once Marvin shows up.
Cat Ballou is a good example of comedy in the classic literary sense. "Comedy" doesn't mean "a work that is funny", just like "horror" doesn't mean "a work that is scary". Genre terms do not imply particular emotions. Rather, they're about content and how content is handled. So comedies need not make you laugh, as this one did not make me laugh very frequently, even though some other people found it very funny. That might be one key to enjoying the film, especially for younger or newer audiences--do not watch it expecting to laugh until you cry, or even necessarily laugh at all.
Cat Ballou is worth watching, but it's not excellent, at least not until Marvin makes his appearance, and that doesn't occur until about 40 minutes into the film. If Cat Ballou were primarily Marvin's performance, it would be at least a 9. The other material is at best a 6, and dominates enough to bring my overall score down to a 7 out of 10.
The problem, for me, is that the other performances are just "serviceable". To an extent, most of the actors do not seem to know what to do with the material. The story is much more serious than you'd expect--the same plot could be lifted wholesale and put into a non-comedy western. It wouldn't likely be a very good serious western, though, as the plot is also formulaic and uninspired. None of the characters, with the exception of Ballou, are established very well, and I never really cared what happened to any of them. On the other hand, as a comedy, that might not be so important, and the comic approach somewhat saves the otherwise generic story.
Director Elliot Silverstein's pacing tends to be off, and even after Marvin appears, the film occasionally seems to drag. This is one of those films that's just barely over 90 minutes, but it seems like it's three hours long. That's not always a bad thing (I like long films), but in a lighthearted satire, it may not be the best quality.
Cole and Kaye are promising when we first see them, but the intermittent songs tend to go on too long, and most of them are the same song with different lyrics. I enjoyed them quite a bit at first, but after I while, my reaction to them was more, "Oy, now the film is going to stop for five minutes while they sing over and over about plot points that we've just been shown".
However, as I mentioned above, Marvin's performance is excellent (the discussion about whether he should have won the Oscar he did for this role is inconsequential to me--I strongly dislike the Oscars, never watch them (I dislike awards shows in general), and think that they routinely acknowledge poor films and ignore good ones; I have no respect for the Academy). He is amusing as an alcoholic gunfighter. I wanted to know more about his character, to follow him instead of Ballou. He brought depth to the role, easily implying a character with a complex backstory. The scene where we're introduced to Shelleen is easily the best in the film. The only really captivating scene where Shelleen is not the primary focus is the extended scene on the train.
Again, Cat Ballou is worth watching, but lower your expectations and have patience. It gets better once Marvin shows up.