Cat Ballou

After a hired gunman (Lee Marvin) kills her father, a young woman (Jane Fonda) hires the gunman’s drunken twin (Lee Marvin) to seek revenge.

Cat Ballou is an odd bird. It’s a musical western satire carried along almost entirely by the charisma and talent of the cast.

With Nat ‘King’ Cole singing the ultra-catchy theme song (you’ll be humming it long after the credits role), Jane Fonda, who couldn’t be more charming, and finally Lee Marvin in his Oscar winning dual-role, Cat Ballou has talent to spare.

Combine that talent with a lean 97-minute script and a director capable of balancing music, comedy, action, and drama and you’ve got a pretty unique film. While the hodgepodge of genres can be off-putting at first, director Elliot Silverstein finds a way to make them gel.

Granted, not every gag works, but when all’s said and done, the film hits more often than it misses. Cat Ballou is the kind of movie that will no doubt get better on repeat viewings, when the plot becomes secondary to the performances.