Cat Ballou (1965)

As far as Western spoofs go, Cat Ballou is neither as goofy as 1953's Red Garters nor is it as raunchy as 1974's Blazing Saddles. In fact, it's surprisingly middle of the road. Which is odd since it's the movie Lee Marvin won an Academy Award for.

In 1894, Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda) is on the way back to her father's ranch in Wolf City, Wyoming. On the train she meets a drunken phony preacher named Jed (Dwayne Hickman) and his cattle rustler nephew Clay Boone (Michael Callan). She inadvertently aids them in escaping from the Sheriff, thus beginning her slide into becoming notorious outlaw Cat Ballou.

When she gets back to the ranch, she's shocked to find it falling apart. The Wolf City Development Corporation, led by Sir Harry Percival (Reginald Denny), wants the water rights to the ranch and are willing to do anything to obtain them.  Percival is planning to build a slaughterhouse, which will create jobs in town theoretically. The WCDC even goes so far as to hire killer Tim Strawn (Marvin with a silly metal nose and even sillier mustache) to terrorize Cat's father. Cat tries turning to the rustlers for help, but neither one of them are gunmen. Cat then tries to hire notorious gunman Kid Shelleen (Marvin again), only to find that he's a drunk who can't even hit a barn. When Strawn kills her father and the town won't do anything about it, Cat swears vengeance, robbing a train and ultimately killing Sir Harry.

That the movie has a good cast is not in doubt. Certainly Marvin is fun enough in the dual role. Oddly, though, this is neither his best western--that would be The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--nor his best movie (The Dirty Dozen). He's somewhat amusing but never quite as funny as you think he should be.

That seems to be the problem with the movie in a nutshell. Fonda, in the days before people hated her for her politics, never looked lovelier and  is sincere as Cat, but only afforded a few really funny moments. Those moments are fairly early in the movie and mostly involve her interactions with the two rustlers. Callan and Hickman are probably the two funniest characters and even they aren't as good as they should be. They're best material is in the train at the beginning.

In fact, the movie only really shines when the Greek chorus of Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye show up to sing about the movie's proceedings. This was Cole's last screen appearance. He was already dying of cancer and passed away a few months before the movie was released. But their lyrics are the most amusing material the movie has to offer.

Part of the real problem is the fact that the movie, unlike Red Garter and Blazing Saddles, never fully embraces the lunacy of the cliches it's spoofing. It almost takes them too matter of fact, missing the obvious joke. Sure, there are way worse Western spoofs out there, but sadly this could and should have been much more than it was, making it a missed opportunity.