This musical spoof of Westerns featured
Lee Marvin in dual roles that won him a Best Actor Oscar.
Jane Fonda stars as the title character, a prim schoolmarm returning to her hometown of Wolf City, Wyoming, after receiving an Eastern education. On the train ride, Cat meets up with a pair of friendly, charming crooks, Clay Boone (
Michael Callan) and his uncle, Jed (
Dwayne Hickman), the former becoming hopelessly smitten with the naive but tough Cat. Upon arriving home, Cat discovers that her eccentric father, Frankie (
John Marley), is being threatened with bodily harm by a development company that desperately wants his land. When Frankie is murdered by ruthless, noseless killer Tim Strawn (Marvin), Cat straps on a pair of six-shooters and persuades Clay, Jed, and her father's loyal Native American hand Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini) to sign on as her posse. In her quest for revenge, Cat also recruits Kid Shelleen (also played by Marvin), a one-time fearsome gunslinger who's now a hopeless alcoholic. Cat Ballou (1965) is interspersed throughout the narrative with appearances by
Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as a pair of balladeers who comment on the action musically in Greek chorus style. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide