Cat Ballou Overview:

Cat Ballou (1965) was a Comedy - Musical Film directed by Elliot Silverstein and produced by Harold Hecht and Mitch Lindemann.

The film was based on the novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou: A Lusty, Picaresque Novel of Old Wyoming written by Roy Chanslor published in 1956.

Academy Awards 1965 --- Ceremony Number 38 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorLee MarvinWon
Best Film EditingCharles NelsonNominated
Best Music - ScoringDeVolNominated
Best Music - SongMusic by Jerry Livingston; Lyrics by Mack DavidNominated
Best WritingWalter Newman, Frank R. PiersonNominated
.

BlogHub Articles:

Cat Ballou (1965)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 31, 2022 From 4 Star Films

When the Columbia statue whips off her toga and comes out with western wear and six shooters, the movie’s intentions are made quite clear. And if that’s not enough Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye appear on the scene, decked out, strumming their banjos. They become the accompanying bards re... Read full article


Cat Ballou (1965)

By Beatrice on Aug 30, 2018 From Flickers in Time

Cat Ballou Directed by Elliot Silverstein Walter Newman and Frank Pierson from a novel by Roy Chanslor 1965/USA Columbia Pictures Corporation/Harold Hecht Productions Repeat viewing/Netflix rental Not as funny as when I saw it as a kid but it still has its moments, most of them provided by Lee Marvi... Read full article


Classic Films in Focus: CAT BALLOU (1965)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 7, 2014 From Virtual Virago

Director Elliot Silverstein’s 1965 Western comedy turned out to be an important moment in movie history, and not only because Cat Ballou became a box office hit and made Jane Fonda a star. It would provide Lee Marvin with the only Oscar of his exceptional career, and it would be the final scre... Read full article


Classic Films in Focus: CAT BALLOU (1965)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 7, 2014 From Virtual Virago

Director Elliot Silverstein’s 1965 Western comedy turned out to be an important moment in movie history, and not only because Cat Ballou became a box office hit and made Jane Fonda a star. It would provide Lee Marvin with the only Oscar of his exceptional career, and it would be the final scre... Read full article


Classic Films in Focus: CAT BALLOU (1965)

By Jennifer Garlen on Apr 7, 2014 From Virtual Virago

Director Elliot Silverstein’s 1965 Western comedy turned out to be an important moment in movie history, and not only because Cat Ballou became a box office hit and made Jane Fonda a star. It would provide Lee Marvin with the only Oscar of his exceptional career, and it would be the final scre... Read full article


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Quotes from

Cat: [Looks at Frankie Ballou, lying in coffin]
Cat: Why is he smiling like that? My father never smiled like that in his whole life?
Cat: [looks in coffin again, apalled]
Undertaker: Well, he's going to smile like that forever, now. Courtesy of the Wolf City Development Company.


Jackson Two-Bears: He's a murderer, a hired killer. His nose was bit off in a fight.
Frankie Ballou: If I was gonna be scared, I'd be scared of the fella who bit it off, not him!


Kid Sheleen: [to Cat] Oh, it was just swell! Just the way I figured it'd be.


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Facts about

Roy Chanslor's original novel was a serious western. The comedy elements were added for the film.
The painting in Sir Harry Percival's train carriage is not a Tintoretto. It is a Titian. The painting is a copy of Titian's "Sacred and Profane Love", painted c 1515. The original was purchased by Scipione Borghese in 1608 and is housed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome
At his acceptance of the Oscar, Lee Marvin opened by saying, "Half of this probably belongs to a horse out in the Valley somewhere".
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Also released in 1965




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