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: You won't make me cry. You'll never make me cry!


[after a drunken Kid Sheleen shoots at a target on the barn]
Clay Boone: He did it! He missed the barn!


Frankie Ballou: [coming home from a drunken brawl] ... and some of them, the very few, Stay pickled 'til they're ninety-twoooo!
[literally falls off the wagon]


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Facts about

Like several other Columbia releases of the 1960s (i.e., Bye Bye Birdie, Strait-Jacket), this film includes a spoof of the studio logo, in this case with the Torch Lady doffing her robes in animation and turning into a cartoon cowgirl.
Ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Western" in June 2008.
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
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Best Actor Oscar 1965






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Also directed by Elliot Silverstein




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Also produced by Harold Hecht




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Also released in 1965




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