A Recent Film That I Have Seen

  Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy/western film which tells the story of a woman who hires a famous gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, but finds that the man she hires is not what she expected.

  Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda), an aspiring schoolteacher, is traveling by train to Wolf City, Wyoming, to visit her rancher father. En route she unwittingly helps accused cattle rustler Clay Boone elude his captor, the sheriff , when Boone's Uncle Jed, a drunkard disguised as a preacher, distracts the lawman. She reaches the ranch to find that the Wolf City Development Corporation is trying to take the ranch away from her father, whose only defender is an educated Indian, Jackson Two-Bears. Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Catherine. She also hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin) to come and help protect her father from fast-drawing Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin, too), alias Silvernose, the hired killer who is threatening Frankie.



  Shelleen arrives, a drunken stumblebum who is literally unable to hit the broad side of a barn when he shoots and whose pants fall down when he draws his gun. Strawn kills Frankie, and when the townspeople refuse to bring him to justice, Catherine becomes a revenge-seeking outlaw known as Cat Ballou. She and her four gang members rob a train carrying the Wolf City payroll, and Shelleen, inspired by his love for Cat (unrequited because she loves Clay), shapes up and kills Strawn. Later he casually reveals that Strawn was his brother.

  Cat poses as a lady of loose morals and confronts town boss Sir Harry Percival, owner of the Wolf City Development Corporation. A struggle ensues, Sir Harry is killed, and Cat is sentenced to be hanged on the gallows. Just after the noose is placed around her neck, Uncle Jed (again as a fake preacher) cuts the rope as she falls through the trapdoor. Her gang then spirits her away in a daring rescue.

  You can have a look at the trailer here:

If you have seen the movie and/or read the above presentation, can you do the quiz below?

Questions that the film asks:

- Can a man with many flaws to have a big heart?
- It's worth risking your life to justice?
- Can people, regardless of race, to be real friends?

What do you think?