A rollicking, comic take on the revenge western, Cat Ballou stars Lee Marvin in dual role: as both the notorious criminal Tim Strawn, who murders a local rancher, and the drunken gunfighter Kid Shelleen hired to avenge the killing. His bigger-then-life performance(s) made him a million-dollar movie star and won him the Best Actor Academy Award. Jane Fonda co-stars as the titular Catherine “Cat” Ballou, a naïve but principled schoolmarm and daughter of the slain gunman who hires the raucous contract killer Shelleen. Nat King Cole also features as half the pair of guitar-strumming, singing narrators. It was his last film appearance, as he passed away from lung cancer before the film’s release.
