Not Your Ordinary Western

---

---

"They're trying to drive him off his ranch. They put manure in his well. They made him talk to lawyers ..."

Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda)

---

By 1965, the western genre had become stale and predictable. It needed something to spice it up.

Twenty–seven–year–old Jane Fonda provided it as Catherine "Cat" Ballou, a young woman from Wyoming who had been educated in the East and was returning to her father's ranch. All sorts of things happened from that point on, including the appearance of Lee Marvin, who stole the show with his dual role (which won an Oscar).

But it was Fonda who played the title character, and it was the kind of character that hadn't really been explored in the movies up to that time, particularly not in the context of the Old West — a strong, independent female.

Some people think Fonda's performance in "Cat Ballou" was her breakthrough performance; some people don't. I do, even though she got good reviews for her work in 1962's "Period of Adjustment."

I guess what made "Cat Ballou" special was the fact that Fonda succeeded almost in spite of herself. As I understand it, the folks who were making the movie wanted Ann–Margret to play the role of Cat Ballou, but apparently her manager declined on her behalf (she has since suggested that she would have taken the role) so it was offered to Fonda.

Fonda wasn't going to take it. She didn't want to do another comedy. She was looking for dramatic roles that would establish her as a legitimate actress, but her fiance, Roger Vadim, talked her into it. I guess he saw something in the script that Fonda didn't see.

---

---

The movie was based on a serious story; it was adapted to be a comedy, and that paid off handsomely. Walter Newman and Frank Pierson were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars but lost to Robert Bolt for "Doctor Zhivago."

The movie did win an Oscar for Best Actor — Marvin pulled off the relatively rare accomplishment of winning the award for a performance in a comedy.

Not that he didn't deserve it. He certainly did — although I am sure there were those who were shocked that he beat the likes of Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier and Rod Steiger by playing a gunfighter who had deteriorated into a drunk and his evil twin. (Steiger was regarded as the front–runner, and I am told that he was halfway out of his seat when Marvin's name was announced as the winner.)

---

---

"Cat Ballou," it is safe to say, was the inspiration for spoofs to come, like "Blazing Saddles." You could see it from the beginning, when Columbia Pictures' "torch lady" became a cartoon Cat Ballou with pistols in both hands that she fired into the air.

Oh, there was another nice touch that needs to be mentioned. Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye sang "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" like a couple of country troubadours regularly punctuating scenes in the movie to round out the tale.

A Sex Romp in Space

---

---

"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming."

Barbarella (Jane Fonda)

---

"Barbarella" is an example of a movie that isn't particularly well received when it is at the theaters, but it gradually gains acceptance after it completes its theatrical rounds and emerges as a cult favorite.

Modern movie fans may only know Jane Fonda as the 75–year–old woman she is today. But 45 years ago, "Hanoi Jane," as she was known for her political activities, was young and beautiful — and her director/husband, Roger Vadim, cast her as the lead in his space–age, pseudo–science fiction (and relatively soft porn) movie.

Almost everything in "Barbarella" — which premiered on this day in 1968 — was said or done with one's tongue pressed tightly against one's cheek.

And, to be honest, it was an amusing little flick. I doubt that I would want or need to see it a second time — and, since I first saw it many years ago, I haven't wanted or needed to see it again. But I think it is worth seeing once — if only to catch a glimpse of what people in 1968 thought was funny (or, perhaps, what people in those days thought other people thought was funny).

That wasn't the only thing viewers could glimpse. "Barbarella" was also an excuse to see Fonda in various stages of undress floating in weightless environments.

---

---

There was actually a plot — kinda sorta. It was a flimsy one, really more of an intergalactic "Wizard of Oz" with Fonda playing a kind of 41st–century psychedelic version of Dorothy.

But instead of obsessing about yellow brick roads, ruby slippers and the Emerald City, Barbarella obsessed about sex.

Now, young people do tend to obsess about sex. But "Barbarella" threw in a new — and, in its way, prophetic — wrinkle. Barbarella was accustomed to a kind of virtual sex. Actual physical sex with another person was an experience she had never had.

Discerning viewers observed that an absence of physical sex would make it problematic to conceive — except that this was, of course, the 41st century. I don't think the issue of conception was ever addressed, but I suppose it could be assumed that science had found other ways to achieve that.

---

Barbarella: Make love? But no one's done that for hundreds of centuries!

---

I don't know if it was intended to be as farcical as it turned out to be. As I say, the plot was a bit contrived. Well, more than a bit. See, Barbarella was sent to find a missing scientist named Durand Durand. It was while she was on this mission that Barbarella discovered physical sex.

That was about it. The rest was filler.

The movie may be more noteworthy for inspiring the name of a popular 1980s band (after slightly changing the spelling of the scientist's name).

I'm pretty sure Vadim and the film's backers didn't expect it to tank at the box office the way it did — and it would have taken remarkable psychic abilities to foresee how "Barbarella" would become a cult classic.

Yet that is precisely what happened.

Who knew?