I realized recently that for a generation of filmgoers, Jane Fonda is known as an eccentric old lady in her recent film roles. This is when she’s not remembered as Ted Turner’s ex-wife or someone from the Viet-Nam war era called “Hanoi Jane”. With Georgia Rule on the horizon, I’ve been seeing, or in some cases, re-seeing Fonda’s films from when she was one of the top stars in the Sixties and Seventies.

Cat Ballou is a comedy western that is still fun to watch. The film is dominated by Lee Marvin, who won an Oscar as the drunken gunfighter who’s hired by Fonda as part of her revenge for the murder of her father. Fonda basically plays it straight while Marvin and co-stars Michael Callan and Dwayne Hickman have all the fun. The film also features the unexpected, and winning, pairing of Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole as two travelling musicians who provide commentary on the action.

While Jane Fonda is primarily remembered for her serious films that won her two Academy Awards and additional nominations, she could also do comedy. Along with Barefoot in the Park which was Fonda’s first film with a relatively unknown Robert Redford, Cat Ballou shows Fonda in a light mode. And even if you’re not a fan of Jane Fonda, if you’ve never seen Cat Ballou, it’s worth it just for the scene of Lee Marvin and his drunken horse.

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