BELLE STAR
US, 1980, 96 minutes, Colour.
Elizabeth Montgomery, Cliff Potts, Michael Cavanaugh, Jesse Vint, Fred Ward, Alan Vint, Geoffrey Lewis.
Directed by John A. Alonzo.
Belle Star is another look at the outlaw who rode with the James Brothers and the Daltons and was the lover of Cole Younger. She has appeared in many westerns, most noticeably in the form of Gene Tierney in the 1941 film Belle Starr. At that time there were many films about the Jameses and the Youngers. In the late '70s there was a reworking of a study of this group by writer/director Walter Hill: a realistic look at these outlaws and their situation, with a touch of the ballad. Perhaps it was a look at the legend in more realistic terms. This is the tone of this telemovie. It was photographed by John A. Alonzo, who had made his directing debut with F.M. (1978).
Elizabeth Montgomery has strength as Belle Starr. The outlaws, led by Cliff Potts as Cole Younger, do not stand out as individuals. Much more is made of Belle Starr's husband, the Indian Sam, her son Ed Reid who informs against her, and her daughter Pearl whom she cherished. The film shows the American west, the life of the outlaws, explains something of their comradeship and sense of integrity as outlaws, practising what they preach. It also shows something of the double standards of American society who persecuted the outlaws, but for the wrong reasons, self-righteous Puritanism.
1. The western tradition? On the big screen? Television screen? Entertainment value? Conventions and expectations? Glimpses of the American heritage?
2. The impact of the film as a telemovie: response of the home audience, interruptions for concentration? A low scale western? Relative importance of action, characters, themes?
3. Belle Starr and the tradition of the 19th century outlaws? The James gang, the Younger brothers? Films about Belle Starr in the past? Audience expectations? The western locations, towns? Trains and robberies? The gangs? Heroes and villains? The codes of the west? Law and justice? Violence? The viewpoint of the screenplay on Belle Starr and the gangs?
4. Elizabeth Montgomery's presence and performance as Belle? As an ordinary woman of the west, her background, good and evil? The reactions of the townspeople and their wanting to be rid of her? Judgmental attitudes? Her relationship with Sam and the nature of her marriage? The relationship with Reld, with Cole Younger? Her honesty as regards this arrangement, to Sam? Her taking Ed for granted and making him work? Her inability to show great affection? Her love for Pearl and her pride in her? Her gestures towards Ed but her alienating him? Her inability to take Pearl with her when moving? Her reaction to the minister and the delegation from the town? Her activities with the Jameses and the Youngers? The gang burning her house down? Her moving? The shop owner and the memories of the past? The warning of the Marshal? The gang coming to visit her with the goods stolen from the minister's house? Their decision to rob the cattle yards? Her death? Portrait of a woman of the west? Caught up in the social conditions of the times? The exhilaration of the outlaws? How telling a character study?
5. Ed and his relationship with his mother, being taken for granted, work? His gestures towards Belle and her inability to respond? Her letting him go? His betraying her? (And the reaction of the shop owner etc.?) Pearl and her being looked after in the town, her being trained to be someone? Her love for her mother but her not wanting to go with her? Her response to Cole as her father? Her not hearing the gunshots and playing the piano during the robbery?
6. Sam and his relationship with Belle, unobtrusive presence? Leaving? The discussion with Ed about staying with Belle, about courage?
7. Cole and the glamour of the gangs, his friendship with the Jameses, with the Daltons? Reputation? Love for Belle, for Pearl? Seeing him in action?
8. The western towns? The establishing of law and order? The minister and his double standards in his proposition to Belle? His leading the night raiders? His sermon on poverty and the irony of his being robbed? The standards of the folk of the west and their judgmental attitudes towards Belle? The shop owner, the marshal?
9. Themes of law and order, the codes of the west, the American heritage, the mythology of heroes and heroines?
