Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation undoubtedly produced their chick flick western "Belle Starr" to cash in on their success with their earlier outlaw biography "Jesse James" with Tyrone Power. Moreover, this biographical oater appropriates the post-Civil War South as its setting and uses both the 'Lost Cause' sentiments of old die-hard rebels and the evils of Reconstruction in the Missouri to shape its protagonist. Indeed, Fox appears to have cast the beautiful Gene Tierney as the eponymous heroine in her fourth role based on her striking resemblance to "Gone with the Wind" beauty Vivian Leigh. "Cisco Kid" director Irving Cummings and "Drums Along the Mohawk" scenarist Lamar Trotti play fast and loose with the truth about the title character. They use African-Americans as storytellers to frame their story. In fact, the film unfolds largely in flashback when a young black girl discovers a doll in the ruins of the Shirley Plantation. Her father declares that it must have belonged to Belle Shirley and the story picks up after the Civil War. Later, "Belle Starr" concludes with Belle's death and three African-Americans describe Belle as if she were a mythic supernatural entity that can shape-shift in to a red fox. Not surprisingly, "Belle Starr" concerns the legend rather than the life of this notorious dame outlaw. For example, she lived longer in real life than her cinematic counterpart, but she died in real life the way that she does in the movie version, getting shot from ambush by an assassin. Typically, Hollywood movies in conformity with the Production Code Administration had to punish film characters that strayed from the law by killing them at the end of the movie. In "Belle Starr," the heroine is riding hell-bent for leather to town to give herself up after she realizes the error of her way. Naturally, her death is pre-ordained.
30 Reviews
"I like doing fool things, don't you?"
classicsoncall18 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The movie opens with a young black girl finding a muddy doll in a cultivated path that her grandfather just furrowed in a family garden. When the grandfather relates that it might have belonged once to a legend named Belle Starr, he's asked to explain what a legend is. He states that it's 'the prettiest part of the truth'.
Unfortunately, the movie never even gets to any part of the truth regarding the life of Belle Starr, pretty or otherwise. The title of the film is apparently taken from a Richard K. Fox novel of the same name, a writer and publisher of the National Police Gazette, so right there one's sources are questionable. At least the principal players had credibility in other pictures, in this one they're doing the best they can under the circumstances. Gene Tierney in particular, portraying the title character, comes across as unusually sarcastic and whiny. That may not have been her own fault as the director obviously had some input into the role, but it had a negative effect on this viewer.
Utilizing piecemeal aspects of American Civil War history, the film introduced elements from the real life of Belle Starr, but that's about it. In reality Sam Starr was a Cherokee Indian and was actually Belle's second husband; they lived in Indian Territory and were eventually arrested by Bass Reeves for horse theft in 1883. Both served time, and oddly, Belle was a model prisoner for the nine months she served at the Detroit House of Corrections.
The picture did get a few things right; Belle Starr did ride sidesaddle and did marry Sam Starr (Randolph Scott). Two characters introduced in the story as the Cole Brothers (Joe Sawyer and Joe Downing) were obviously based on two members of the James-Younger Gang, brothers John and Jim Younger. That was established when it was mentioned they once rode with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War. The death of Belle Starr is also dealt with accurately, she was killed in an ambush in 1889, though her murder remains unsolved with various theories offered.
There are a handful of TV and movie Western treatments of Belle Starr, but the only other one I've seen is an episode from 1954's "Stories of the Century", it was actually the premier episode. That one presented Belle as a horse thief and all around bad girl, while Sam was a shiftless drinker and gambler, a lot closer to the truth than this movie suggests. In that story, Belle Starr is portrayed by Marie Windsor in a better considered casting decision.
Unfortunately, the movie never even gets to any part of the truth regarding the life of Belle Starr, pretty or otherwise. The title of the film is apparently taken from a Richard K. Fox novel of the same name, a writer and publisher of the National Police Gazette, so right there one's sources are questionable. At least the principal players had credibility in other pictures, in this one they're doing the best they can under the circumstances. Gene Tierney in particular, portraying the title character, comes across as unusually sarcastic and whiny. That may not have been her own fault as the director obviously had some input into the role, but it had a negative effect on this viewer.
Utilizing piecemeal aspects of American Civil War history, the film introduced elements from the real life of Belle Starr, but that's about it. In reality Sam Starr was a Cherokee Indian and was actually Belle's second husband; they lived in Indian Territory and were eventually arrested by Bass Reeves for horse theft in 1883. Both served time, and oddly, Belle was a model prisoner for the nine months she served at the Detroit House of Corrections.
The picture did get a few things right; Belle Starr did ride sidesaddle and did marry Sam Starr (Randolph Scott). Two characters introduced in the story as the Cole Brothers (Joe Sawyer and Joe Downing) were obviously based on two members of the James-Younger Gang, brothers John and Jim Younger. That was established when it was mentioned they once rode with Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War. The death of Belle Starr is also dealt with accurately, she was killed in an ambush in 1889, though her murder remains unsolved with various theories offered.
There are a handful of TV and movie Western treatments of Belle Starr, but the only other one I've seen is an episode from 1954's "Stories of the Century", it was actually the premier episode. That one presented Belle as a horse thief and all around bad girl, while Sam was a shiftless drinker and gambler, a lot closer to the truth than this movie suggests. In that story, Belle Starr is portrayed by Marie Windsor in a better considered casting decision.
Fiddle-Dee-Dee is what this Belle rings
bkoganbing3 January 2012
If anyone is expecting any true notes out of this film concerning Belle Starr they are in for a sad disappointment. One of the very few things that this film got right was that Belle Starr as befit a lady to the manor born rode side saddle. You wouldn't catch Calamity Jane doing that.
If you saw this film you would think that Belle's career ended a few years after the Civil War was over. In fact Belle's time on earth was 1848 to 1889 and in that period Belle Shirley married several times, the last being a Cherokee Indian named Sam Starr. No hint of that background in Randolph Scott, he plays the part as the real Randolph Scott was, a courtly southern gentleman from Virginia.
I don't know if Gene Tierney was in the Scarlett O'Hara sweepstakes, but in playing Belle Starr she does it in the fiddle-dee-dee tradition that Vivien Leigh did in Gone With The Wind. She's got all the men in the area ready to do and die for her and that includes Dana Andrews the Yankee major who is from Missouri also and has a real case of the hots for her. But Dana does his duty no matter how distasteful it is and Tierney's heart is only for Randolph Scott.
The real Belle was quite a bit more earthy a character and had a few children as well. One of them, a daughter became the madame of a brothel later in life. This film is entertaining with Tierney acting like Scarlett O'Hara and the plot lifted from that other Twentieth Century Fox classic about a Missouri outlaw, Jesse James.
Belle Starr will never make the top ten list of any of the cast members.
If you saw this film you would think that Belle's career ended a few years after the Civil War was over. In fact Belle's time on earth was 1848 to 1889 and in that period Belle Shirley married several times, the last being a Cherokee Indian named Sam Starr. No hint of that background in Randolph Scott, he plays the part as the real Randolph Scott was, a courtly southern gentleman from Virginia.
I don't know if Gene Tierney was in the Scarlett O'Hara sweepstakes, but in playing Belle Starr she does it in the fiddle-dee-dee tradition that Vivien Leigh did in Gone With The Wind. She's got all the men in the area ready to do and die for her and that includes Dana Andrews the Yankee major who is from Missouri also and has a real case of the hots for her. But Dana does his duty no matter how distasteful it is and Tierney's heart is only for Randolph Scott.
The real Belle was quite a bit more earthy a character and had a few children as well. One of them, a daughter became the madame of a brothel later in life. This film is entertaining with Tierney acting like Scarlett O'Hara and the plot lifted from that other Twentieth Century Fox classic about a Missouri outlaw, Jesse James.
Belle Starr will never make the top ten list of any of the cast members.
Good Western
mhrabovsky1-115 September 2004
How many westerns have there been about the life of Belle Starr? For that matter who knows that much about her real life? I remember seeing this film as a youngster and fell in love with it. I have always liked civil war films and 20th Cent. Fox put together a very good cast in the 1941 version. Gene Tierney plays the bandit queen very well, despite forcing herself to use a phony southern accent throughout the film. Randolp Scott is resplendent as captain Sam Starr, a renegade who rounds up bunch of confederate soldiers near the end of the civil war to stir up trouble in post war Missouri. Scott hates carpetbaggers and yankee soldiers in equal amounts and has no problem raiding banks and railroads for booty. Along the way he meets up with Belle Starr, who finds Scott very brave. Belle Starr is a fiery southern belle and when the yankees burn down her home because she is caught harboring Captain Starr, she joins forces with the rebels in her hatred against the transplanted Yankee forces sent to Missouri to clean out the "rebel rabble". An odd love twist forms when her childhood friend, Dana Andrews, a yankee captain, fights to conceal his true feelings for her and his hatred against Sam Starr and his rebel friends. Along the way Scott and Tierney become married and continue raiding and chasing out carpetbaggers out of Missouri. The twosome become a Missouri legend, much to the anger of the yankee forces trying to capture them. Jasper Tench, a town misfit and drunk, shoots and kills Belle Starr near the end of the film, sending Scott into surrendering to the yankee forces. Good scene at end when Scott surrenders to Andrews and both men nearly lose their composure in sadness over Belle's death. Belle's "mammy", played by Louise Beavers in a good supporting role adds a touch of warmth and comfort to Belle throughout the film.
Good performances by Chill Wills as a redneck southern soldier, and John Shepard who plays Belle's brother, Ed. You might get teary eyed at the end of this film. Excellent western.
Good performances by Chill Wills as a redneck southern soldier, and John Shepard who plays Belle's brother, Ed. You might get teary eyed at the end of this film. Excellent western.
Spunky Civil War Oater
aromatic-220 April 2001
Tierney does fine opposite an uninspired Randolph Scott as the fiery Belle Starr. Her scenes with Andrews have far more electricity and pick the film's pacing up midway through. A veteran supporting cast gives their all for the cause, or is that causes? The movie, of course, takes generous liberties with actual history, but that's part of the fun in this one.
Classic Western set in the Civil War and its aftermath in which a heroine joins a rebel leader
ma-cortes26 October 2022
Western freely based on a real heroine including noisy action , go riding , assaults, and crossfire . This is the legend of outlaw Belle Starr and how she became the West's most wanted - and desired woman . The career of Wild West outlaw Belle Star is chronicled in this vintage western about lawlessness and war . At the end of the Civil War, an embittered Southern belle joins forces with a Confederate guerrilla leader to raid Union towns.¨Belle Star¨1941 by Irving Cummings boasts a good cast with Gene Tierney , Randolph Scott , Dana Andrews ; this is the best rendition about Belle Starr's character in which the setting is the Civil War and its aftermath . Belle's family has lost their house and land to Yankees, then she marries Confederate guerilla leader Sam Starr and they continue activities against exploiters until she is shot riding to alert Sam to a trap , while Confederate guerrilla leader to raid an Union town . Belle Star is a female bandit with an itch to ride with other Western legends . She makes her way around the Old West , usually wearing male garb . This Southern belle joins forces with Southern captain commencing a long and troubled relation . Bandit Queen & Desperadoes Who Killed For Her!. Her Name Was A Proud, Fierce Challenge Flung Defiantly At The West! Into the Cimarron Badlands came a new west queen! The exciting loves and battles of America's first "Two-Gun" Woman!.First of the West's Flaming "Gun-Molls"! The Petticoat Terror of the Ozarks!.She Was a Wonderful Sweetheart...But a Terrible Enemy! Miss Gene Tierney flames to stardom as The Bandit Queen !. No woman was ever a more tender sweetheart...or a more relentless champion of right! A great new screen personality !..Bandit Queen of a Lawless era !
This classy film concerns this known heroine and her romance with Confederate Sam Starr/Randolph Scott . This is a highly romanticized retelling with thrills , feats , shootouts and little connection with history . Here Belle Star is decently played by Gene Tierney as a vulnerable and embittered woman who is on the receiving end of society's injustices . Trio starring : Randolph Scott as Sam Starr , Gene Tierney a Shirley/Belle Starr and Dana Andrews as Major Thomas Crail give acceptable interpretations , being well accompanied by regular Westerns secondaries as Chill Wills , Shepperd Strudwick as John Shepperd , Elizabeth Patterson and Louise Beavers. Being filmed in brilliant Technicolor in the "Jesse James" Country .The motion picture was well directed by Irving Cummings .
There are various adaptations based on this historical character : ¨Belle Starr's Daughter¨ (1948) by Lesley Selander with George Montgomery , Rod Cameron , Ruth Roman . ¨Belle Starr¨ (1980 TV Movie) by John A. Alonzo with Elizabeth Montgomery , Cliff Potts as Cole Younger , Michael Cavanaugh . And ¨Belle Star¨ 1968 with Elsa Martinelli, Robert Woods, George Eastman , the only Spaghetti Western ever shot by a woman, Lina Wertmüller , who directed competently and under pseudonym, Nathan Wich .
The film is freely based on Belle Star , the actual events are the following ones : Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr (February 5, 1848- February 3, 1889), better known as Belle Starr, was an American outlaw who gained national notoriety after her violent death. She was a known bandit who joined other outlaw legends, the James gang, the Youngers and the Dalton boys . She associated with the James-Younger Gang and other outlaws. She was convicted of horse theft in 1883. She was fatally shot in 1889 in a case that is still officially unsolved. Her story was popularized by Richard K. Fox - editor and publisher of the National Police Gazette - and she later became a popular character in television and films. Allegedly, Belle was briefly married for three weeks to Charles Younger, uncle of Cole Younger in 1878, but this is not substantiated by any evidence. There are numerous claims that Belle's daughter Pearl Reed was actually Pearl Younger, but in Cole Younger's autobiography (quoted in Glen Shirley's "Belle Starr and her times"), he discounted that as rubbish and stated what he knew truly of Belle. In 1880, she married a Cherokee man named Sam Starr and settled with the Starr family in the Indian Territory. There, she learned ways of organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law. Belle's illegal enterprises proved lucrative enough for her to employ bribery to free her colleagues from the law whenever they were caught .On February 3, 1889, two days before her 41st birthday, she was killed. She was riding home from a neighbor's house in Eufaula, Oklahoma when she was ambushed. After she fell off her horse, she was shot again to make sure she was dead. Her death resulted from shotgun wounds to the back and neck and in the shoulder and face. Legend says she was shot with her own double barrel shotgun, tohugh murder goes on unsolved. Although an obscure figure outside Texas throughout most of her life, Belle's story was picked up by the dime novel and National Police Gazette publisher Richard K. Fox, who made her name famous with his novel Bella Starr, the Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James, published in 1889 . This novel still is cited as a historical reference. It was the first of many popular stories that used her name.
This classy film concerns this known heroine and her romance with Confederate Sam Starr/Randolph Scott . This is a highly romanticized retelling with thrills , feats , shootouts and little connection with history . Here Belle Star is decently played by Gene Tierney as a vulnerable and embittered woman who is on the receiving end of society's injustices . Trio starring : Randolph Scott as Sam Starr , Gene Tierney a Shirley/Belle Starr and Dana Andrews as Major Thomas Crail give acceptable interpretations , being well accompanied by regular Westerns secondaries as Chill Wills , Shepperd Strudwick as John Shepperd , Elizabeth Patterson and Louise Beavers. Being filmed in brilliant Technicolor in the "Jesse James" Country .The motion picture was well directed by Irving Cummings .
There are various adaptations based on this historical character : ¨Belle Starr's Daughter¨ (1948) by Lesley Selander with George Montgomery , Rod Cameron , Ruth Roman . ¨Belle Starr¨ (1980 TV Movie) by John A. Alonzo with Elizabeth Montgomery , Cliff Potts as Cole Younger , Michael Cavanaugh . And ¨Belle Star¨ 1968 with Elsa Martinelli, Robert Woods, George Eastman , the only Spaghetti Western ever shot by a woman, Lina Wertmüller , who directed competently and under pseudonym, Nathan Wich .
The film is freely based on Belle Star , the actual events are the following ones : Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr (February 5, 1848- February 3, 1889), better known as Belle Starr, was an American outlaw who gained national notoriety after her violent death. She was a known bandit who joined other outlaw legends, the James gang, the Youngers and the Dalton boys . She associated with the James-Younger Gang and other outlaws. She was convicted of horse theft in 1883. She was fatally shot in 1889 in a case that is still officially unsolved. Her story was popularized by Richard K. Fox - editor and publisher of the National Police Gazette - and she later became a popular character in television and films. Allegedly, Belle was briefly married for three weeks to Charles Younger, uncle of Cole Younger in 1878, but this is not substantiated by any evidence. There are numerous claims that Belle's daughter Pearl Reed was actually Pearl Younger, but in Cole Younger's autobiography (quoted in Glen Shirley's "Belle Starr and her times"), he discounted that as rubbish and stated what he knew truly of Belle. In 1880, she married a Cherokee man named Sam Starr and settled with the Starr family in the Indian Territory. There, she learned ways of organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law. Belle's illegal enterprises proved lucrative enough for her to employ bribery to free her colleagues from the law whenever they were caught .On February 3, 1889, two days before her 41st birthday, she was killed. She was riding home from a neighbor's house in Eufaula, Oklahoma when she was ambushed. After she fell off her horse, she was shot again to make sure she was dead. Her death resulted from shotgun wounds to the back and neck and in the shoulder and face. Legend says she was shot with her own double barrel shotgun, tohugh murder goes on unsolved. Although an obscure figure outside Texas throughout most of her life, Belle's story was picked up by the dime novel and National Police Gazette publisher Richard K. Fox, who made her name famous with his novel Bella Starr, the Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James, published in 1889 . This novel still is cited as a historical reference. It was the first of many popular stories that used her name.
Laughably inaccurate Technicolor western biopic
AlsExGal10 January 2023
Gene Tierney stars as Belle Shirley, the feisty daughter of a Missouri plantation owner during the Civil War era. Her father was killed by "Yankee devils", and when her brother Ed (Shepperd Strudwick) returns home to tell her that the South has surrendered, she's devastated. Things only get worse when Yankee carpetbaggers show up, stirring up the "colored folk" and causing misery to the good, Confederacy-supporting Missourians. When Belle learns of a Confederate outlaw named Sam Starr (Randolph Scott) who is causing no end of trouble for the Union army in the area, she joins up with him, and the two fall in love. Also featuring Dana Andrews as the local Union Army commander who also has eyes for Belle.
Those with any knowledge of the real Belle Starr story will know that about the only thing this movie has in common with the real person is that they were both white females. The real story of the much-married mother of two who was also a bandit across multiple states is instead swapped for a "South will rise again!" Civil War revenge fantasy that traffics in regrettable racial stereotypes and exaggerated distortions. While the moment Randolph Scott calls Louise Beavers an "Ethiopian elephant" is bad, the recurring motif of Strudwick trying to tell jokes, even on his death bed, is worse. The film is given the sort of lavish Technicolor treatment that helped make Jesse James a hit in 1939, but that film had a better script and a better director.
Those with any knowledge of the real Belle Starr story will know that about the only thing this movie has in common with the real person is that they were both white females. The real story of the much-married mother of two who was also a bandit across multiple states is instead swapped for a "South will rise again!" Civil War revenge fantasy that traffics in regrettable racial stereotypes and exaggerated distortions. While the moment Randolph Scott calls Louise Beavers an "Ethiopian elephant" is bad, the recurring motif of Strudwick trying to tell jokes, even on his death bed, is worse. The film is given the sort of lavish Technicolor treatment that helped make Jesse James a hit in 1939, but that film had a better script and a better director.
Hollywood "history" at its best....or worst?
fidgee3 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The first time I saw this film, being a "horse crazy" kid, it made me idolize Belle Starr--but only because I thought the movie was supposed to be about some famous horsewoman! (Like I said, I was a really horse-crazy kid!!) A few years ago, I was researching my family history and found out I was actually related to Belle Starr so this movie took on much more significance and I searched for a long time to find a copy. Then, when I watched it again, I was very disappointed by the almost complete lack of historical accuracy! To say the film is "based upon" historic figures is TECHNICALLY correct, but it is definitely NOT an accurate depiction of the "real" Myra "Belle" Shirley-Starr! In fact, ONLY the names are the same. Belle was a much stronger, darker, cruder, more troubled woman and her ties to the most notorious outlaws (like the James-Younger gang) along with her own devious, scandalous behavior make her much more fascinating than she was in this movie. In her case, the true story is MUCH more interesting!
It's a good movie, BUT, if you want to know the true story of Belle Starr, you won't find it in this one.
It's a good movie, BUT, if you want to know the true story of Belle Starr, you won't find it in this one.
Like a history lesson taught to you by a teacher with a severe head injury and who is on Quaaludes!
planktonrules29 December 2012
If you read about the real life Belle Starr, you'll soon notice that her life has almost nothing to do with the film "Belle Starr"....nothing! Heck, when the film began, they couldn't even get the state where she lived correct! And, she hardly was the sort that should have been portrayed by the beautiful Gene Tierney! So, when you watch the movie you need to remember that it is complete fiction from start to finish.
Another thing about the film that is pure fiction is the film's depiction of the Reconstruction era. Instead of showing what life was really like in the post-war South, it shows images that seem straight out of the film "Birth of a Nation"--with horrible stereotypes of blacks running amok, dancing in the streets and being 'uppity'. The only horrible stereotype missing is the watermelon! Again, this film is definitely NOT a history lesson but promotes a racist view of this time. And, sadly, at the time the film was made, it was the popular view of this period. I really wish that when Turner Classic Movies showed the film that it would have been introduced by Robert Osbourne with a disclaimer about all this! The real life Belle Starr was NOT a woman crusading against the evil Yankee and political injustice. No, she was a crook and had a long history of marrying crooks who ended up getting themselves shot. And, not surprisingly, eventually she was shot at age 41. She wasn't pretty and she was just plain vicious.
Now if I completely turn off the parts of my brain that balk at these historical inaccuracies (which is tough, as I am retired history teacher), what are the film's merits? Well, the story is occasionally interesting and the production values are very good--with nice color film stock and music. But the film also is full of ridiculous acting by Tierney--who seems more shrill and silly than anything else. As for her co-stars, Dana Andrews and Randolph Scott, they are both fine actors who are given little to do other than to stand back and watch Belle over-act badly. The only one who came off well was Belle's brother (Shepperd Strudwick)--he had some good lines and was able to put across his character well. Overall, a silly and inconsequential film. You can easily do better.
Another thing about the film that is pure fiction is the film's depiction of the Reconstruction era. Instead of showing what life was really like in the post-war South, it shows images that seem straight out of the film "Birth of a Nation"--with horrible stereotypes of blacks running amok, dancing in the streets and being 'uppity'. The only horrible stereotype missing is the watermelon! Again, this film is definitely NOT a history lesson but promotes a racist view of this time. And, sadly, at the time the film was made, it was the popular view of this period. I really wish that when Turner Classic Movies showed the film that it would have been introduced by Robert Osbourne with a disclaimer about all this! The real life Belle Starr was NOT a woman crusading against the evil Yankee and political injustice. No, she was a crook and had a long history of marrying crooks who ended up getting themselves shot. And, not surprisingly, eventually she was shot at age 41. She wasn't pretty and she was just plain vicious.
Now if I completely turn off the parts of my brain that balk at these historical inaccuracies (which is tough, as I am retired history teacher), what are the film's merits? Well, the story is occasionally interesting and the production values are very good--with nice color film stock and music. But the film also is full of ridiculous acting by Tierney--who seems more shrill and silly than anything else. As for her co-stars, Dana Andrews and Randolph Scott, they are both fine actors who are given little to do other than to stand back and watch Belle over-act badly. The only one who came off well was Belle's brother (Shepperd Strudwick)--he had some good lines and was able to put across his character well. Overall, a silly and inconsequential film. You can easily do better.
Black people...on the sidewalk?!
counterrevolutionary27 November 2007
OK, this film wants us to sympathize with southerners who took to banditry after the Civil War. So what evil and disgusting Yankee devilry do they show us? A check-suited carpetbagger telling black people they can--gasp!--walk on the sidewalk and sit on the front porch, and a lot of happy black folks celebrating their new freedom.
Oh, well, you can understand, then. Blacks on the sidewalks?! God help us! Keep your powder dry, boys! I normally deprecate the simple-minded practice of holding the art of other eras responsible to our standards of political correctness, but I don't care--that's just plain foul.
Of course, it's not completely racist; there are decent black folks in evidence, too: they are the ones who sympathize with their oppressors and help them fight those lousy carpetbaggers who want to let them sit right on the front porch where anybody can see them!
It's been a few years since I saw *Gone With the Wind*: was it this hamhandedly bigoted in its treatment of blacks?
It's s shame, because one you get past the overt racism, this is actually a pretty good movie, with one of Randolph Scott's better performances.
Oh, well, you can understand, then. Blacks on the sidewalks?! God help us! Keep your powder dry, boys! I normally deprecate the simple-minded practice of holding the art of other eras responsible to our standards of political correctness, but I don't care--that's just plain foul.
Of course, it's not completely racist; there are decent black folks in evidence, too: they are the ones who sympathize with their oppressors and help them fight those lousy carpetbaggers who want to let them sit right on the front porch where anybody can see them!
It's been a few years since I saw *Gone With the Wind*: was it this hamhandedly bigoted in its treatment of blacks?
It's s shame, because one you get past the overt racism, this is actually a pretty good movie, with one of Randolph Scott's better performances.
A Dishonest Narrative
JamesHitchcock17 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The cinema has always had a cavalier disregard for historical fact, and nowhere has this been more true than in its biopics of the famous men and women of the Old West, whether heroes or villains. This film, however, is perhaps the most egregious example I have seen of Hollywood's penchant for fictionalising and romanticising Western history. There was a late 19th-century outlaw named Belle Starr, a fairly obscure figure during her lifetime but turned into a "female Jesse James" by sensationalist writers after her death. This film, however, has almost nothing to do with her story. By contrast even the notoriously inaccurate "They Died with Their Boots On" about General Custer, also from 1941, and the almost equally inaccurate 1939 "Jesse James" with Tyrone Power seem like sober historical documentaries.
The action takes place in the years immediately following the end of the American Civil War. The film was obviously influenced by "Gone with the Wind", made two years earlier. In this version the young Belle Shirley is a Scarlett O'Hara figure, a fiery brunette Southern belle born into a wealthy plantation-owning family and a passionate supporter of the Southern cause. After her family home is burnt down by the villainous Yankees, Belle marries Sam Captain Starr, a dashing guerrilla leader trying to liberate the South from Yankee tyranny. There would be little point in trying to list all the goofs and historical inaccuracies in "Belle Starr"; it would be much easier to list the few things that it gets right. Indeed, even when the scriptwriters try to be accurate they inadvertently make matters worse by making the story even less plausible than it might otherwise have been.
The historical Belle Starr carried out most of her criminal activities in Texas and Oklahoma, but was originally a native of Missouri, and for some reason the film-makers decided to set their story in that state. Now a storyline like the one set out above might make some sort of sense if it had been set in, say, Alabama or South Carolina; it makes no sense at all when set in Missouri, a state which had comparatively few slaves and no real plantation economy. Indeed, it had only become a slave state in the first place because of a grubby compromise between pro- and anti- slavery factions in 1820, and it remained loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War. It therefore seems highly unlikely that Missourians would have flocked to the banner of Captain Starr as they are shown doing here.
There was long an unwritten convention in Hollywood, a convention dictated by the need to sell cinema tickets on both sides of the Mason/Dixon Line, that film-makers dealing with the Civil War era should not give offence to Southern feelings by pointing out such unpleasant truths as the evils of slavery or the fact that, because it sought to perpetuate those evils, the Confederate cause was a dishonourable one. This convention is observed in "Gone with the Wind", among other films, but "Belle Starr" goes a step further. Not only does it seek to avoid offending Southerners, it seeks to give quite gratuitous offence to Northerners.
The only representative of the Northern cause we see is Major Thomas Crail, a handsome, cultivated young officer who is quite happy both to accept Belle's hospitality in her elegant stately home and then, a week later, to burn that home to the ground while courteously explaining that this act of arson is merely carried out to further the interests of the US Government. His personal feelings, of course, have nothing to do with the matter. It is worth pointing out that the film was made in 1941, at a time when much of Europe had fallen under Nazi control. All over the continent handsome, cultivated young officers were either dining with the owners of elegant stately homes in occupied lands or burning those homes to the ground, dependent upon which course of action would better further the interests of the Third Reich. Their personal feelings, of course, had nothing to do with the matter.
Quite apart from this implied equation of the Yankees with the Nazis, the film is offensive in other ways. By the forties it was no longer acceptable to portray black Americans in the way in which they had been portrayed a quarter of a century earlier in "Birth of a Nation", but things had not really improved. The black characters in this film are no longer the violent, bestial savages of Griffith's film but are treated with patronising condescension as simple-minded, childlike folk who treat their white masters with exaggerated respect. They regard Belle after her death as a "legend", virtually as a saint, even though in her lifetime she was an ardent advocate of keeping them in servitude.
Seen purely as an adventure drama, in fact, the film is not a bad one; the acting and direction are of a reasonable standard, it is visually attractive and it has the great advantage of starring the incomparably beautiful Gene Tierney, the loveliest actress of the forties, as Belle. In the 21st century, however, films like this one cannot be judged on artistic merits alone. "Belle Starr" is a deeply dishonest film- not in the sense that it is less than faithful to historical fact, which in Hollywood is, at most, a venial sin, but in the sense that it contributes to a dishonest narrative of American history which seeks to excuse, even to justify, the cruelty and racism of the past. 4/10
The action takes place in the years immediately following the end of the American Civil War. The film was obviously influenced by "Gone with the Wind", made two years earlier. In this version the young Belle Shirley is a Scarlett O'Hara figure, a fiery brunette Southern belle born into a wealthy plantation-owning family and a passionate supporter of the Southern cause. After her family home is burnt down by the villainous Yankees, Belle marries Sam Captain Starr, a dashing guerrilla leader trying to liberate the South from Yankee tyranny. There would be little point in trying to list all the goofs and historical inaccuracies in "Belle Starr"; it would be much easier to list the few things that it gets right. Indeed, even when the scriptwriters try to be accurate they inadvertently make matters worse by making the story even less plausible than it might otherwise have been.
The historical Belle Starr carried out most of her criminal activities in Texas and Oklahoma, but was originally a native of Missouri, and for some reason the film-makers decided to set their story in that state. Now a storyline like the one set out above might make some sort of sense if it had been set in, say, Alabama or South Carolina; it makes no sense at all when set in Missouri, a state which had comparatively few slaves and no real plantation economy. Indeed, it had only become a slave state in the first place because of a grubby compromise between pro- and anti- slavery factions in 1820, and it remained loyal to the Union throughout the Civil War. It therefore seems highly unlikely that Missourians would have flocked to the banner of Captain Starr as they are shown doing here.
There was long an unwritten convention in Hollywood, a convention dictated by the need to sell cinema tickets on both sides of the Mason/Dixon Line, that film-makers dealing with the Civil War era should not give offence to Southern feelings by pointing out such unpleasant truths as the evils of slavery or the fact that, because it sought to perpetuate those evils, the Confederate cause was a dishonourable one. This convention is observed in "Gone with the Wind", among other films, but "Belle Starr" goes a step further. Not only does it seek to avoid offending Southerners, it seeks to give quite gratuitous offence to Northerners.
The only representative of the Northern cause we see is Major Thomas Crail, a handsome, cultivated young officer who is quite happy both to accept Belle's hospitality in her elegant stately home and then, a week later, to burn that home to the ground while courteously explaining that this act of arson is merely carried out to further the interests of the US Government. His personal feelings, of course, have nothing to do with the matter. It is worth pointing out that the film was made in 1941, at a time when much of Europe had fallen under Nazi control. All over the continent handsome, cultivated young officers were either dining with the owners of elegant stately homes in occupied lands or burning those homes to the ground, dependent upon which course of action would better further the interests of the Third Reich. Their personal feelings, of course, had nothing to do with the matter.
Quite apart from this implied equation of the Yankees with the Nazis, the film is offensive in other ways. By the forties it was no longer acceptable to portray black Americans in the way in which they had been portrayed a quarter of a century earlier in "Birth of a Nation", but things had not really improved. The black characters in this film are no longer the violent, bestial savages of Griffith's film but are treated with patronising condescension as simple-minded, childlike folk who treat their white masters with exaggerated respect. They regard Belle after her death as a "legend", virtually as a saint, even though in her lifetime she was an ardent advocate of keeping them in servitude.
Seen purely as an adventure drama, in fact, the film is not a bad one; the acting and direction are of a reasonable standard, it is visually attractive and it has the great advantage of starring the incomparably beautiful Gene Tierney, the loveliest actress of the forties, as Belle. In the 21st century, however, films like this one cannot be judged on artistic merits alone. "Belle Starr" is a deeply dishonest film- not in the sense that it is less than faithful to historical fact, which in Hollywood is, at most, a venial sin, but in the sense that it contributes to a dishonest narrative of American history which seeks to excuse, even to justify, the cruelty and racism of the past. 4/10
"A legend is the best part of the truth"
HotToastyRag22 July 2021
"What's a legend?" a little girl asks her grandfather at the start of Belle Starr. "A legend is the best part of the truth," he answers before explaining the legend of the famed female outlaw. I love everything about this western, including the thoughtful, touching script. The scenery is great, the story is exciting (especially for those who don't know about Belle Starr), and the acting is top-notch. How many times are you going to see Randolph Scott cry in one of his westerns? I've seen fifty of his movies and only seen tears three times.
Gene Tierney is a vision, so delightful, vivacious, and beautiful it's no wonder she was a top tier actress for the next ten years. This was only her third movie, but her screen presence feels like she's a Hollywood veteran. She's wild, tough, yet remarkably feminine. When you watch her in this movie, you realize what a crying shame it was that she wasn't discovered just one year earlier to play Scarlett O'Hara. She plays a Southern belle turned outlaw in this western, angry because her family lost everything in the Civil War. Teamed up with fellow outlaw Randolph Scott, they fall in love.
Dana Andrews is a military man on a mission to catch the bandits. But as soon as he sees how beautiful Gene is, he falls for her, too! Including Louise Beavers as the "Mammy" role (since she's a superior actress than Hattie McDaniel, she could have easily been in the 1939 classic), and Shepperd Strudwick, Elizabeth Patterson, and Chill Wills in the supporting cast. I highly recommend this classic. It's not often there's a female lead in a western, and Gene Tierney is fantastic.
Gene Tierney is a vision, so delightful, vivacious, and beautiful it's no wonder she was a top tier actress for the next ten years. This was only her third movie, but her screen presence feels like she's a Hollywood veteran. She's wild, tough, yet remarkably feminine. When you watch her in this movie, you realize what a crying shame it was that she wasn't discovered just one year earlier to play Scarlett O'Hara. She plays a Southern belle turned outlaw in this western, angry because her family lost everything in the Civil War. Teamed up with fellow outlaw Randolph Scott, they fall in love.
Dana Andrews is a military man on a mission to catch the bandits. But as soon as he sees how beautiful Gene is, he falls for her, too! Including Louise Beavers as the "Mammy" role (since she's a superior actress than Hattie McDaniel, she could have easily been in the 1939 classic), and Shepperd Strudwick, Elizabeth Patterson, and Chill Wills in the supporting cast. I highly recommend this classic. It's not often there's a female lead in a western, and Gene Tierney is fantastic.
Belle Starr review
JoeytheBrit10 May 2020
20th Century Fox's cheaper answer to Gone With the Wind sees toothy Gene Tierney impersonating Scarlett O'Hara before embarking on a life of crime with Randolph Scott's ragtag army of Civil War veterans. Filmed in lurid Technicolor, and following a path of utter predictability until it's downbeat ending, Belle Starr is nothing more than a capable time-filler.
Gene Tierney in her first big screen role...
Doylenf25 March 2007
BELLE STAR should have a disclaimer at the start. Any resemblance between the people portrayed here and the real life characters is strictly coincidental. Furthermore, someone should have told LOUISE BEAVERS that she is no substitute for HATTIE McDANIEL.
The film reeks with what it portrays as Southern charm, including the heavily accented Miss Tierney who struggles with what was supposed to be a star-making role. Fortunately, she's surrounded by a couple of pros: RANDOLPH SCOTT as her husband Sam Starr and DANA ANDREWS as a Yankee who finds himself enamored of her while chasing the outlaw woman in a series of melodramatic skirmishes that seem like throwaways from GONE WITH THE WIND.
Gene Tierney never did receive good reviews for her early films and BELLE STAR is no exception. Furthermore, the Technicolor needs restoration if this ever goes to DVD.
Summing up: A slow paced account of Belle Star's criminal career with a miscast and sophisticated Gene Tierney playing the outlaw in a below par performance that never strikes the necessary spark.
The film reeks with what it portrays as Southern charm, including the heavily accented Miss Tierney who struggles with what was supposed to be a star-making role. Fortunately, she's surrounded by a couple of pros: RANDOLPH SCOTT as her husband Sam Starr and DANA ANDREWS as a Yankee who finds himself enamored of her while chasing the outlaw woman in a series of melodramatic skirmishes that seem like throwaways from GONE WITH THE WIND.
Gene Tierney never did receive good reviews for her early films and BELLE STAR is no exception. Furthermore, the Technicolor needs restoration if this ever goes to DVD.
Summing up: A slow paced account of Belle Star's criminal career with a miscast and sophisticated Gene Tierney playing the outlaw in a below par performance that never strikes the necessary spark.
An Interesting Epic Worthy Of A DVD Release
Noirdame798 October 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Okay, so it's not exactly a subtle attempt at cloning "Gone With The Wind" - it's all too transparent at times. Yes, it's dated, from a liberated perspective,(but remember the era that it's set in, as well as the time in which it was produced)with some excruciating dialogue. But it has its redeeming virtues, entertainment value and deserving of a DVD release after years of obscurity on channels that us civilians can't afford to add to basic peasant vision.
A dramatized, sanitized account of the most notorious female outlaw, who rode alongside such notables as Jesse James, it boasts gorgeous cinematography in Techincolor, a good musical score, and wonderful costumes. Whenever Randolph Scott is associated with a project, you know it will be a decent western.
However, the best relationship in the film is the one that exists between Belle Starr and Major Thomas Grail, the Yankee commander and childhood chum who must bring her to justice in spite of his deep love for her. It is the sparks between the beautiful Gene Tierney and the handsome Dana Andrews that really makes this movie, preceding the film noir classic "Laura" and two later collaborations.
The gorgeous, fiery Belle Shirley (Gene Tierney) sympathizes with the Southern rebels, so much so that she even helps Captain Sam Starr (Randolph Scott) hide from the Yankee forces in Missouri by letting him stay in her home after he is wounded.When the Yankees discover this, they set her house aflame and burn it to the ground. Defying them, she joins Starr and his followers at their secret hide-out and begins assisting them in robberies and raids, chasing Carpetbaggers and running afoul of the Yankees. The bandit queen and her outlaw lover marry and continue with their Confederate cause. But only when things get far too dangerous does Belle realize that death may be too high of a price to pay for what she so immensely believes in. Sam Starr insists that there be one more dangerous escapade, after agreeing to give up his personal vendetta. This leads to tragic consequences when Belle unwittingly puts herself in the line of fire, placing her own life in jeopardy.
The low-life drunkard, Jasper Tench, who expects the much emphasized reward money for killing Belle Starr only gets disdain and hatred from the townsfolk having deprived them of their heroine, and Starr turns himself in, and both he and his enemy, Grail, grieve over the woman they both loved.
I found the age difference between Scott and Tierney distracting (going by what I remember, as I haven't seen the film in years), and also obvious is the battle that Tierney has with the accent that she assumes throughout the film. I know people having been complaining about the racist elements throughout the movie (as with GWTW),but I like to think of it as a lesson on how things have changed. Chill Wills is in fine form as one of the rebels, Shepperd Strudwick (billed as John Shepperd)is quite good as Belle's rather ill-fated brother Ed, while Louise Beavers (best remembered from her role in John Stahl's 1934 version of "Imitation Of Life")does a good turn as Mammy Lou, although her performance doesn't hold a candle to Hattie McDaniel's portrayal in GWTW.
It's a good movie, and it's nice to watch and a good substitution if you're not in the mood to indulge in a three-and-a-half hour epic.
Note to FOX: as you are releasing many of your older films on DVD, do likewise with "Belle Starr". Don't leave this and many other gems to rot away in the studio vault!
A dramatized, sanitized account of the most notorious female outlaw, who rode alongside such notables as Jesse James, it boasts gorgeous cinematography in Techincolor, a good musical score, and wonderful costumes. Whenever Randolph Scott is associated with a project, you know it will be a decent western.
However, the best relationship in the film is the one that exists between Belle Starr and Major Thomas Grail, the Yankee commander and childhood chum who must bring her to justice in spite of his deep love for her. It is the sparks between the beautiful Gene Tierney and the handsome Dana Andrews that really makes this movie, preceding the film noir classic "Laura" and two later collaborations.
The gorgeous, fiery Belle Shirley (Gene Tierney) sympathizes with the Southern rebels, so much so that she even helps Captain Sam Starr (Randolph Scott) hide from the Yankee forces in Missouri by letting him stay in her home after he is wounded.When the Yankees discover this, they set her house aflame and burn it to the ground. Defying them, she joins Starr and his followers at their secret hide-out and begins assisting them in robberies and raids, chasing Carpetbaggers and running afoul of the Yankees. The bandit queen and her outlaw lover marry and continue with their Confederate cause. But only when things get far too dangerous does Belle realize that death may be too high of a price to pay for what she so immensely believes in. Sam Starr insists that there be one more dangerous escapade, after agreeing to give up his personal vendetta. This leads to tragic consequences when Belle unwittingly puts herself in the line of fire, placing her own life in jeopardy.
The low-life drunkard, Jasper Tench, who expects the much emphasized reward money for killing Belle Starr only gets disdain and hatred from the townsfolk having deprived them of their heroine, and Starr turns himself in, and both he and his enemy, Grail, grieve over the woman they both loved.
I found the age difference between Scott and Tierney distracting (going by what I remember, as I haven't seen the film in years), and also obvious is the battle that Tierney has with the accent that she assumes throughout the film. I know people having been complaining about the racist elements throughout the movie (as with GWTW),but I like to think of it as a lesson on how things have changed. Chill Wills is in fine form as one of the rebels, Shepperd Strudwick (billed as John Shepperd)is quite good as Belle's rather ill-fated brother Ed, while Louise Beavers (best remembered from her role in John Stahl's 1934 version of "Imitation Of Life")does a good turn as Mammy Lou, although her performance doesn't hold a candle to Hattie McDaniel's portrayal in GWTW.
It's a good movie, and it's nice to watch and a good substitution if you're not in the mood to indulge in a three-and-a-half hour epic.
Note to FOX: as you are releasing many of your older films on DVD, do likewise with "Belle Starr". Don't leave this and many other gems to rot away in the studio vault!
A beautiful tall tale that's probably more fascinating than the truth.
mark.waltz23 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
By looking at the pictures of the real Belle, it's obvious to me that they should have looked more like Marjorie Main than Gene Tierney. But having already made impact in an earlier film on Frank James and considered the newest hopeful on the 20th Century Fox lot, Tierney got the title role for this, her fourth film. The film glamorizes her life as another valentine to the old south, a rather popular subject matter after "Jezebel" and "Gone With the Wind".
Top billed Randolph Scott is Sam Statr, the man she marries, and others in her life are Dana Andrews and brother John Sheppard, later known as Sheppard Strudwick. There's also the loveable but spicy Louise Beavers as her devoted servant and Elizabeth Patterson as a Ma Kettle like chatsxger who smokes a pipe. Lighter moments come from Chill Wills and Olin Howland. The discussion of Belle at the beginning and at the endby several black servants is poorly constructed and embarrassing.
The color photography is bright, pastel like and gorgeous, and a musical theme that combines old southern standards with a rousing new piece of music. Audiences were eating these fictional criminal biographies up back during the golden age, and would have to check out what little was written at the time to compare truth with fiction while today, a few clicks on our phones provides all the info we need. Tierney isn't just far too beautiful and well bred in the role. She was also at least a decade too young. But as entertainment, this is top notch even though the screenplay would have a huge nose if puppeteer Gepetto had asked if it was telling the truth.
Top billed Randolph Scott is Sam Statr, the man she marries, and others in her life are Dana Andrews and brother John Sheppard, later known as Sheppard Strudwick. There's also the loveable but spicy Louise Beavers as her devoted servant and Elizabeth Patterson as a Ma Kettle like chatsxger who smokes a pipe. Lighter moments come from Chill Wills and Olin Howland. The discussion of Belle at the beginning and at the endby several black servants is poorly constructed and embarrassing.
The color photography is bright, pastel like and gorgeous, and a musical theme that combines old southern standards with a rousing new piece of music. Audiences were eating these fictional criminal biographies up back during the golden age, and would have to check out what little was written at the time to compare truth with fiction while today, a few clicks on our phones provides all the info we need. Tierney isn't just far too beautiful and well bred in the role. She was also at least a decade too young. But as entertainment, this is top notch even though the screenplay would have a huge nose if puppeteer Gepetto had asked if it was telling the truth.
A good yarn, taking some liberties with fact.
brian-16908 November 2006
My interest is movie music, featured and incidental, especially Westerns and John Ford Westerns in particular.
I noticed that Belle Starr used the same music theme as in Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Apparently, this was also used in "Young Mr Lincoln". As the cues are not identified in films generally, does anyone have any information on the "love theme" used in hes three films? I believe it may have been Alfred Newman, but does anyone know what it was called and whether an orchestrated recoded version is available? Secondly, Ford used the old 19c song "Lorena" in "The Searchers" and "The Horse Soldiers", is this available in recorded instrumental, orchestrated form?
I noticed that Belle Starr used the same music theme as in Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". Apparently, this was also used in "Young Mr Lincoln". As the cues are not identified in films generally, does anyone have any information on the "love theme" used in hes three films? I believe it may have been Alfred Newman, but does anyone know what it was called and whether an orchestrated recoded version is available? Secondly, Ford used the old 19c song "Lorena" in "The Searchers" and "The Horse Soldiers", is this available in recorded instrumental, orchestrated form?
Way off the target
rooster_davis1 May 2008
This movie really left me cold. Usually I can enjoy nearly anything that Randolph Scott is in, but in this case I just can't. Maybe the reason his performance in this film is so uninspired is that he realizes how far from reality this story has strayed. The real Belle Starr was hardly an 'outlaw queen' - she was as ugly as a pig's rear end and about as charming. According to something in the plot, some guy - a military guy or a marshal, I forget which - was so smitten with her that he followed after her. He must have been blind. The problem as I see it is that the woman had a pretty name and a questionable history, so they made her into an 'outlaw queen'. However, if her name had been a reflection on this 'queen's' beauty, she would have been named 'Selma Klagshultz' or maybe 'Ethel Gumpox'. Would they have made this same movie with an 'outlaw queen' who didn't sound like one? They made a movie out of a pretty name, and modified the ugly wearer to suit.
I don't know why they insist on making these stories so romanticized but this was so far from reality it was a joke. If the real story isn't good enough then write something else altogether. The real Belle Starr's story was maybe, just MAYBE good enough to make into a movie, in my opinion, but this movie is just a waste of time and film. If the makers wanted a movie like this, they should have invented a whole character, name and all, and created a story, rather than taking a historical character and turning her into something she was not. Blech.
I don't know why they insist on making these stories so romanticized but this was so far from reality it was a joke. If the real story isn't good enough then write something else altogether. The real Belle Starr's story was maybe, just MAYBE good enough to make into a movie, in my opinion, but this movie is just a waste of time and film. If the makers wanted a movie like this, they should have invented a whole character, name and all, and created a story, rather than taking a historical character and turning her into something she was not. Blech.
outlaw trail
sandcrab27710 May 2020
Southern belle angry at the north for destroying her home wreaks havoc in return ... i could watch gene tierney and randolph scott all day but i really despise the oily dana andrews and he ruined this film for me like every one he's in ... they should have put a bullet in his ear instead of that horn
Gene Tierney auditions, badly, and 2 years too late, for Scarlett O'Hara.
David-2404 August 1999
This shoddy little production is a cheap and pale imitation of "Gone With the Wind", with a horribly mis-cast Gene Tierney struggling with accent and script. Randolph Scott and Dana Andrews don't help by being planks of wood.
Still Gene looks great, and the costumes are nice, - but the whole thing is so unbelievable. And so obviously designed to capitalise on the success of GWTW, even down to the Mammie character played here well by Louise Beavers. And the film is very racist - almost like "Birth of A Nation" - with the newly liberated blacks portrayed as getting above their station and, in one scene, getting chased out of town by Gene and Randolph.
Still Gene looks great, and the costumes are nice, - but the whole thing is so unbelievable. And so obviously designed to capitalise on the success of GWTW, even down to the Mammie character played here well by Louise Beavers. And the film is very racist - almost like "Birth of A Nation" - with the newly liberated blacks portrayed as getting above their station and, in one scene, getting chased out of town by Gene and Randolph.
Offensive
cfpages8 September 2019
This film is so offensive that I can't even begin to judge it cinematically. Willful shallow southern belles are were over done mid-20th century. I kept hoping a stray bullet would hit Belle. Slaveholders are so heroic. Yeech. And slaves loved being slaves too.
I DVR'd this film because of Dana Andrews - one of my favorite actors. I guess until Laura he didn't have much choice except taking these thankless roles. Except for his duty as a northern major, he seemed to be sympathetic to the "southern cause".
I hope that all the actors were ashamed of this film 30 years later.
I DVR'd this film because of Dana Andrews - one of my favorite actors. I guess until Laura he didn't have much choice except taking these thankless roles. Except for his duty as a northern major, he seemed to be sympathetic to the "southern cause".
I hope that all the actors were ashamed of this film 30 years later.
One of my favorite films! Therefore you get two of my reviews!
JohnHowardReid18 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Copyright 12 September 1941 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 31 October 1941. U.S. release: 12 September 1941. Australian release: 4 March 1943 (sic). 7,834 feet. 87 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A heavily romanticized account of a Missouri-Oklahoman horse thief and companion of outlaws. Belle Starr never lived in any sort of mansion, grand or otherwise, and was too busy stealing and low- living to have any truck with the South. She didn't even meet Sam Starr until long after the Civil War had ended. Starr himself was a bandit. When he was shot to death, she married Blue Duck.
NOTES: One of the most popular films Fox ever released in Australia. Although it came in at 6th spot for Australia's top ticket-sellers of 1943, Fox kept the film in constant re-issue throughout the 40s and 50s. It even played four or five times at Greater Union's revival flag-ship, the Lyric.
COMMENT: Beautifully photographed Civil War Saga, handsomely mounted, sympathetically scripted, directed with insight and acted with flair. Although Randolph Scott receives top billing, his role is comparatively small. It is Gene Tierney who captures most of the audience's attention with her spirited portrayal of the title role. Also, she is superbly costumed and she figures prominently in all the plot's most memorable incidents. The pace is fast and the Civil War atmosphere comes across strongly.
OTHER VIEWS: It's easy to distinguish the work of the two photographers. Rennahan did all the beautiful and meticulously-lit studio work with its lustrous close-ups and luminous shadows, while Palmer did the less interesting exteriors (one marvelous shot with the riders coming against the lightening sky) . Cummings' direction is more stylish than usual (RR's influence?). Though the film presents some laughable racial stereotypes and a plot that allows nothing to chance so far as the viewers' intelligence is concerned. Every explanatory point is underlined thrice (and thus the movie is inclined to be over-talky), but it's lavishly costumed and staged.
Parallels with GWTW are obvious. Though a spin-off from that film, it was itself to spawn a whole host of imitators in which Belle was not quite the goody-two-shoed victim of history as depicted here.
Tierney's performance lacks the conviction that her looks inspire and Scott makes too charming a villain, but Shepperd Strudwick is surprisingly convincing, while Dana Andrews has a made-to-order role. Support cast headed by Olin Howland (of all people) also scores strongly.
The film has an ironic denouement which is rather unique (doubtless it influenced Steinbeck's Viva Zapata). — John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.
Unusual action story filmed in Technicolor tells extraordinary exploits of woman bandit of American post Civil War period — the female Jesse James of her day. This film gives star rating to up- and-coming personality Gene Tierney. Randolph Scott, John Shepperd, Dana Andrews, Louis Beaver (sic), Elizabeth Patterson head the cast, and Irving Cummings directs. — Fox publicity.
SYNOPSIS: A heavily romanticized account of a Missouri-Oklahoman horse thief and companion of outlaws. Belle Starr never lived in any sort of mansion, grand or otherwise, and was too busy stealing and low- living to have any truck with the South. She didn't even meet Sam Starr until long after the Civil War had ended. Starr himself was a bandit. When he was shot to death, she married Blue Duck.
NOTES: One of the most popular films Fox ever released in Australia. Although it came in at 6th spot for Australia's top ticket-sellers of 1943, Fox kept the film in constant re-issue throughout the 40s and 50s. It even played four or five times at Greater Union's revival flag-ship, the Lyric.
COMMENT: Beautifully photographed Civil War Saga, handsomely mounted, sympathetically scripted, directed with insight and acted with flair. Although Randolph Scott receives top billing, his role is comparatively small. It is Gene Tierney who captures most of the audience's attention with her spirited portrayal of the title role. Also, she is superbly costumed and she figures prominently in all the plot's most memorable incidents. The pace is fast and the Civil War atmosphere comes across strongly.
OTHER VIEWS: It's easy to distinguish the work of the two photographers. Rennahan did all the beautiful and meticulously-lit studio work with its lustrous close-ups and luminous shadows, while Palmer did the less interesting exteriors (one marvelous shot with the riders coming against the lightening sky) . Cummings' direction is more stylish than usual (RR's influence?). Though the film presents some laughable racial stereotypes and a plot that allows nothing to chance so far as the viewers' intelligence is concerned. Every explanatory point is underlined thrice (and thus the movie is inclined to be over-talky), but it's lavishly costumed and staged.
Parallels with GWTW are obvious. Though a spin-off from that film, it was itself to spawn a whole host of imitators in which Belle was not quite the goody-two-shoed victim of history as depicted here.
Tierney's performance lacks the conviction that her looks inspire and Scott makes too charming a villain, but Shepperd Strudwick is surprisingly convincing, while Dana Andrews has a made-to-order role. Support cast headed by Olin Howland (of all people) also scores strongly.
The film has an ironic denouement which is rather unique (doubtless it influenced Steinbeck's Viva Zapata). — John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.
Unusual action story filmed in Technicolor tells extraordinary exploits of woman bandit of American post Civil War period — the female Jesse James of her day. This film gives star rating to up- and-coming personality Gene Tierney. Randolph Scott, John Shepperd, Dana Andrews, Louis Beaver (sic), Elizabeth Patterson head the cast, and Irving Cummings directs. — Fox publicity.
Scarlett O'Hara in a terrain away from beloved Tara
Calysta25 January 2000
Scarlett diminished away from Tara. The red earths of the farm was from where she drew her strength.
Therefore, the pale, fickle imitation of "Belle Starr" cannot thrive off Margaret Mitchell's legendary story. It takes every crumb it can scavenge off David O. Selznick's story, and possibly every frame that ended up on the cutting room floor.
The film stoops to terribly low lengths. Belle loses her brother, Scarlett lost her Mother. The Mammie character. Southern determination. It's civil war setting is enough to make the entire laughable production, conceived in a studio bound setting definitely not one to be watched. Although the "Gone With the Wind" novel, brilliant but appalling racist, manages to steer clear of the controversial offence it may have triggered, "Belle Starr" seems to relish in it.
Trimmings, interior sets, costumes, Gene Tierney or no Gene Tierney, seem to save it. The colour cinematography is no doubt pretty, but Randolph Scott and Dana Andrews acting like hams in the background certainly provides no aid to Belle's crusades.
Hundreds of Scarlett O'Hara hopefuls did better away from the splendour in different roles, but Gene Tierney's attempt to reprise some of the 1939 glory, falls overwhelmingly and pathetically flat.
Stay away from this one...far, far away. Minor, unfriendly, unconvincing FOX Westerns do terrible things to the stomach.
Rating: 5/10
Therefore, the pale, fickle imitation of "Belle Starr" cannot thrive off Margaret Mitchell's legendary story. It takes every crumb it can scavenge off David O. Selznick's story, and possibly every frame that ended up on the cutting room floor.
The film stoops to terribly low lengths. Belle loses her brother, Scarlett lost her Mother. The Mammie character. Southern determination. It's civil war setting is enough to make the entire laughable production, conceived in a studio bound setting definitely not one to be watched. Although the "Gone With the Wind" novel, brilliant but appalling racist, manages to steer clear of the controversial offence it may have triggered, "Belle Starr" seems to relish in it.
Trimmings, interior sets, costumes, Gene Tierney or no Gene Tierney, seem to save it. The colour cinematography is no doubt pretty, but Randolph Scott and Dana Andrews acting like hams in the background certainly provides no aid to Belle's crusades.
Hundreds of Scarlett O'Hara hopefuls did better away from the splendour in different roles, but Gene Tierney's attempt to reprise some of the 1939 glory, falls overwhelmingly and pathetically flat.
Stay away from this one...far, far away. Minor, unfriendly, unconvincing FOX Westerns do terrible things to the stomach.
Rating: 5/10
"Mighty Fine White Lady"
sidfargas19 January 2022
The start of this film sums it up best. The free slave telling the little girl about the legend of Belle Starr. This absolute legendary cast delivers a wonderful tale. Gene Tierney and Rudolph Scott are amazing and deliver absolute award-worthy performances.
Had trouble understanding why Belle is a folk hero in the South...kind of a snooze fest for me.
cgvsluis30 November 2022
I like all three main actors in this film...Randolph Scott, Gene Tierney and Dana Scott, unfortunately I have seen them all in better films. Apparently this is roughly based on a true story, but I am not a southerner...so I guess it doesn't really speak to me that they have built up this woman Belle Star as a folk hero.
The story starts at the end of the civil war, in this period drama, and revolves around a southern belle named Belle Shirley. Belle is a sore southern looser and thwarts her childhood friend turned Union officer Major Thomas Crail in his attempt to imprison the outlaw and guerrilla rebel leader Sam Starr. She also goes against her more sensible brother Ed Shirley...who is the only person I truly feel sorry for in this film. Belle eventually marries the outlaw Sam who is stealing from and wrecking havoc with Union run towns. Sam is so power hungry he even starts letting in less than savory individuals into his band of outlaws...like thieves and murders, something her brother tries to warn her about only to get killed as a thank you.
I felt this was truly a sad and tragic tale not one for the making of a southern folk hero and I really have seen all three actors in much better films. I especially didn't understand why this "southern Belle" had men practically fighting over her. I think that Major Thomas Crail could do much, much better for himself. My recommendation is to give this a pass unless you are a die hard southerner or a big history fan.
The story starts at the end of the civil war, in this period drama, and revolves around a southern belle named Belle Shirley. Belle is a sore southern looser and thwarts her childhood friend turned Union officer Major Thomas Crail in his attempt to imprison the outlaw and guerrilla rebel leader Sam Starr. She also goes against her more sensible brother Ed Shirley...who is the only person I truly feel sorry for in this film. Belle eventually marries the outlaw Sam who is stealing from and wrecking havoc with Union run towns. Sam is so power hungry he even starts letting in less than savory individuals into his band of outlaws...like thieves and murders, something her brother tries to warn her about only to get killed as a thank you.
I felt this was truly a sad and tragic tale not one for the making of a southern folk hero and I really have seen all three actors in much better films. I especially didn't understand why this "southern Belle" had men practically fighting over her. I think that Major Thomas Crail could do much, much better for himself. My recommendation is to give this a pass unless you are a die hard southerner or a big history fan.
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