Editing Cat Ballou (section)

===Critical response===
{{RT data|prose|consensus=|ref=yes}} {{MC film|60|7|ref=yes|access-date=2024-12-15}}

[[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "a breezy little film" which "does have flashes of good satiric wit. But, under Elliott Silverstein's direction, it is mostly just juvenile lampoon."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |date=June 25, 1965 |title=The Screen: 'Cat Ballou' |journal=[[The New York Times]] |page=36 }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote that the film "emerges middlingly successful, sparked by an amusing way-out approach and some sparkling performances."<ref>{{cite journal |date=May 12, 1965 |title=Cat Ballou |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=6 }}</ref> [[Richard L. Coe]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' praised the film as a "springy satire", adding, "What makes this fun is the style. Forming a mighty cool duo, Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye sing their way in and out of the plot with folk songs which Cole '[[Don't Fence Me In (song)|Don't Fence Me In]]' Porter would have relished. The format is novel and stylishly delivered."<ref>{{cite news |last=Coe |first=Richard L. |author-link=Richard L. Coe |date=June 24, 1965 |title='Cat Ballou' Is Zingy Spoof |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=D20 }}</ref> [[Pauline Kael]] in ''[[Film Quarterly]]'' called it "lumpen, coy, and obvious, a self-consciously cute movie," adding that "mainly it is full of sort-of-funny and trying-to-be-funny ''ideas'' and a movie is not just ideas."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kael |first=Pauline |author-link=Pauline Kael |date=Fall 1965 |title=Cat Ballou |journal=[[Film Quarterly]] |volume=19 |issue=1 |page=54 |doi=10.2307/1210823 |jstor=1210823 }}</ref> Philip K. Scheuer of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote, "I'm in the minority, apparently. ''Cat Ballou,'' which is being hailed as a cowboy ''[[Tom Jones (1963 film)|Tom Jones]]'' or something of the sort, seems to me about as funny as a soundtrack burp."<ref>Scheuer, Philip K. (June 19, 1965). "Why the Hullabaloo About 'Cat Ballou?'" ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. p. 19.</ref> ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote, "The jokes in ''Cat Ballou'' are uneven, but the mood behind the film is happily consistent."<ref>{{cite journal |date=September 1965 |title=Cat Ballou |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=32 |issue=380 |page=131 }}</ref>