La leyenda de Bill Doolin

In her film debut, Amanda Plummer took on a bold, strong role and declared herself as a force to be reckoned with. She and Diane Lane play the title roles, two little girls in the Wild West who idolize outlaws. Caught up in the drama of paperback novels, they leave their small town and "loving" environments to catch up with a gang led by Burt Lancaster. Burt, as usual, has his larger-than-life energy that attracts both girls and makes it difficult for even the audience to think it's a bad idea for pre-teen girls to run around with guns and grown men.

Parts of this movie are cute, like when Diane confesses her crush on Burt. Amanda's invigorating speeches are charming and pick up where True Grit left off. But some of the movie feels inappropriate, and I was unsure at times if it was supposed to be a comedy or a drama. It's not the best western out there, but I did appreciate that it starred an actor who made a few westerns in his day. What's missing is simple: the tried-and-true heart-stirring feeling that all westerns from the golden age had. If you're uncertain whether the good guys are going to win, or if you're not even sure who the good guys are, it's a sure bet the western was made post-1965.

"Cattle Annie and Little Britches" is, believe it or not, based on real characters. Yes, two weird women, Cattle Annie and her friend, Little Britches, were actually members of the famous Doolin Gang and were responsible for a short reign of terror in the latter days of the old west.

Apart from casting the way too elderly Burt Lancaster as the gang leader, Bill Doolin, the movie is good...though also not especially memorable. The biggest problem is that in the film, these criminals don't do a whole lot and they also aren't very sympathetic. I don't know about most viewers, but I just found I didn't care about anyone in this movie. It's competently made but curiously uninvolving as well.

I know shamefully little about Lamont Johnson, other than he worked mainly in the TV medium. An ageing Burt Lancaster plays the part of Bill Doolin, leader of the Dalton-Doolin gang, which robs trains and banks and is chased by Marshall Tilghman, well portrayed by Rod Steiger.

John Savage also shines as a half-breed, but Amanda Plummer as Annie and Diane Lane as Little Britches steal the show as Doolin's most loyal supporters, even when the gang appears to be defunct.

Burt Lancaster was a great actor and he is the life of the film despite putting on smug facial expressions, wide gestures reminiscent of his TV Moses reaching the promised land, and clearly enjoying the love of underaged Little Briches. Meanwhile, his character as Bill Doolin veers constantly between good sense and uprightness on one hand, and robbing all he can and leading a bunch of outlaws on the other. When he notices the disappearance of the latest robbery's proceeds (dollar notes put away in the trousers of a lawman), at the cost of some of his men, he laughs like Walter Huston upon realizing that it is fool's gold, not the real thing, in TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (US 1948). I did not like that sequence, or the ending, but I must admit that the film keeps an enticing pace throughout.

Scott Glenn seems sadly underused while John Savage begins substantially enough but somehow sinks into near invisibility after taking Cattle Annie swimming.

Strong cinematography by Larry Pizer, interesting soundtrack. 7/10.

Good old-fashioned Western movie with a good shot of comedy. A great production and fine working cast (Diana Lane and Amanda Plummer are all too gorgeous as drifters) make this one a gem for everyone who like Western movies a la True Grit, Cat Ballou, Waterhole and so on.

This typical early eighties western, shot in the shadow of HEAVEN's GATE, is made in a different way from the Gordon Douglas's version of 1949, DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA,thirty years earlier, but it matches it. I like both, this one shows tenderness and light heart too. Lancaster is as usual excellent as the aging outlaw.