Belle Starr

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.

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.

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.

This is my favorite Randolph Scott movie because it is his most romantic. He was never given the chance to get the girl. Usually in most of his movies he lost the girl or you didn't care if he won the girl. The chemistry between Randolph Scott and Gene Tierney is like a fire in a barbeque. It helps that Dana Andrews tries to confuse the situation.

Also, this movie is based on real people. In "Belle Starr", these people are exciting and beautiful. Hollywood makes historical movies that you hope are accurate but are probably not.

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.