That's not something that you normally hear a mother saying to their child, but in this case, it's Belle Starr, and she's not no ordinary mother. In fact, right after this, torches fly through their window, and she's burnt out of her house along with her son. Elizabeth Montgomery continues her choices of playing not so ordinary women, having won acclaim as Lizzie Borden, and now taking on the part of the greatest female outlaw of all time, that is prior to Bonnie Parker and Ma Barker. Her son (David Knell) is very worried about her, telling her "You're all I've got", and she responds to him with the only tenderness she knows how to give. There are no excuses given for why Belle does what she does, and that's a relief. Usually, claims of Injustice or in women's cases ill-treatment by men cause them to break the law, and here, she's happily married to Fred Ward who doesn't want to be involved in her rough riding with the James and Younger brothers.
The young girl playing her daughter being raised in town is played by Michelle Stacey whom audiences will remember as the young girl who takes her coffee black in "Airplane!", and it's hard not to say her line from that classic when Montgomery is visiting her foster mother, Sarah Cunningham, who brings her coffee. Stacey has a penchant for singing "Yes Jesus loves me" when she's troubled, so you know she won't be following in her mother's footsteps, unlike what a B western called "Belle Starr's Daughter" try to make audiences believe.
I take these Western Bandit films all with a grain of salt because so many Legends have been passed down you never know what's the truth, but at least this one doesn't try to sugarcoat who Belle Starr was. Montgomery only instils enough humanity inside her so she's not a complete monster, with Cliff pots as Cole Younger, Michael Cavanaugh as Jesse James and Geoffrey Lewis as the local Reverend who doesn't hesitate to use violence to force her out. Not classic in the terms of a great western, but enjoyable enough to get at least a partially true glimpse into the life of a woman who dared to live a man's life in a rough new world.
The young girl playing her daughter being raised in town is played by Michelle Stacey whom audiences will remember as the young girl who takes her coffee black in "Airplane!", and it's hard not to say her line from that classic when Montgomery is visiting her foster mother, Sarah Cunningham, who brings her coffee. Stacey has a penchant for singing "Yes Jesus loves me" when she's troubled, so you know she won't be following in her mother's footsteps, unlike what a B western called "Belle Starr's Daughter" try to make audiences believe.
I take these Western Bandit films all with a grain of salt because so many Legends have been passed down you never know what's the truth, but at least this one doesn't try to sugarcoat who Belle Starr was. Montgomery only instils enough humanity inside her so she's not a complete monster, with Cliff pots as Cole Younger, Michael Cavanaugh as Jesse James and Geoffrey Lewis as the local Reverend who doesn't hesitate to use violence to force her out. Not classic in the terms of a great western, but enjoyable enough to get at least a partially true glimpse into the life of a woman who dared to live a man's life in a rough new world.