Console best movie i've ever seen.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

spiritof67 That's an actual line of dialog from the script. Really.The Belle Starr story, never actually told in the movies (partially because the real story isn't that interesting..) is told here in early Hollywood color and all the vim and vigor with which they revered the South. The plot hook is that one of the aforementioned "darkies" actually tells the fable as the narrator. Without spoiling the movie, Belle and her husband continue fighting after the War Against Treason, using those traditional Civil War Southern values of robbery, assassination, treason and protecting known criminals to keep Missouri safe for, well,the same people it was safe for before the War. Hey, it works in the movie.The point made by vitaleralphlouis in his review is well taken. How dare we criticize Hollywood for showing how a loving mammy would help keep Belle safe, or that another "darkie" (their word, not mine) shows Belle's antagonist how disgusting he was. We all know that negroes formerly held as slaves had nothing but love for their former (or in this case present) slaveowners.This is a classic example of a movie obviously made with care, but looked at today 99% of its viewers would wonder what was in the coffee they served at the story-pitching conference. Because even as a joke, this kind of movie could never be made again, and if there's one good thing you can say about Hollywood, that's it.Oh, and by the way: a moment of silence for black actors like Louise Beavers who could only find work like this in her era.

counterrevolutionary 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.

Neil Doyle 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.

Noirdame79 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!