The Belle Starr Story (1968)

Elsa Martinelli plays the title role of Belle Starr, who wears pants, plays poker with the guys and shoots as well as any man.

She also has trouble trusting men, in part because of a lecherous uncle and in part because her best friend (Robert Woods as Cole Harvey) attempted to rape her after a night of drunken revelry.

Her uncle tried to marry her off to a much older man in return for political favors. Then he tried to molest an Indian girl who helped raise Belle. When the girl resisted, he ordered her hung, until Belle intervenes.

That’s how Belle began her life of crime. She killed a sheriff while being pursued after rescuing the Indian girl.

Now she’s met — and bedded — Larry Blackie (George Eastman), a man who’s every bit her match with a gun.

But she’s torn between loving him and hating him. More than anything else, she wants to prove herself his equal.

She figures the best way to do that would be to steal a fortune in jewelry being held in Root City before Blackie and his men can get to the loot.

So she recruits her own small band of outlaws, brings in a safe-breaking expert nicknamed Velvet Fingers and sets off to do just that, knowing the jewels are heavily guarded by Pinkertons.

Review:

Spaghetti fans will probably want to check this out for the curiosity factor. There aren’t too many films in the genre focused on a female gunslinger — a fashion model dressed in all black leather at that.

Just be forewarned that this is a bit of a mess. For one thing, there’s a half-hour flashback sequence that explains how Belle ran afoul of the law, how she got her name and how she came to mistrust men. It also takes you on a long, long tangent.

As for the love story subplot between Martinelli’s Bell’s Starr and George Eastman’s Blackie — well, it might be more believable if he weren’t such a cocky, condescending jackass throughout the movie.

And if Belle’s feelings for him seem like a stretch after he’s told her she’s just a “whore girl” to take to bed some night, they’re downright unfathomable following his last bit of treachery during the jewel robbery.

You’ll probably wind up remembering the film for Elsa — she gets more closeups than Clint Eastwood in a three-hour Sergio Leone epic — and a scene where Blackie is being imaginatively tortured by a Pinkerton agent.

Directed by:
Lina Wertmuller
as Nathan Wich

Cast:
Elsa Martinelli … Belle Starr
Robert Woods … Cole Harvey
George Eastman … Larry Blackie
Francesca Righini … Jessica
Bruno Piergentili … Pedro
Vladimir Medar … John Shelley
Bruno Corazzari … Pinkerton man
Eugene Walter … Benjamin Chesterson
aka Velvet Fingers
Remo De Anglis … Butch

Runtime: 103 min.

aka:
Il mio corpo per un poker

Score: Charles Dumont
Song: “No Time for Love,” supposedly sung by Martinelli

Runtime: 100 min.

Memorable lines:

Belle, as she and Blackie settle down for a card game: “What’s the limit?”
Larry Blackie: “I don’t limit myself at anything. It’s a bad habit, I guess.”

Larry Blackie, introducing himself to Belle: “You must have heard the name. You see, I’m pretty well known. Most of the cemeteries from here to Dodge are spilling over with specimens of my work.”

Belle’s uncle, when she rejects his choice for a husband: “These wild little savages make the best wives for a man who can dominate them.”

Uncle: “Mirabelle, you’re marrying Don next week. I gave him my word of honor.”
Belle: “It’s your honor, not mine.”

Larry Blackie, to Belle: “If you weren’t you, and I wasn’t me, maybe we could have had a different life, together.”

Blackie to Belle: “I’ll laugh when I feel like it. I don’t take my orders from you. To me, you’re just a whore girl to take to bed some night … if I feel like it.”
Belle: “And that’s all you are for me.” Whereupon she kisses him, and then blows cigarette smoke in his face.

Blackie, after bedding Belle: “Thanks for the poker game.”
Belle: “You only won the first game, you animal!”

Trivia:

Elsa Martinelli, a former fashion model, was 34 when this film was made. She gained fame via a nude bathing scene in her first American film, in which she played an Indian maiden opposite Kirk Douglas in “The Indian Fighter.”

This marked the fifth of about two dozen films directed by Lina Wertmuller and might be the only Spaghetti Western directed by a woman. Wertmuller was the first woman nominated for an Academy Award as a director, for her 1975 international hit “Seven Beauties.”

In an interview included on the Wild East DVD release, George Eastman says he replaced Robert Woods on the film. He said Woods constantly complained about all the time Wertmuller spent filming closeups of Martinelli, so the director fired him, then “salvaged” the film by using the footage with Woods as a flashback to explain how Belle became an outlaw.

In the same interview, Eastman says that torture scene was … well, real torture. In the scene, Eastman is stripped to the wait, suspended, with his wrists tied above him. The Pinkerton is supposed to use a spur to carve an X across his chest. When the scene was filmed, Bruno Corazzari accidentally cut Eastman with the spur. Then Martinelli, as Belle, arrived to cut Eastman done. But he was so tall, she could barely reach with her knife and wound up slashing his hand. In both cases, filming continued, Eastman said, earning him Wertmuller’s gratitude.

Elsa Martinelli as Belle, flashing anger over a night spent with Larry Blackie in The Belle Starr Story (1968)

Elsa Martinelli as Belle, preparing to gun down her uncle if necessary in The Belle Starr Story (1968)

Elsa Martinelli as Belle, six-gun ready for a second meeting with Larry Blackie in The Belle Starr Story (1968)

Elsa Martinelli as Belle, singing No Time for Love in The Belle Starr Story (1968)

Elsa Martinelli as Belle, sharing the story behind her life of crime in The Belle Starr Story (1968)

Halliday, one of the men who join the Belle Starr gang in The Belle Starr Story (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

Jackie, one of the men who join the Belle Starr gang in The Belle Starr Story (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

Frankie, one of the men who join the Belle Starr gang in The Belle Starr Story (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

Garcia, one of the men who join the Belle Starr gang in The Belle Starr Story (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?

Don Clark, the man willing to marry Belle for political favors in The Belle Starr Story (1968). Anyone know who plays this part?