Belle Starr (film)

Belle Starr is a 1941 American drama film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Randolph Scott, Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Shepperd Strudwick. Written by Lamar Trotti and based on a story by Niven Busch and Cameron Rogers, it was produced by Kenneth Macgowan for 20th Century Fox, and shot in Technicolor.

The film is very loosely based on the life of 19th-century American outlaw Belle Starr. It was the second film and the first sound film to portray Starr on the screen, and its success led to many more such portrayals, although she was fairly obscure during her lifetime.

Plot

After her family's mansion is burned down by Yankee soldiers for hiding the rebel leader Captain Sam Starr (Randolph Scott), Belle Shirley (Gene Tierney) vows to take revenge. Breaking Starr out of prison, she joins his small guerrilla group for a series of raids on banks and railroads, carpetbaggers and enemy troops. Belle's bravado during the attacks earns her a reputation among the locals as well as the love of Starr himself. The pair get married, but their relationship starts to break down when Sam Starr lets a couple of psychotic rebels into the gang, leaving Belle to wonder if he really cares about the Southern cause.