The Ballad of Josie is a 1967 Technicolor American comedy Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Doris Day, Peter Graves, and George Kennedy. It humorously tackles 1960s themes of feminism in a traditional Western setting.
The film featured the last acting role for William Talman. It was filmed on two locations in Thousand Oaks, California: North Ranch and Wildwood Regional Park.
Contents
Plot
Josie is a young woman living in the fictitious Arapahoe County, Wyoming. She accidentally kills her abusive alcoholic husband when she opens a bedroom door and knocks him backward down the stairs. She is put on trial for his death but is acquitted. Her father-in-law gets custody of her young son and takes him to Cheyenne to live while she tries to build a life as a rancher. Josie then incurs the annoyance of her male cattle rancher neighbors by raising sheep north of the Wyoming deadline) and setting up a women's suffrage movement.
Cast
Doris Day as Josie Minick
Peter Graves as Jason Meredith
George Kennedy as Arch Ogden
Andy Devine as Judge Tatum
William Talman as District Attorney Charlie Lord
David Hartman as Sheriff Fonse Pruitt
Guy Raymond as Doc
Audrey Christie as Annabelle Pettijohn
Karen Jensen as Deborah Wilkes
Elisabeth Fraser as Widow Renfrew
Linda Meiklejohn as Jenny McCardle
Shirley O'Hara as Elizabeth
Timothy Scott as Klugg The Sheepherder
Don Stroud as Bratsch The Sheepherder
Paul Fix as Alpheus Minick
Harry Carey as Mooney, Meredith's Foreman
John Fiedler as Simpson, general store owner
Robert Lowery as Whit Minick, town drunk
Teddy Quinn as Luther Minick, Josie's son
Edward Faulkner as Juror/Liveryman