cinema obscura: Lamont Johnson's "Cattle Annie and Little Britches" (1981)

"Scarily brilliant."

That's how Pauline Kael described Amanda Plummer in her screen debut in Lamont Johnson's wonderful "Cattle Annie and Little Britches" in 1981.

That was enough to whet the appetites of all cinéphiles - and, apparently, enough also to end Plummer's promising film career. "Scarily brilliant" is not exactly what American movie studios - or American audiences - expect or seek from film actresses. In Europe perhaps, but certinly not America.

Which may explain why Plummer's presence on screen since '81 has been sporadic and rare. Our loss, indeed. I would have gone with "sublime."

"Cattle Annie and Little Britches," an eccentric little Western, fit Plummer's odd persona like a glove. It's a true-life, saddle-soap saga about two teenagers, 19th-century variety, in thrall of outlaws and anarchy. Its source material was David Ward's 1977 novel of the same title. Ward collaborated with  David Eyre on the screenplay.

The girl's obsession with - and stalking of - the notorious Doolin-Dalton gang is vaguely reminiscent of another film about willful teenage girls in pursuit of an evasive, forbidden fantasy.

Johnson's film is essentially "The World of Henry Orient," only with horses - and with its own brand of idiocyncrasy. And it's irresistible.

Plummer plays Annie and Diane Lane is Jenny, who is dubbed "Little Britches" by Bill Doolin, himself - played by Burt Lancaster, himself.

In what is clearly a teenage girl's wet dream, sagebrush-style, Cattle Annie and Little Britches play a crucial role in helping the notorious Doolin-Dalton gang save Bill from jail time before being sent off to a reformatory themselves.

The supporting cast includes Rod Steiger, John Savage and, of course, Scott Glenn, but the real driving force here is director Lamont Johnson, who paid his dues doing TV movies (including the fine televison film version of the play, "My Sweet Charlie") before seguing into films with such titles as "The Mackenzie Break" (1970), "A Gunfight" (1971), Jeff Bridges' "The Last American Hero" (1973) and the criminally underrated Farrah Fawcett gem, "Somebody Killed Her Husband" (1978), also starring Bridges. Lamont Johnson passed on October 24, 2010 at 88.

Getting back to Plummer, the same year that Johnson's film was released, she appeared on stage in New York - to wide acclaim - as Jo, the working-class heroine of Shelagh Delaney’s play "A Taste of Honey" - a role made famous on stage by Joan Plowright and on film by Rita Tushingham. A year after the revival of "A Taste of Honey," Plummer won a Tony for her work in "Agnes of God." She is, of course, the daughter of the late Tammy Grimes (Unsinkable Molly Brown herself) and Christopher Plummer. She has her mother's voice and her father's face - a terrific combo.

There was once a planned revival of the Horton Foote play, "Tomorrow" (the basis of the Robert Duvall film), starring Plummer and Scott Wilson. It sounded most promising but it never materialized. A missed opportunity.

Now about Diane Lane, one of the little girls of the 1970s who turned in major performances (see Note below). Lane made her debut in George Roy Hill's "A Little Romance," which also owes a thing or two to "The World of Henry Orient" - which was directed by ... Hill. "Cattle Annie and Little Britches" was Lane's third film. She was 16 when she made it. (Plummer was 24.) Unlike her co-star, Lane has had an auspicious movie career, having appeared in 50+ titles. Much like Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood before her, Lane made a seamless journey from child actress to adult star.

Note in Passing: The similarly uncommon - singular - Kristy McNichol was also a victim of the same period that failed to nurture Amanda Plummer. McNichol also disappeared from the screen, although perhaps for different reasons. But that's the subject of another - future - essay.

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(from top) 

~Diane Lane and Amanda Plummer as Little Britches and Cattle Annie
~photography: Universal Pictures 1981©

~Dustjacket for the first edition of "Cattle Annie and Little Britches"
~William Morrow & Co. 1977©

~The real Cattle Annie and Little Britches