Development faced casting changes and production delays due to Gene Tierney's health issues, but the film's eventual success cemented its place among romanticized portrayals of the Old West.

When her husband has not yet returned, Belle is visited by her brother, who warns her of the actions of these expeditions, which rob and kill at the instigation of the new recruits, who mercilessly slaughter him without his sister noticing.

In her grief she learns from her husband that he has done this kind of thing, and when she offers to take him to Texas he refuses, wanting to carry out one last mission to kidnap a governor.

In front of the assassin, he denies that the body is that of his wife so that the thief doesn't get the money, and the Major lets him do it, saddened by the death of the woman he has always loved.

Styled as a romanticized Technicolor biopic, it portrayed the life of Old West outlaw queen Belle Starr, born Myra Maybelle Shirley on February 5, 1848, near Medoc, Missouri.

20th Century Fox acquired the story rights and employed screenwriters Harvey F. Thew, John L. Balderston, and Sonya Levien for treatments or outlines, although their contributions to the final script are unclear.

Actress Gene Tierney was ultimately cast in the title role after extensive auditions involving other stars such as Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, and Paulette Goddard.

[2] Legal disputes arose during production, including threats of litigation from Belle Starr's granddaughter, Flossie E. Hutton, over the depiction of her grandmother's life.

[2] Denis Saurat, reviewing for The Guardian, commended Belle Starr for its dignified blend of Western and historical romance but noted it lacks the genre's usual vitality.