THAT DARN CAT
US, 1997, 89 minutes, Colour.
Christina Ricci, Doug E. Doug, Dean Jones, George Dzundza, Peter Boyle, Michael Mc Kean, Bess Armstrong, Dyan Cannon, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Parsons, Rebecca Schull.
Directed by Bob Spier.
Hayley Mills was very popular in the 1960s, making a number of classic films for Disney including Pollyanna and The Parent Trap. This is one of the last films, the literally fluffy entertainment with the focus on the cat who is able to reveal the whereabouts of an abducted maid leading to the solution of a crime.
This is a very light remake with Christina Ricci in the central role of Patty. The film has a very strong supporting cast with Bess Armstrong and Michael Mc Kean as her parents, George Dzundza as the FBI investigator, comedian Doug E.Doug (in Eddie Murphy vein) as a detective, Estelle Parsons is a dotty old lady, Peter Boyle and Rebecca Schull as discontented shopkeepers and Dean Jones, who was in the original film, and Dyan Cannon as an affluent Boston couple.
This is a shenanigans film, in police tracking the cat, arresting Patty’s father by false conclusions, clashing with the FBI agent, but all finally being resolved – with the shopkeepers revealed as the criminals, wanting money to go on extended holiday, and there is quite a raucous car chase before the happy ending.
1. 1990s version of a 1960s family entertainment? The updating to the 1990s? Characters, situations? Breezy style?
2. The city of Boston, the town outside? Impressions of the city and the town? Homes, police courts, precincts, shops and streets?
3. The comedy, situations, the cat? The action situations, following the cat, the premises, the car chase and all the smashes? The musical score?
4. Patty, sullen, school, bored, her essay about the town? Her relationship with her father, his doting? Her mother, picking her up, at home, the conversations?
5. The Flint family, the wife and her focus on her beauty, surgery? Her husband putting up with it? The abduction of their maid? The mistake? The police and enquiries?
6. The characters in the town, Pa and Ma at the shop, genial? The old lady at the balcony? The girl at the bakery and her not having a boyfriend? The police, inept? And the policeman ending up with the girl from the bakery?
7. Patty, the cat, the cat going out every night at eight, his date, the building with the abducted woman, her putting the watch on his neck, scratching help, Patty identifying the watch, the photo in the paper, her mother’s scepticism? Her parents going out for the meal, going to the police? The visit to the FBI?
8. Boetticher, his role in detection, with Zeke, Zeke and his eagerness, getting the coffee, going to the town? The set up with the police to follow the cat? Leading to the arrest of Patty’s father, his night in jail, his wife’s upset? The FBI complaining?
9. Patty, her initiatives, following the cat, the raid, freeing the woman?
10. The revelation that Pa and Ma were the criminals, their boredom in the town, getting the money, wanting to go on holidays – and the car chase throughout the town? Mahem?
11. The happy ending, Patty and her achievement, Zeke and his being congratulated?
