Cat Chaser

source: Cat Chaser

Yeah, I know it's a flawed film, I mean, I caught it one night, LATE at night, on cable TV when I was a kid. HBO to be specific and at an hour reserved for only failed and low quality films. In other words, I found it at a place where movies go to die. The equivalent of the bargain box at a toy store. But, I liked it. It wasn't the usual thriller and that's saying a lot given that thrillers, like action movies, all have relatively the same plot. They tend to be like the Harley Davidson store crowd as in they all dress the same and claim they are rebels. Cat Chaser was something different. The plot stood out. Peter Weller did as best a job he could. The cast did as best a job as they could. It was just, the director didn't really know what to do with the script, which was, I learned, (thank you IMDB) based on an Elmore Leonard novel...and that sort of says it all. The writer, Elmore Leonard, isn't exactly a literary great. He has an irritating vernacular. BUT, he also has a talent for creating unique characters and unique settings and situations and stringing them all together into a coherent plot. Leonard is a pulp writer, but he was a pulp writer that was original in his approach to just about everything and his stories are a pleasure to read. And, when, like this one, they are adapted to the big screen, that uniqueness carries over. Even in a bad film, as this one was--albeit a bad film with good acting--it becomes a story that you haven't really encountered before and you won't encounter again. So give it a watch, it's Elmore Leonard, you aren't seeing a great film, but you are going to see a story you haven't encountered before, and to me, that alone is worth 10 out of 10 stars. Don't rate it on it's cinematic prowess, watch it for the plot, it's new, it's original, and, even if its badly done, we need a lot more of that, especially now, when almost everything we see is exactly like almost everything else we are seeing.

Despite having some notable people in the roles of writer, director, and actor, "Cat Chaser" was never given a theatrical release. It may have been because Vestron Pictures was always struggling when it came to releasing its movies since it never had as much money as the major studios had when it came to marketing and distribution. But I think the real reason for the movie going direct to video is that it isn't very good overall. Not everything about the movie is bad - the acting (especially by Charles Durning) is decent. But the movie ultimately sinks due to a combination of unspectacular locations (which are also flatly photographed) and a story that after the first twenty minutes makes very little sense afterwards. The trivia section says the rough cut ran 157 minutes - obviously A LOT of explanation was taken away in the editing room. If I ever get the chance to see the 157 minute version someday, I'll give the movie another chance. Until then, this is a movie to avoid.

Of all the Leonard stories put to film, this to me is the best. The voice-over along with the visuals carry the book's feel, both plot and dialogue. Peter Weller has a subtleness that breaks through his seeming deadpan, and Charles Durning couldn't be better at ambiguity. Kelly McGillis is more than a pretty and sexy figure. All the characters are mixtures of good and not so good, and as typical Leonard characters they work out the balances of their desires. The direction is great. It keeps you moving, wondering, and figuring out the mystery. The story has several components that mix well as they are revealed. And there is the basis of reality to this film. It helps to recall the invasion of the Dominican Republic and the practices of torture attributed to the head of police at the time. One of this films wonderful attributes is the score by jazz pianist/composer Chick Corea. It surprises me that no one has mentioned it. And lastly, let me say that the film is exciting. Viewing after viewing it holds up well.

"Cat Chaser" is an uninspired and confused novel knock-off which doesn't equal the sum of its many talented parts. The film involves romance, lust, greed, murder, deceit, etc. but comes off flat, one dimensional, and lacking the passion of its plot. An okay journeyman B-flick which should have been better but still has its moments and might satisfy the needy couch potato.

It took many years before an Elmore Leonard book was given celluloid justice - Jackie Brown. However, this is a brave stab mainly thanks to an interesting cast, notably a sleazy Charles Durning in an unusual role. It takes all of about five minutes to realise that this is not a Ferrara movie, the Direction is haphazard and uninspiring. Weller does his best but the character is so one-dimensional, he becomes a supporting character in his own movie. This movie has a lot of promise and deserves a revisit, casting maybe a George Clooney, Alec Baldwin or Val Kilmer in the Moran role. File under forgettable Eighties thriller.

Cat Chaser had a fair amount of promise from the start. Its director is the maverick Abel Ferrara who was responsible for such transgressive movies as The Driller Killer and The Bad Lieutenant, while its story is sourced from a novel by crime genre master Elmore Leonard. It has an interesting cast which has Peter Weller in the lead role, with a very good support. Charles Durning turns in the best performance as a sleazy sidekick. Tomas Milian is the chief baddie but looks almost unrecognisable from his days as an icon in 70's Italian movies. Kelly McGillis puts in a very uninhibited performance that includes a fair amount of full frontal nudity and a tough scene where she is abused by Milian. Frederic Forrest also stars, although his character doesn't really have a lot to do other than fall in swimming pools. Despite the good personnel Cat Chaser lacks a certain overall impetus. Its story feels more than a little bit confused at times. The whole plot-line involving Weller's character travelling to the Caribbean to revisit a girl who saved his life years earlier is, to put it mildly, under-developed. It really could have been removed with no damage to the film in the slightest. I think the tales of the film being heavily re-edited by the studio would explain the somewhat haphazard cut of the film we have. The hand of Ferrara is only occasionally felt, most notably in a couple of shocking scenes. The aforementioned sequence involving McGillis is one, the other occurs later on where two men are stripped naked and shot to death. Both are pretty shocking for sure. Although you have to think this movie should have been better, it's overall a decent enough flick.

This movie was beset by corporate problems which may account for its rough edges. Elmore Leonard is one of the best detective story writers today, but even as a co-script writer, he couldn't do much with this confusing picture, made from one of his books (a terrific read, incidentally). .Aside from the beautiful art direction, an excellent Chick Correa score that's never gotten much play, and a nicely edgy appearance by the late Charles Durning, the poor man's Sidney Greenstreet, "Cat Chaser," set in the sultry, tropical Dominican Republic, is like wasting away in Margueritaville, sans Margueritas. .One saving grace is the dialogue -- vintage Elmore Leonard, especially the lines given to Charles Durning's character. Leonard is at the top of his game here and Durning's delivery, in his patented New York Irish accent, doesn't let him down. Peter Weller and Kelly McGillis are as unfetching a couple as possible. Director Abel Ferrara has done much better work elsewhere.

It's no secret that "Cat Chaser" was taken away from director Abel Ferrara and slapped together by committee right around the time of the Vestron bankruptcy. Consequently, Ferrara has disavowed this film. But he shouldn't. While it has some murky plotting, no doubt due to the re-editing, it's quite an interesting, evocative adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel. Ferrara always impresses with his sharp direction, and the wonderful art direction really captures the feel of sleazy bars, motel rooms, and the Dominican Republic. Peter Weller is fine, Kelly McGillis is quite uninhibited in her numerous * scenes, and it's fun to hear Charles Durning pronounce "toilet" as "tur-let." "Cat Chaser" is a lost treasure from the late 80's worthy of rediscovery and a director's edition DVD.

Could have been so much more, given the supporting cast and Elmore Leonard's script, but it's a flat beer of a movie. Maybe Ferrara got homesick, but the pacing and editing is unusually lethargic, so perhaps impending bankruptcy was driving the whole production into the throes of despair. The performances are so underwhelming as to be invisible. Weller is a B-movie actor. Robocop is still his finest hour. McGillis looks fairly lantern-jawed and mannish throughout. Was Ferrara taking the mickey by shooting her profile so often?. Tree-like in every scene, could anyone seriously find her charms so irresistible? The bogus history lessons and lightweight back story are dull as ditchwater. And the mushy love scenes between the two leads just don't cut it. A clunker for completists. Catch it on afternoon TV if you're paralysed from the neck up. Hard to believe that Ferrara had anything at all to do with this movie.