Track of the Cat (1954)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I found TRACK OF THE CAT to be an interesting little character tale from William A. Wellman. The setting is a ranch set in the snowy wilderness, where the inhospitability of the exterior leads to a kind of 'pressure cooker' atmosphere inside. Spearheading the production is an against-type Robert Mitchum playing a really nasty piece of work, a loud-mouthed brute and bully who spends his time browbeating his family members. What follows is slow-paced but rather engaging, with some decent plot twists taking place and lots of suspense.

Domineering middle child Robert Mitchum and his mother holds the rest of the family under their thumb, especially youngest child Tab Hunter, whom Mitchum takes particular delight in brow-beating. Tensions boil over on a snowy Winter, when a dangerous mountain lion descends on the valley and begins to kill livestock.Not an outdoor adventure, this is instead a depressing, talky frontier drama full of irritating, unsympathetic characters. There's some good performances, especially by the female cast members, though little else to offer the average film-goer looking for escapist entertainment.Similarly themed and much more exciting, was the low-budget 1949 film The Big Cat, directed by Phil Karlson and starring Preston Foster and Forrest Tucker. In that one you at least get to see the cat!

An ambitious but ultimately unsatisfying western that is bound to irritate fans beyond measure, "Track of the Cat" (1954) is an uneasy mix of hunting-the-cat action and sub-Eugene O'Neill playwriting, complete with jarring comic relief and loquacious but indecisive moralizing. Unfortunately, the former is given the short end of the stick in this irritatingly static production which spends an undue amount of time indoors. Mitchum tries hard to hold the film together, but although he plays the main character, he has the least footage. Beulah Bondi and Philip Tonge dominate the action to such an extent, they tend to push the other players off the screen. Only Mitch can stand up to them but he disappears for long stretches. Despite her second billing, Teresa Wright is hardly in the movie at all. Diana Lynn is better served by script and director, but the best performance is delivered by Carl Switzer as an aged Indian.

Track of the Cat (1954) ** (out of 4) Strange but ultimately disappointing family drama hiding behind the Western/Adventure genres. The film tells the story of a dysfunctional family stranded on a ranch during the 1880s. The family is bullied around by the middle son (Robert Mitchum) and his mother (Beulah Bondi) but the others begin to rise up as Mitchum is out tracking a deadly mountain lion. Okay, this is a film I had been wanting to watch for many years but within twenty-minutes I knew I was in trouble and the film never picked up. I was really shocked at how boring this film was considering Wellman was directing it and apparently this was a pet project of his. I'm not sure where to start but I guess we can mention all the family drama stuff, which naturally gets blamed on a bully and a religious freak. All of the drama here lacks any real drama and in fact all the characters just come off so obnoxious that I didn't care what happened to them. Another problem is the entire "track of the cat" with Mitchum wondering around without much to do. It seems Wellman never tries to build any tension in these scenes and one has to wonder why it was even in the story. I'm going to guess the cat was used to throw out that "good vs. evil" theme but it never works. I was also pretty disappointed in Mitchum's performance, which was dry and rather dull but then again I didn't care for any of the other performances either. It was strange seeing Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer in the role of the elderly Indian and he certainly comes off the best. What does keep the film going is its beautiful cinematography captured in all its 2.55:1 glory. The scenery is another reason to watch the film with the snow covered mountains really coming off quite beautiful.