Cat Chaser (1989)

Absolutely Fantastic

A Disappointing Continuation

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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.

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.

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.

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 nude 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.