Cat Chaser

Strong performance from McGillis still doesn't help this confusing thriller from Abel Ferrera. In the unrated version, there is a scene with McGillis in bed where she is asked to strip down nude. When asked to lie down on the bed, her captor takes out a revolver and places it in a sensitive place. It's a horrific image to imagine what could happen but Ferera is known for pushing the envelope.

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.

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.

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.