That Darn Cat!

The novel, "That Darn Cat," was written by The Gordons and published a few years before the movie came out. I read the book and it's excellent. It's set in Los Angeles and clearly has an adult slant, although people of all ages who like mysteries would enjoy the novel. There was both humor and suspense in the book---but the movie was written like a sitcom and everyone acted too silly and zany. The movie should have been filmed on the streets of Los Angeles rather than the fake-looking backlot of Disney Studios! Obviously The Gordons (husband & wife mystery writers) knew that in order to turn their excellent novel into a Disney film (circa 1965) they had to write a screenplay that was bland and silly. The movie is okay but the novel is much better!

Funny, probably the most I've laughed at a Disney film so far. 'That Darn Cat!' is an entertaining production. The premise, whilst not incredibly executed, is amusing and very watchable. Cast-wise it's terrific, Hayley Mills and Dean Jones certainly raise everyone else up but all the characters are astutely cast. DC the cat is adorable, too. Mills plays Patti while Jones portrays Kelso. They both work very well together, I enjoyed both performances. Ed Wynn has, like in 'Those Calloways', a good short showing. No others stand out per se, but they all bring little things to their respective roles. I do wish they would've done more with the villains though, given they were nicely cast. What they give is decent, but they definitely could've played a bigger part. The film probably runs 10-15 minutes too long also. You should watch this if you get the opportunity, it makes for fun viewing.

Dean Jones made quite a few films for Disney, and "That Darn Cat!" was the first. As for Jones, he was pretty good in the movie. However, apart from that, it's not particularly good nor worth your time....mostly because the characters, apart from Jones, were poorly written and acted. The film has a strange plot, as it's VERY adult yet the acting and writing seemed as if it was aimed at kids no older than perhaps 10. How is it adult? Well, two bank robbers have taken a hostage and they plan on murdering her! However, using a Siamese cat, an FBI agent (Jones) and his tag-a-long assistant (Hayley Mills) investigate--using the cat to lead him to the vicious crooks(??). The plot was silly but the acting and characters were one-dimensional and silly....but not in a good way. In particular, the sister as well as her boyfriend were just awful and the characters seemed more like caricatures....just silly and impossible to believe.

"That Darn Cat!" is terrific entertainment. It's a thriller that's disguised as a family movie. Think about what's going on in this movie. There's kidnapping, murder plots, jealous lovers and a race against time. The villains are great because they play it straight. Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin both deliver excellent performances. They are bad guys. They're not the usual Disney bumbling villains. These guys are killers. The rest of the cast are also great. "That Darn Cat!" is very funny and surprisingly suspenseful. It's so refreshing to see a family movie that doesn't talk down to the kids in the audience. Honorable mention: Ed Wynn.

My main problem with Disney now is their live-action films. Although their animated features are miles ahead of every other company's (yes, they are), they seem to have forgotten to add the same quality to their live-action movies. Disney, give us more movies like "That Darn Cat!" (the remake never happened for me) "The Princess Diaries" was very good, in my opinion, but it's nowhere on the level of this movie. Like someone else said, this film doesn't talk down to children; it spurts big, clever words like "conspicuous" and doesn't care whether the kids will get it or not. This film is clever, fast and amazingly funny. In fact, I'm shocked it only got a measly 6 out of 10 here. It deserves much, much more.

I hadn't seen this movie in 30 years when my kids decided to rent it the other night! The cast is classic, from The Riddler(Batman), to Roddy McDowell, to Uncle Charlie(My Three Sons). And of course, Dean Jones and Haley Mills. It's one of those timeless, goofy Disney comedy classics that stands in a kitsch class of it's own! Ya gotta see it again! YMMV if you're a tweener at this point (too mature for it's cornball silliness, and too young to be nostalgic!)

This is probably about as good as the Disney comedies of the 50's and 60's get. I think one reason it works is that it doesn't exist in that goody-two-shoes world where many Disney films of the past took place. The crooks in this film are nasty guys, they steal, kidnap, and nearly beat and kill their female hostage. Not that that's a good thing, but it's certainly uncharacteristic for a Disney film. The script is also well written, the dialogue is, for the most part, believable. It does get a little too long toward the end though.