Today, I present another Hayley Mills/Disney movie, her sixth and final Disney movie (not including The Parent Trap sequels of which there are 3) and I was quite pleasantly surprised by this movie. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
A Brief Summary
(Taken from D23)
A siamese cat named D.C. stumbles upon the hideout where two bank robbers are keeping a woman bank teller prisoner. When the woman manages to slip her wristwatch around his neck, D.C. saunters from the hideout to the Randall family with whom he lives. When 19-year-old Patti Randall recognizes the wristwatch as belonging to the woman teller, the FBI is called in to watch D.C.’s every move. The young FBI agent working the case follows D.C., despite his allergic reaction to the animal, and in due time the bank robbers are collared and their prisoner set free.
What works
- The audience is introduced from the get-go that this is no ordinary cat at the center of this movie. The opening credits song made that fairly clear.
- While watching the 2nd viewing, I realized I hadn’t paid enough attention during the 1st viewing, and I missed seeing why DC followed the robber in the first place (the guy had bought fish/groceries, and DC wanted food).
- One of my greatest appreciations of this movie is that Miss Miller (the bank teller) is a calm victim. She’s smart and not only gives DC her watch (after engraving, or trying to engrave, HELP on the back) but also just keeping a level head so that she could survive.
- I like the dynamics between the two robbers and then between the pair of them and Miss Miller. A good mix and enough of a balance to avoid a cartoonish setup.
- As a second (or third) note, I like that we get scene updates of the robbers/Miss Miller. It keeps the stakes high during the movie.
- When I first watched this, I thought the first half of the movie dragged before enjoying the second half. But now, I’m enjoying the first half a lot more. It’s more dialogue-focused than action-based, but the quality is still there.
- Great casting, which makes the dialogue that much better.
- I’m such a sucker for good dialogue.
- There was good pacing throughout the movie and great build-up towards the climax. I’m a fan.
- Kelso’s allergy to cats is a great obstacle to get over, making for some great gags.
- Kelso & Patti are great together. It helps that there’s not a romantic tie between the two.
- Most scenes with Patti and Canoe are great. They’re a lot of fun together. During my first viewing, I wasn’t too sure, but now I’m a fan.
- Mrs. McDougall is a fab nosey character. Perfect for the suburban neighborhood setting
- Not just A fab nosey character, she is THE fab nosey character. Flawless insanity.
- I love how the FBI finds AND VISITS the building where Miss Miller is, BUT THEY DON’T KNOW because DC is just a cat.
- I love, absolutely love that the rest of the FBI agents don’t know what the house looks like that Kelso has been using for a base.
- From the FBI side, it’s pretty cohesive and believable. Just enough given to say ‘yeah, this could work’ and then proceed with the plan.
- The irony of writing that the FBI is pretty cohesive and believable after writing two notes about how they ignore locations (especially that they don’t know where the info base is that Kelso is using). I promise that they do seem like fairly competent agents, just with minor-ish flaws.
- Roddy McDowell as the pinhead Gregory was perfection. His uptight behavior was just so entertaining to watch.
What may or may not work
- Seriously, I’m as shocked as you. But when I went through my notes, organizing which category each note would go into, this section remained BLANK. So clearly, any flaw from this movie was so inconsequential that it didn’t and doesn’t take away from me enjoying this movie.
Honorable Mentions
- Fave quotes
- “Night of the Surfer; Surfer Beach Party; Rick, Son of Surf; Sinbad the Surfer. Canoe, do you ever get the spooky feeling that we keep seeing the same movie over and over? And all they do is change the titles a little. Couldn’t we just once see a nice quiet movie where boy meets girl, they have problems which aren’t too weird, they fall in love and live happily ever after?” -Patti
- “Now why would you want to see a lot of unhealthy stuff like that?” – Canoe
- “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe just once I’d like to go to a movie where I don’t get seasick.” – Patti
- “Alright, I’ll make you a deal. You go with me to the drive-in Thursday night and next time I’ll take you to one of those happily ever after clambakes. Deal?” -Canoe
- “Nevertheless, they happen to represent two separate and distinct members of the opposite sex.” (Mrs. McDougall)
- ‘Don’t you want to see how the government spends your tax money?” Patti to Ingrid
- Patti then proceeds to stuff her in a closet for Kelso to find (and to test the tracker collar).
- “I hope you realize, Ingrid, that Mother is going to take this all very badly.”
- Doesn’t she usually?”
- “Ingrid! There’s no reason for you to cast a slur upon my mother. At least she, after all, is an innocent party.” Gregory and Ingrid
- The music during the drive-in movie scene is wonderful. I would actually add and listen to that in my movie scores playlist.
- Mrs. McDougall’s husband reports her to the police (and then runs away before she gets back from the police station)
Side Questions
- if (the robber) he’s so worried about the landlady, why doesn’t he just go in through the back door always? Why have a back door if not to use it?
- What does Patti do with her life? Because Patti has nowhere she has to be and has so much (endless) free time. Not that it really matters to the story, but I’m super curious.
Would I watch this movie again?
- Yes. Absolutely. Most definitely. I wasn’t expecting to like this when I first started watching (3 not-so-great Hayley Mills films had worn me down) but my goodness, this was so much fun.
If you’ve seen That Darn Cat!, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with The Monkey’s Uncle
Fast Forward to the next film with The Ugly Dachshund
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