That Darn Cat! facts for kids
Quick facts for kids That Darn Cat! |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Stevenson |
| Produced by | Walt Disney Bill Walsh Ron W. Miller |
| Screenplay by | Gordon Gordon Mildred Gordon Bill Walsh |
| Starring | Hayley Mills Dean Jones Dorothy Provine Roddy McDowall Neville Brand Frank Gorshin |
| Music by | Robert F. Brunner |
| Cinematography | Edward Colman |
| Editing by | Cotton Warburton |
| Studio | Walt Disney Productions |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
| Release date(s) | December 2, 1965 |
| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Money made | $28,068,222 |
That Darn Cat! is a 1965 American thriller comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Hayley Mills and Dean Jones in a story about bank robbers, a kidnapping and a mischievous cat; produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film was based on the 1963 novel Undercover Cat by Gordon and Mildred Gordon. The title song was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by Bobby Darin. The 1997 remake includes a cameo appearance by Dean Jones.
That Darn Cat! was both Hayley Mills' last film of the six she appeared in for the Walt Disney Studios, and Dean Jones' first film for Disney. Mills later said it was a mistake to leave Disney.
Plot
"Darn Cat" or "DC" is a wily, adventurous Siamese tomcat who lives with young suburbanite sisters Ingrid "Inky" and Patricia "Patti" Randall and enjoys an evening route wandering thru town which includes teasing local dogs, swiping food, and marking vehicles with muddy paws.
One night, DC follows bank robber Iggy into an apartment where he and his partner Dan are holding bank employee Miss Margaret Miller hostage. Miss Miller uses the opportunity to replace his collar with her watch, on which she has inscribed most of the word "HELP," and releases him to go home to the Randalls.
Patti discovers the watch on DC and suspects that it belongs to the kidnapped woman. She goes to the FBI and tells Agent Zeke Kelso of her discovery, and Supervisor Newton assigns Kelso to follow DC in the hope that he will lead them back to the robbers' hideout.
Kelso sets up a headquarters in the Randalls' house and assigns a team to keep the cat under surveillance, but, despite multiple attempts and a bugging system, DC eludes them in humiliating and comedic ways, culminating in a chase where he leads Agent Kelso through several back yards and a drive-in theatre. As DC ends up trying to open a pigeon cage and is discovered by the owner Gregory Benson, who is in Ingrid's carpool, chases DC and Kelso and, out of frustration, tells Ingrid he is leaving her carpool. The next day agent Kelso's supervisor Newton shuts down the operation, considering the evidence of the watch not hard enough, but Patti disguises herself as the hippie niece of her friend Mr. Hoffsteddar the jeweler and persuades the FBI that the watch was indeed hard evidence. Patti and Kelso rescue Miss Miller and bring the robbers to justice.
Subplots involve a romance between Patti's sister Ingrid and Kelso as he joins her new carpool, and a romance between Patti herself and a surf-obsessed slacker neighbor, Canoe Henderson, and the meddling of nosy neighbor Mrs. MacDougall and her disapproving husband, Wilmer MacDougall. At the end, it is revealed that a gray cat in the opening sequence and DC are taking their kittens on the prowl, having started a family.
Cast
- Syn Cat the Siamese cat as D.C. (Darn Cat)
- Hayley Mills as Patricia "Patti" Randall
- Dean Jones as FBI Agent Zeke Kelso
- Dorothy Provine as Ingrid Randall
- Roddy McDowall as Gregory Benson
- Neville Brand as Dan
- Frank Gorshin as Iggy
- Elsa Lanchester as Mrs. MacDougall
- William Demarest as Mr. Wilmer MacDougall
- Tom Lowell as Canoe Henderson
- Ed Wynn as Mr. Hofstedder the Jeweller
- Richard Eastham as FBI Supervisor Mr. Newton
- Liam Sullivan as Agent Graham
- Grayson Hall as Ms. Margaret Miller
- Iris Adrian as Mrs. Tabin the Landlady
- Richard Deacon as the drive-in theater manager
- Ben Lessy as Burton the drive-in concessionaire
- Don Dorrell as Spires
- Gene Blakely as Cahill
- Karl Held as Kelly
Production
The exterior neighborhood scenes were filmed on The Walt Disney Studios backlot in Burbank, California.
Each of the Seal Point Siamese cats who collectively play the role of DC is a so-called "traditional" or "old style" Siamese, as opposed to the more dainty, long and tubular modern Siamese show cat. One of the cats used for the film belonged to longtime cat breeder Edith Williams, a member of the Stud Book Fanciers Association. One of the feline actors also starred, along with two dogs, in Disney's 1963 film The Incredible Journey.
Awards and nominations
The film's writers, Mildred Gordon, Gordon Gordon, and Bill Walsh, were nominated by the Writers Guild of America for Best Written American Comedy. The film was also nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture, and a Golden Leaf nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Elsa Lanchester). Mills won the 1966 second place Golden Leaf award for Comedy Performance, Actress. The Sherman Brothers won the third place Golden Leaf award for Best Song.
Comic book adaptation
- Gold Key: That Darn Cat (February 1966)
See also
In Spanish: Un gato del FBI (película de 1965) para niños
- List of American films of 1965
