C.A.T. Squad
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''C.A.T. Squad'' (also titled ''Stalking Danger'') is a 1986
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
starring
Joseph Cortese Joseph Cortese (born February 22, 1948) is an American actor who had major roles in films such as ''Windows'' (1980), '' Evilspeak'' (1981) and ''Monsignor'' (1982). Early life Cortese was born on February 22, 1948 in Paterson, New Jersey. He ...
,
Jack Youngblood Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
, Steve James,
Bradley Whitford Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
, and
Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series '' Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awar ...
. It is
directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
by
William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the " New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in ...
and written by Gerald Petievich, who had collaborated on ''To Live and Die in L.A.'' the previous year. The original score was composed by Ennio Morricone. The film follows the titular squad, an elite
black ops A black operation or black op is a covert or clandestine operation by a government agency, a military unit or a paramilitary organization; it can include activities by private companies or groups. Key features of a black operation are that it i ...
unit, investigating a terrorist plot to sabotage a
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
defense project. It aired on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
on July 27, 1986. It was followed by a sequel, '' C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf'', in 1988.


Plot

After the murder of several scientists around the world who are working on Project Grass Valley,
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
's space-based laser weapon system, a special inter-governmental task force known as the Counter Assault Tactical (C.A.T.) Squad is assigned to protect the remaining scientists and ideally to neutralize the threat, whose origin is unknown. A team is composed of leader Richard "Doc" Burkholder (
Joseph Cortese Joseph Cortese (born February 22, 1948) is an American actor who had major roles in films such as ''Windows'' (1980), '' Evilspeak'' (1981) and ''Monsignor'' (1982). Early life Cortese was born on February 22, 1948 in Paterson, New Jersey. He ...
), a ruthless man with a dancer girlfriend who wants him to marry her so that she does not have to take back her ex-husband to raise their daughter, his second-in-command Bud Raines ( Steve James), whose wife fears that he will miss the teenage years of his hearing-impaired son's life, John "Roadmaster" Sommers (
Jack Youngblood Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
), an explosives expert who hates urban centers and has to be collected from his hunting grounds in rural Alaska, Nikki Blake (
Patricia Charbonneau Patricia Charbonneau (born April 19, 1959) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the part of Cay Rivvers in ''Desert Hearts,'' her first film role and for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female L ...
), a forensics expert, and new recruit Leon Trepper (
Bradley Whitford Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
), a young language expert whose graduation is fast-tracked so that he can join the mission. When one of the protected scientists is killed by a rocket the team requests any recent reports including the terms "rocket" or "rocket launcher" and is informed that a rocket launcher has been stolen from a military base in
Nuremberg, Germany Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ci ...
. There they interrogate a young soldier who admits that he stole it for a supposed Nicaraguan freedom fighter with a medical background named "Alain" and provides the address of the man's girlfriend in Paris. An agent finds materials for counterfeiting passports along with the suspect's photo in the apartment but is attacked by the hitman while calling in the information to the C.A.T. Squad. The squad find the remains of a burnt postcard and Blake uncovers a coded message in invisible ink. Using a computer she deciphers the message as "Spivek", the head of Project Grass Valley and likely the next person to be killed. They place Spivek under protection and investigate the address of a man nearby who has been switching license plates. There they subdue a guard and find the tenant, a former Mossad agent now working for the Secret Service who wants to find the killer himself because he believes that the suspect is also responsible for the death of an Israeli diplomat. He allows the team to temporarily head the investigation for a few weeks and provides them with information about an older man who is instructing the hitman. Nikki obtains information from a prostitute that one of her tricks will be earning a lot of money from a hit to be performed on the university campus, but the prostitute is revealed to be working with the hitman and has provided them false information in order to mislead them. An unannounced and unauthorized gas truck passes by the house where they are hiding Spivek so they search the house with a dog, who senses a gas leak. The team rushes the family outside to safety shortly before the house explodes. For failing to report the gas truck, Trepper is demoted from house watchman to permanent limo driver. Three assassins arrive at the team's hotel to surprise them but are chased down and killed. On their bodies they find more counterfeit passports and Nikki determines that they were created using the same paper cutter as the previously found passports and that their creation would require sophisticated equipment that would only be in the possession of a government, not a lone individual. The hitman uses a counterfeit ID infiltrate the home of and kill the policeman assigned as motorcycle escort for Spivek in order to take his identity. The hitman, now disguised as a motorcycle policeman, places a bomb on the car he is escorting. Trepper, driving the car, senses something is wrong and tells Roadmaster to get the passenger out. Roadmaster and their passenger escape but Trepper's door is stuck shut and he is trapped in the vehicle when it explodes. It is revealed that he was driving a decoy vehicle and Spivek is still alive in another car with Doc, Bud, and Nikki. When they find the burning wreckage Nikki cries and Doc blames himself. They piece together information pointing them to Sir Cyril Sharpe (
Michael Sinelnikoff Michael Sinelnikoff (born 1 August 1928) is a British actor. He is known for his role as Professor Arthur Summerlee on the television series ''Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World'', and has been seen in a variety of film roles such as ''300 ...
), curator of the British Museum of World Art, connecting the timing of his movements to the murders, and attempt to identify the person he is meeting with in their photographs. Doc recognizes a scar on the hand of the other man in the photograph and identifies him as Jorge Vialobos (
Eddie Velez Edwin Velez (born June 4, 1958) is an American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for playing Frankie Santana in the final season of the American action and adventure television series ''The A-Team''. Early life and education ...
), also known as "Carlos", a terrorist-for-hire believed to be already dead. Bud remembers him from a Rome airport attack but Doc knows him from the assassination of the Royal Governor in Jamaican in 1980 and the bombing of a Paris drugstore in 1982. They know that Jorge works with Dieter Porzig, a German
bush pilot Bush flying refers to aircraft operations carried out in the bush. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally ...
in
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
who spends his time near the border in
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. They draw the hitman out of his hiding place in Mexico by sending a postcard in the same style as the burnt one they previously found, then allow him to notice the members of the C.A.T. Squad following him, causing him to gather the rest of his men together for an escape in a private plane. The C.A.T. Squad follows them and catches his men outside of the plane while Doc enters the plane and shoots Jorge in a final showdown. At the end of the film Doc files a brief report to the Director and says goodbye to his girlfriend, who is moving to
Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...
to reunite with her ex-husband. "Carlos" is then shown stepping off of a bus in Mexico.


Cast

*
Joseph Cortese Joseph Cortese (born February 22, 1948) is an American actor who had major roles in films such as ''Windows'' (1980), '' Evilspeak'' (1981) and ''Monsignor'' (1982). Early life Cortese was born on February 22, 1948 in Paterson, New Jersey. He ...
as Richard "Doc" Burkholder *
Jack Youngblood Herbert Jackson Youngblood III (born January 26, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
as John "Roadmaster" Sommers * Steve James as Bud Raines *
Bradley Whitford Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...
as Leon Trepper *
Patricia Charbonneau Patricia Charbonneau (born April 19, 1959) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing the part of Cay Rivvers in ''Desert Hearts,'' her first film role and for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female L ...
as Nikki Blake *
Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series '' Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awar ...
as The Director *
Eddie Velez Edwin Velez (born June 4, 1958) is an American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for playing Frankie Santana in the final season of the American action and adventure television series ''The A-Team''. Early life and education ...
as "Carlos"/Jorge Vialobos *Frank Military as Willie Darby * Anna Maria Horsford as Mrs. Raines *
Thomas Hauff Thomas Hauff is an Austrian-born Canadian actor. He is most noted for his performance in the 1979 film '' Summer's Children'', for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best Actor at the 1st Genie Awards in 1980."The Changeling boasts to ...
as Nolan *
Vlasta Vrána Vlasta Vrána (born 1950), is a Canadian actor of Czech descent. Life and career Vrána, born to Czech parents in Norway, moved to Canada at age four. He made his feature-film debut in Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg's '' Shivers''. Vrána ...
as Colbert *Anne E. Curry as Janet *Sam Gray as Dr. Henry Spivek *
John Novak John Novak is a Canadian voice, film and television actor who frequently does work for the Ocean Productions based in Vancouver, Canada. Biography He was born in Venezuela to Canadian parents who were visiting the country. He has also starred ...
as Connery


Production

Filming took place in
Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000,0 ...
,
Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
and
Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
, Québec.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090783/locations?ref_=ttco_sa_5


Critical reception

Gannett News Service Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. It was "superbly directed" with "carefully composed shots". Despite its lack of star actors, Hughes insisted that "the more you watch ''C.A.T. Squad'', the more you admire it".


References


External links

* {{William Friedkin
1986 films 1986 television films 1980s English-language films 1986 action films American action television films Films directed by William Friedkin Films scored by Ennio Morricone Films set in Mexico Television pilots not picked up as a series