''That Darn Cat!'' is a 1965 American thriller

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

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 Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

. The film was based on the 1963 novel '' Undercover Cat'' by

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

and Mildred Gordon. The title song was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music. He started his career as a songwriter for Connie ...

. 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.

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 A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

. 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 A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early ...

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

* Hayley Mills as Patricia "Patti" Randall * Dean Jones as FBI Agent Zeke Kelso *

Dorothy Provine Dorothy Michelle Provine (January 20, 1935 – April 25, 2010) was an American singer, dancer and actress. Born in 1935 in Deadwood, South Dakota, she grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was hired in 1958 by Warner Bros., after which she first ...

as Ingrid Randall *

Roddy McDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1 ...

as Gregory Benson *

Neville Brand Lawrence Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 – April 16, 1992) was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and ''films noir'', and was nominated for a BAFTA Awa ...

as Dan * Frank Gorshin as Iggy *

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary '' Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the F ...

as Mrs. MacDougall *

William Demarest Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known especially for his roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and for playing Uncle Charley in the sitcom '' My Three Sons'' Demarest, ...

as Mr. Wilmer MacDougall *

Tom Lowell Lowell Thomas (born January 17, 1941) is an American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing baby-faced Pvt. Billy Nelson in the American drama television series ''Combat!''. Life and career Lowell was born in Philade ...

as Canoe Henderson *

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a d ...

as Mr. Hofstedder the Jeweller *

Richard Eastham Richard Eastham (born Dickinson Swift Eastham; June 22, 1916 – July 10, 2005) was an American actor of stage, film, and television, a concert singer known for his deep baritone voice, and an inventor. Early years Eastham's birth name was ...

as FBI Supervisor Mr. Newton * Liam Sullivan as Agent Graham * Grayson Hall as Ms. Margaret Miller *

Iris Adrian Iris Adrian Hostetter (May 29, 1912 – September 17, 1994) was an American stage, film actress and dancer. Life and career Adrian was an only child, born in Los Angeles, California, to Florence (née Van Every) and Adrian Earl Hostetter, who ...

as Mrs. Tabin the Landlady * Richard Deacon as the drive-in theater manager *

Ben Lessy Ben Lessy (April 29, 1902 – October 30, 1992) was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor. Early life He was born in New York City, New York. Career Lessy was known for a nightclub act done with Patti Moore, the long-ti ...

as Burton the drive-in concessionaire * Don Dorrell as Spires * Gene Blakely as Cahill *

Karl Held Carl Held (born September 19, 1931), sometimes credited as Karl Held and Christopher Held, is an American actor who has worked extensively in both American and British television. Career Held is best known for his role as Garth in the 1980s s ...

as Kelly

Production

The exterior neighborhood scenes were filmed on The Walt Disney Studios

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

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 ''The Incredible Journey'' (1961), by Scottish author Sheila Burnford, is a children's book first published by Hodder & Stoughton, which tells the story of three pets as they travel through the Canadian wilderness searching for their beloved m ...

''.

Reception

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote: "The feline that plays the informant, as the F.B.I. puts it, is superb.

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

at the peak of his performing never played a tom cat more winningly. This elegant, blue-eyed creature is a paragon of suavity and grace", and concluded, "it's an entertaining picture. Even a king might profitably look at ''That Darn Cat''". ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said: "Walt Disney comes up with a novelty charmer in this lilting translation of the Gordon's icwhimsical tale of a Siamese cat who helps the FBI solve a kidnapping case". Philip K. Scheuer of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' stated: "As a detective story, ''That Darn Cat!'' is strictly for juveniles and the juvenile-minded. It contains little of the step-by-step development which in good detective stories brings out the sleuthing in all of us, being content to settle for a series of gags in which that darn cat, a brownish Siamese, leads the FBI and others on a number of false scents till he and we finally barge in on the criminals". Richard L. Coe of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' declared: "''That Darn Cat'' is a dandy Christmas present for everyone except the Scrooges. Children will enjoy its pranks, adults its whimsy, cat-lovers its Siamese and even

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

won't mind this use of the FBI".

Brendan Gill Brendan Gill (October 4, 1914 – December 27, 1997) was an American journalist. He wrote for ''The New Yorker'' for more than 60 years. Gill also contributed film criticism for ''Film Comment'', wrote about design and architecture for Architectu ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' called the film "a typical product of the giant Disney flapdoodle factory, which for many years now has devoted itself to grinding out lavish falsifications of contemporary life". In September 1965,

Hedda Hopper Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry; May 2, 1885February 1, 1966) was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committ ...

reported Disney had commissioned a sequel from the Gordons enritled ''Undercover Cat Prowls Again'' but it was not made. The film holds a 94% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 16 reviews.

Awards and nominations

The film's writers, Mildred Gordon, Gordon Gordon, and Bill Walsh, were nominated by the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

for Best Written American Comedy. The film was also nominated for an

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

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)

References

External links

* * *
Darn Cat! DVD release review''

The film's profile in the Numbers
{{DEFAULTSORT:That Darn Cat! 1965 films 1960s buddy comedy films 1960s children's comedy films 1960s comedy mystery films 1960s comedy thriller films American buddy comedy films American children's comedy films American comedy mystery films 1960s English-language films Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Films about kidnapping Films about animals Films about bank robbery Films about cats Films about missing people Films adapted into comics Films based on American novels Films based on children's books Films based on mystery novels Films directed by Robert Stevenson Films produced by Walt Disney Films produced by Bill Walsh (producer) Films shot in California Hippie films Films with screenplays by the Gordons Walt Disney Pictures films 1965 comedy films 1960s American films