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Cat Chaser (1989)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
5/08, 2/22
5/08:
Cat Chaser is a through and through neo-noir picture that's complicated to comprehend on the first try.
I'm familiar with the two previous works by Abel Ferrara:
Bad Lieutenant and King of New York. Technically
flawed, he can direct and is capable of making a film work but doesn't know how to maximize its potential while dealing
with the script. Oftentimes, Abel Ferrara will hold back, never fully sure of the correct direction.
Bad Lieutenant is a good example because Harvey Keitel gave his
best performance, but it's the message that went nowhere. Christopher Walken of King of New York was destined to be great, but there was too little of him and
a lot of nothing else throughout.
For a while, I thought Cat Chaser would go down the same path as the other two, but it turned out to be
better than I anticipated. Abel Ferrara may have played with fire by making the story overly complicated, but his handling
turns out to be just after all. Anthony B. Richmond's cinematography is a big treat, too.
Peter Weller does a great job of playing the typical odd man out who finds himself involved in some intricate situation yet
stays out of the mystery as much as possible by rejecting the risk. Kelly McGillis continues to impress me after appearing
in The Accused, Top Gun, and
Witness. She never gets enough credit as a top-shelf serious actress.
On a side note, I read the complaints that the DVD version of Cat Chaser didn't contain some scenes as shown
in the original version and was missing some dialogue that's essential to the story. Hence, there's a VHS copy that's more
faithful. Honestly, I thought the DVD movie was fine as the way it is.
All in all, Cat Chaser is a solid neo-noir that needs to be viewed again.
2/22:
Cat Chaser is the only sensible film ever directed by Abel Ferrara.
I'm going to clear up a misunderstanding in regard to the scheme:
Rafi tried to rip off Moran by taking advantage of the angle concerning Luci Palma's whereabouts. Once it didn't work out
and Moran saw through him, Rafi was thereafter recruited by Nolen for a bigger payoff that was conceived by Jiggs:
$2 million from DeBoya.
Jiggs, along with his two helpers, tried to convince Moran to join them, but Moran refused the offer because he knew the
risk wasn't worth going to prison or dying for. Somehow, Jiggs got these three to go to DeBoya's house and confront him,
resulting in the deaths of Rafi and Nolen and the capture of Moran. DeBoya may have wanted to save the worst for Moran when
he's good and ready for what he did with his wife.
The whole time, DeBoya's wife was never a femme fatale. She only wanted the money as promised by the divorce settlement,
but her husband reneged on it at the last minute which wouldn't stand up in court. Hence, she took the money under the bed because
she felt entitled to it by law and no more. The rest of the way was self-explanatory.
That being said, Cat Chaser is a great, underrated neo-noir thriller with a complicated plot. Shot on location
in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Miami, Florida, it's similar to Body Heat but in a different way. However, the
narration is superfluous which was added during the post-production without the director's approval.
Because of his tanned look, Peter Weller is perfect. Kelly McGillis, Charles Durning, Frederic Forrest, Tomás Milián, and
Juan Fernández, who's actually Dominican, are all superb. For some reason that's not made clear, Kelly McGillis
hated the whole experience, and she never did another major picture for years.
All in all, Cat Chaser is a difficult film to understand at first, but it'll be clear after several viewings.