Cat's Eye (1985 film)
| Cat's Eye | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Lewis Teague |
| Produced by |
Dino De Laurentiis Martha Schumacher |
| Written by | Stephen King |
| Starring |
Drew Barrymore James Woods Candy Clark Alan King Robert Hays Kenneth McMillan James Naughton James Rebhorn Charles S. Dutton Mike Starr |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Editing by | Scott Conrad |
| Distributed by |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Turner Entertainment) US De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (Village Roadshow) world wide |
| Release dates | April 12, 1985 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,000,000 |
| Box office | $13,086,298 (US)[1] |
Cat's Eye (also known as Stephen King's Cat's Eye) is a 1985 American anthology horror film directed by Lewis Teague and written by Stephen King. It comprises three stories, "Quitters, Inc.", "The Ledge", and "General". The first two are adaptations of short stories in King's Night Shift collection, and the third is unique to the film. The three stories are connected only by the presence of a cat traveling long distances to find a young girl in distress. The cat plays an incidental role in the first two and is a major character of the third.
The film is one of several written for the screen by King. Its cast includes Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Robert Hays and Candy Clark.
Plot
A tabby cat is chased by a dishevelled St. Bernard dog, and nearly gets run down by a red 1958 Plymouth Fury (named Christine according to its fender sticker). The cat hides in a delivery truck, which drives to New York City. The cat hears the disembodied voice of a young girl (Drew Barrymore) pleading for help because something is threatening her. The cat is soon captured by an employee from Quitters, Inc.
Quitters, Inc.
Cigarette smoker Dick Morrison (James Woods) is advised by a friend to join Quitters, Inc. to kick his habit. Clinic counselor Dr. Vinnie Donatti (Alan King) explains the clinic's uniquely persuasive method: every time Dick smokes a cigarette, horrors of increasing magnitude will befall his wife and child.
Using the cat that Donatti's assistant Junk has caught in the street, Donatti demonstrates the first of these horrors: the cat is locked in a cage and tormented with electric shocks. Donatti explains that if his new client should be caught with a cigarette, Dick's wife Cindy will be subjected to the same shocks while he is forced to watch. For subsequent infractions, his young daughter (also played by Drew Barrymore) will be subjected to the shocks, then his wife raped, and after the fourth infraction, they give up (i.e. kill him). Not wanting to worry them, Dick hides the looming threat from his wife and daughter.
During a stressful traffic jam, Dick ultimately cannot resist temptation and smokes, not realizing he is being watched by Junk. After watching Cindy suffer in the electric cage, Dick is determined never to smoke again and tells his wife everything.
Time passes, and Dick is apparently smoke-free at last, but has put on a little weight as a result of quitting. Dr. Donatti prescribes diet pills and jokingly warns that if Dick does not reduce his weight, he will cut off his wife's little finger. Later Dick and his wife have a dinner party with the friends that recommended Quitters, Inc., and they toast the company for a job well done. As she raises her glass, Dick discovers the friend's wife is missing her little finger.
The Ledge
The cat (having escaped Quitters, Inc. and left Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry) travels to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it hears the same disembodied girl's voice asking for his help. Meanwhile, gambler and former tennis pro Johnny Norris (Robert Hays) is involved with a woman whose estranged but jealous husband is a crime boss and casino owner Cressner (Kenneth McMillan). Cressner, who will bet on anything, wins a wager that the cat will successfully cross the busy road outside his casino. He takes the cat home.
Cressner has Norris kidnapped. As an amusing form of revenge, Cressner blackmails Norris into a dangerous ordeal: Norris must circumambulate the exterior ledge of Cressner's penthouse apartment in a gothic skyscraper. If he can make it all the way around, Cressner will grant his wife a divorce. If Norris refuses, Cressner will call the police and have him arrested for possession of drugs, which have been planted in Norris' Mustang by a henchman (Mike Starr) named Albert, a.k.a "Ducky" for his T-shirt that depicts a cartoon duck.
Norris agrees. During the circumambulation attempt Cressner and Ducky appear by windows to keep Norris from "cheating", and Cressner turns on a fire hose at the halfway point, which is a roomier section of the ledge to keep Norris from lingering. Despite their harassment and a moment alone when Norris is hanging from a dislodged neon sign, Norris makes it back to the apartment, where Norris learns Mrs. Cressner has been dead the whole time. Cressner slyly claims he honors his bet to the letter of the law, in which the drugs have been removed; Norris can have a bagful of cash and "his wife", as evidenced by her severed head. Enraged, Norris springs upon Cressner's gunman, surprising him and causing him to drop his firearm. Norris uses the gun to shoot him dead, then threatens Cressner. Norris forces Cressner to undergo the same ordeal on the ledge, but the casino owner is less successful (running into a foot-pecking bird that hassled Norris) and falls to his death while the cat, who escaped during the fight, watches.
General
The cat hops a freight train and travels to Wilmington, North Carolina, where it is adopted by a little girl, Amanda (Drew Barrymore), who names him General. The cat runs afoul of the girl's mother (Candy Clark), who believes he will harm their pet parakeet.
Despite Amanda's protests, the mother puts General out at night. As a consequence, he is unable to protect Amanda from a malevolent troll that has also taken up residence in the house. The troll kills the parakeet and then tries to steal Amanda's breath, but General finds a way into the house and battles the troll. The troll escapes, leaving Amanda and her parents to discover the death of the bird. The parents are convinced that General killed the bird, but the father discovers a wound on the cat (caused by the troll's dagger) and starts to doubt the mother's belief that the cat caused the death.
General is then taken to the animal shelter by the mother and is scheduled to be euthanized the next day (at the mother's request), but General escapes when given food and makes his way back to Amanda's house.
General again battles and successfully defeats the troll, causing a great deal of noise. The ruckus awakens Amanda's parents, who are initially prevented by a blocked door from reaching her. Once they get into her room, the girl explains to them that General saved her from the troll. The parents are at first unwilling to believe the story until part of the troll's corpse is discovered as well as the dagger that caused the (now deceased) parakeet's wound. Amanda uses the justification that General will keep her safe in case others like her first assailant appear, and General is allowed to stay inside at night to act as a protector for Amanda. The cat finally has a home.
Cast
- Drew Barrymore as Our Girl/Amanda
- James Woods as Dick Morrison
- Candy Clark as Sally Ann
- Alan King as Dr. Vinny Donatti
- Robert Hays as Johnny Norris
- Kenneth McMillan as Cressner
- James Naughton as Hugh
- James Rebhorn as Drunk Businessman
- Charles S. Dutton as Dom
- Mike Starr as Ducky
- Frank Welker as the voice of the cat and the troll.
Production
This was Barrymore's second film based on King's writing; she had previously appeared in Firestarter in 1984: both De Laurentiis productions, filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Police song "Every Breath You Take" is heard in a few places. Since the original version was too expensive for this low-budget production, a cover version was used.
Frank Welker provided the voices of General the Cat and the Troll. One of the cartoon characters on the balloons in Amanda's room, with which the Troll uses to attempt its getaway, is Baby Kermit from Muppet Babies (whom Welker had also voiced).
The film features a number of nods to other Stephen King works. In the beginning of the film, the cat is running away from the rabid St. Bernard from Cujo (which Lewis Teague also directed), and runs directly in front of the 1958 Plymouth Fury from Christine, also made into a movie, which is advertised in this film on a bumper sticker shown on the car's rear bumper reading "Watch out for me. I am pure evil. I am CHRISTINE.". During "Quitters, Inc.", James Woods' character is seen watching The Dead Zone on television (he clicks off the television in disgust, remarking "I don't know who writes this crap"), and Amanda's mother in the last segment is reading Pet Sematary in bed. The third segment takes place in Wilmington, North Carolina, the same setting as Maximum Overdrive.
Release
The film was released theatrically in the United States by MGM on April 12, 1985. It grossed $13,086,298 million at the domestic box office.[1]
The film was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in 2004.[2] This version is currently out of print.
Awards
The film was nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film in 1987. Drew Barrymore was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Best Starring Performance by a Young Actress in a Motion Picture in 1986.
See also
- Creepshow
- List of Stephen King films
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Cat's Eye (1985)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
- ↑ "Deal of the Century (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
External links
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