The Good Die Young (1954)

by Linda Kay

Directed by: Lewis Gilbert

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Three normally honest citizens, Mike (Stanley Baker) an injured boxer who can’t find employment, Joe (Richard Basehart), a recently fired white collar worker with a pregnant wife (Joan Collins) and unstable mother-in-law (Freda Jackson), and Eddie (John Ireland), a recent Air Force deserter checking up on his unfaithful actress wife (Gloria Grahame), are recruited by the thoroughly loathsome gigolo Rave (Laurence Harvey) to pull off a post office heist.

Purr Blurs: After the heist the men have to escape on foot to a nearby graveyard. As Joe and Eddie run ahead they reach a crypt where two black cats are resting. The cats beat a hasty retreat.

The Good Die Young - two black cats on top of crypt in cemetery
The Good Die Young - two black cats on top of crypt in cemetery run away as Eddie John Ireland and Joe Richard Basehart appear animated gif

Moments later Rave joins them and they start to hide the stolen money in a cracked crypt. As they work a tuxedo cat is “catapulted” into the scene from above, landing on top of the crypt. This cat also beat a hasty retreat.

The Good Die Young - tuxedo cat on top of crypt in cemetery with Joe Richard Basehart, Eddie John Ireland and Rave Laurence Harvey
The Good Die Young - tuxedo cat dropped on top of crypt in cemetery with Joe Richard Basehart, Eddie John Ireland and Rave Laurence Harvey animated gif

The tuxedo cat can be seen once more sitting on a wall as the men exit the cemetery.

The Good Die Young - tuxedo cat sitting on wall in cemetery

Final Mewsings: Cats want nothing to do with criminals in graveyards.

Many thanks to Jon R. Kennedy and Aaron Shuster for letting us know about the cats in this film.

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