Eye of the Cat (1969)

Starring: Scarface
Directed by: David Lowell Rich

This review contains Kitty Carnage Warnings!

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

Synopsis: Wylie (Michael Sarrazin) plots with hair salon owner Kassia (Gayle Hunnicutt) to steal his aunt’s fortune. That is if he can get over his fear of cats.

Featured Feline: The standout performer in this film is a ginger tabby cat named Tullia (played by cat actor Scarface). This cat is featured prominently at the start of the film following Aunt Danny (Eleanor Parker) to the hair salon by sneaking into her limousine.

Eye of the Cat - opening credit sequence animated gif

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface in limousine

Aunt Danny suffers an attack at the salon, giving Kassia the idea to do her in for her money. She finds Wylie and brings him to the salon to explain the plan. The orange tabby is still inside.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface watching Aunt Danny Eleanor Parker suffer attack in hair salon

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface watching Aunt Danny Eleanor Parker suffer attack in hair salon animated gif

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface waking up at people enter animated gif

Wylie senses something nearby and explains his overwhelming fear of cats, which stems from an incident in which a black cat crawled into his crib when he was a baby.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface stalking behind shower glass and Wylie Michael Sarrazin animated gif

Eye of the Cat - extreme close up of black cat face

Kitty Carnage Warning! At the height of his story, the orange tabby jumps on top of Wylie, scaring him. He grabs the cat and throws it into a nearby space heater which essentially fries the cat. The effect seems to have been achieved by tossing the cat onto the heater and setting off sparklers to create an electrocution effect, then cutting away quickly.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface about to jump

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface jumping on Wylie Michael Sarrazin animated gif

Cat Cattle Call: Wylie arrives at Aunt Danny’s house full of confidence that he can win her over. Then he realizes her bedroom is full of cats.

Wylie’s brother, Luke (Tim Henry) lives with Aunt Danny and is angry when Aunt Danny receives her prodigal nephew with open arms. Aunt Danny instructs Luke to get rid of all the cats in the house for Wylie’s sake so Luke lures them into the limousine with food and takes them to heaven knows where.

Eye of the Cat - numerous cats running downstairs animated gif

Eye of the Cat - man luring numerous cats into limousine with food

Kitty Carnage Warning! Aunt Danny later hears some soft mewing in her room and finds some abandoned kittens in her wardrobe. She takes them into the bathroom and drowns them off screen.

Eye of the Cat - ginger kittens in blanket

The orange tabby, thought to be dead, returns to look after Aunt Danny, appearing around the house. Aunt Danny catches the cat to take it outside and in doing so sees Wylie and Kassia together. She then knows her life may be in danger.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface at foot of bed

Eye of the Cat - Aunt Danny carrying ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface and opening door of basement full of cats animated gif

Wylie takes Aunt Danny out for a walk in her wheelchair which leads to a tense scene in which she is in danger of rolling down the steep San Francisco street.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface on wall

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface approaching Aunt Danny Eleanor Parker in wheelchair

Running to help his aunt, Wylie is stopped by the appearance of the cat, which then turns and jumps on Aunt Danny’s lap, setting the wheelchair flying down the hill. Thankfully for her, Luke is there to save her.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface getting between Wyle Michael Sarrazin and Aunt Danny Eleanor Parker in wheelchair

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface being held by Aunt Danny

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface jumping up in Aunt Danny Eleanor Parker lap sending wheelchair down hill animated gif

Little do the residents of the house know the cats have returned in all their previous numbers, maybe more.

As Kassia plots to do away with Aunt Danny by turning off her oxygen, the orange tabby is right there, scratching her every time she tries to turn the knob.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface swatting at Cassie Gayle Hunnicutt

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface swatting at Kassia Gayle Hunnicutt animated gif

Kassia sees the cats following a trail of blood that lead straight to Wylie. The sight of so many cats sends him into a catatonic state. It is then we learn that Luke was responsible and that he and Kassia have been plotting together all along.

Eye of the Cat - cats following blood trail upstairs

Eye of the Cat - numerous cats running into bedroom

Eye of the Cat - black cat climbing onto Wylie

Eye of the Cat - Wylie Michael Sarrazin terrified of numerous cats animated gif

The plan is to then kill both Wylie and Aunt Danny but things go awry when Kassia is left to feed the cats and spills the bloody meat all over herself. The cats go after her.

Eye of the Cat - Kassia Gayle Hunnicutt trying to feed impatient cats

Eye of the Cat - gray cat clawing at another cat over food

Eye of the Cat - white cat with meat blood on face

Eye of the Cat - Kassia Gayle Hunnicutt trying to feed impatient cats animated gif

Kassia ends up running into the atrium and tries to get away from the cats by climbing a ladder. This does not go well for her.

Eye of the Cat - white cat with blood on face hissing

Eye of the Cat - Kassia Gayle Hunnicutt running down stairs chased by cats

Eye of the Cat - Kassia Gayle Hunnicutt backing away from black cat on ladder animated gif

An alternative version of the ending has just the orange tabby cat crawling onto Wylie and making him catatonic. Kassia is then stalked by the solo tabby and escapes up the ladder before falling.

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface close

The best thing about this movie is the cats don’t really attack anyone, per se, so there are only a couple instances of cats being thrown at people. It’s a tense thriller with satisfying twists and turns and lots and lots of cats!

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface above

The standout cat character is definitely Tullia, the orange tabby featured in much of the film. While not named in the film itself, Tullia received quite a bit of press surrounding the release of the movie, or rather the male cat actor portraying Tullia named Scarface. Trainer Ray Berwick explained to the press that Scarface was a talented feline but so emotional and sensitive as a star cat that he had no less than six stand-ins for various specialties (not mentioning that this is the standard practice regarding cat thespians).

Eye of the Cat - ginger tabby cat Tullia Scarface looking up

The article in the February 22, 1969 issue of the Johnson City Press went on to explain, “Under Berwick’s tutelage, one double for Scarface specializes in snarling, another in spitting, another in hissing, another in retrieving, another for running and jumping and still another in ‘paw swatting.’ Of course Scarface can do all of the aforementioned, but Berwick has to have all of the specialty cats ready in case the star is not in the mood or too upset for one reason or another to act to his full capabilities.” The article went on to state that the casting of the human actors hinged on the necessity that they had to like cats.

Other articles of the time stated that trainer Ray Berwick provided more than 50 cats for the film, seeing that he was the go-to trainer when films called for animals in large quantities (he reportedly provided the birds for Hitchcock’s titular feature). Berwick was noted as being very concerned for the safety of his animal actors. But he himself was injured during the making of Eye of the Cat when he fed one of the cat actors in a dark cage and the cat accidentally bit down on his finger to the bone thinking it was an offering of meat. But safety was paramount on the trainer’s mind, and the photo below shows Ray Berwick rehearsing with Michael Sarrazin and a black cat for the scene where the cat will creep over the actor’s body.

Eye of the Cat - Wylie Michael Sarrazin and animal trainer Ray Berwick working on scene with black cat

In the February 21, 1969 issue of The Port Huron Times Herald, Berwick explained how cat actors are “dumb” compared to dogs. He explained that felines just don’t display good memory patterns but that cat actor Scarface was an exception. There’s no doubt that Scarface had that “It” factor and it definitely showed on screen. Tullia was up for the PATSY Award that year for best animal actor in a movie but lost to Rascal the raccoon.