by Mark Murton
Directed by: Vincent McEveety
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: The inept California Atoms are floundering at the bottom of the National Football League with owner Hank Cooper (Ed Asner) deep in debt and facing losing the team, until they acquire a new team member – a mule called Gus who can placekick a football 100 yards with unerring accuracy. Not everyone is happy with this acquisition; Charlie (Harold Gould), the man Hank owes money to, has mockingly agreed to let him keep the team if they win the Superbowl. With the Atoms dramatic upturn in fortunes showing no signs of abating the increasingly worried Charlie hires two incompetent criminals, Crankcase (Tim Conway) and Spinner (Tom Bosley), to try and stop Gus from playing.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Gus will only kick for his handler Andy (Gary Grimes) so the criminals lure him to a hospital to keep him from the latest game, but realising something is amiss Andy escapes from his room and, with Spinner in hot pursuit, races through the building looking for a way out. He soon finds himself in the X-Ray room where he encounters an odd-eyed cat (just what a cat is doing there isn’t explained – at least it was wearing a white coat).
As Spinner enters the room, Andy hides behind the X-Ray machine. Looking for the light, Spinner flicks the switch that turns on the X-ray machine screen and Andy is displayed as a skeleton. Spinner doesn’t realise it is Andy and is about to leave when the cat cries out, leading Andy to pick it up and stroke it to try and keep it quiet.
This is seen by Spinner on the X-ray screen as a human skeleton stroking the skeleton of a cat.
Spinner now rushes behind the screen and tries to grab Andy and we view the action on the X-ray screen as the two skeletons fight each other with the one of Andy also trying to hold the cat out of harm’s way. This occasionally causes it to appear above the top of the screen in the struggle.
But the cat is mostly seen thrashing about as a skeleton as the fight continues amid exaggerated cat cries.
Eventually Andy pushes the cat onto Spinner’s head where it latches on with a Poor Cat Screech, allowing Andy to make his escape.
Final Mewsings: The great thing about Cinema Cats is they can turn up anywhere they are needed.
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