by Ted Davis and Linda Kay

Directed by: John Badham

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

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

Synopsis: The small sleepy town of Mount Angel, New England (Population 1325) would seem to be an unlikely spot for a series of strange murders targeting the surviving members of the high school class of 1928, yet laid-back Sheriff Dan Barnes (Alan Alda), with a key assist from his quirky receptionist Blanche (Louise Lasser), uncovers knowledge of a silly prank gone awry which has haunted creepy candy-cruncher Justin Oates (Edmond O’Brien) for decades, and which may point to the prime motivation behind the bizarre outrages.

Cat Cattle Call: A benign feline horde comprised of cats of all shapes, sizes and colors occupies the dilapidated home and surrounding grounds owned by archetypal crazy-cat-lady Marge Savage (Ruth Gordon), who was also a member of the Class of ‘28. The first clue to Marge’s obsession with pussy cats occurs when Officer Russell, who has been assigned to protect her, is seen sitting in a chair on the front yard with a pale Siamese cat on his lap. The officer rises from the chair, still holding the cat, which vocalizes as Sheriff Barnes passes the pair on his way to the house.

Sheriff Barnes enters the rundown house through the front door, calling for Marge, and dodges multiple cats as he wanders through the main room into the kitchen and then out to the back porch.

Kitty Carnage Warning! The wranglers or director have positioned the cats at various unlikely spots around the room. In particular, a small black kitten has been placed onto a chandelier above a wooden table. As the Sheriff walks through the room, the unfortunate kitty jumps from his perch and lands hard on the table before tumbling to the floor. Fortunately the kitten gets up and walks away after this accident but it was a very unprofessional situation where no one was close enough to possibly intervene in what seemed such a likely outcome of such carelessness.

Blanche and Marge are already on the porch, gossiping, together with Officer Russell and his new cat friend, when Sheriff Barnes joins the trio, carrying a Siamese cat so that he can better fit in with the solid group. Another gray tabby kitten can be seen sitting by Blanche.

Later, inside the house, which is being staked out for the expected appearance of the killer, a seal point Siamese cat perches atop a taxidermied bird of an undetermined species. The black kitten is also on the fireplace in the background and looks desperate to jump down, not having learned from the previous experience.

Blanche and Sheriff Barnes are seated in Marge’s kitchen, accompanied by mewing kitty cats. Blanche lies to Sheriff Barnes when she serves a cat-food sandwich to him after swearing beforehand that it was a human-food tuna fish sandwich.

After purposefully dismissing Blanche and Office Russell, then hiding his own patrol car to make it appear the stake out has been called off, Sheriff Barnes re-enters Marge’s showplace, and walks up a dimly lit staircase where his progress is tracked by the attentive black kitten (now sitting upon the stuffed bird).

As Barnes continues his search in a dark hallway, a meowing Siamese cat approaches him.

Sheriff Barnes sits in the main room with a number of cats keeping him company, waiting to ambush the killer. There are kittens communing in a brown paper bag, as well as kittens pouncing on each other (or being thrown at each other) on a stack of newspapers.

A black cat seems unimpressed with the situation.

A spring-loaded ginger and white cat plays a vital part when he lands in the lap of Barnes (after having been catapulted from off screen) and spurs the man to action. He seems unaware of the seal point kitten in the transom above his head.

Barnes bursts into Marge’s bedroom to confront the serial killer and, of course, there is yet another cat on the bed with Marge. The cat takes his or her leave when the action gets too bizarre for words.

Despite its supposed New England setting, the film was shot in Oregon’s Willamette Valley where the town of Mount Angel actually exists. According to one article, twenty seven cats were obtained from a Salem pound to fill the role of Marge’s varied clowder. Another article in The Capital Journey dated July 7, 1973, stated that two of the “movie star” cats who appeared in the film, a seal point Siamese and a yellow and white tom, were available for adoption.

Final Mewsings: Isn’t it shocking how a bunch of unprofessional cats were simply strewn about a movie set?

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