Cat's Eye (1985 film)

Cat's Eye
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Lewis Teague
Produced by	Dino De Laurentiis Martha Schumacher
Written by	Stephen King
Starring	Drew Barrymore Alan King Robert Hays Kenneth McMillan Candy Clark 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 US De Laurentiis Entertainment Group world wide
Release date(s)	April 12, 1985
Running time	94 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7,000,000
Box office	$13,086,298 (US)

Cat's Eye (also known as Stephen King's Cat's Eye) is a 1985 horror film directed by Lewis Teague and written by Stephen King. It is based on three of King's short stories, "The Ledge", "Quitters, Inc.", and "The General" (the first two appeared in his Night Shift story collection). 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 personally by King. Its cast includes Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Robert Hays and Candy Clark.

Plot

A tabby cat (after escaping from Cujo and almost being hit by a 1958 Plymouth Fury with a "Christine" bumper sticker) hitches a ride on a delivery truck to New York City. The cat hears the disembodied voice of a young girl pleading for help because something is out to get her. The cat is soon captured up by an employee from Quitters, Inc.

"Quitters, Inc."

Cigarette smoker Dick Morrison (James Woods), recommended by a friend, joins Quitters, Inc. to kick his habit. Clinic counselor Dr. Vinnie Donatti (Alan King), who intimates that he is with the mafia, 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 will be subjected to the same shocks while he is forced to watch. For subsequent infractions, his young daughter 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 Donatti's agents. After watching his wife 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"

Former tennis pro Johnny Norris (Robert Hays) is involved with a woman whose estranged but jealous husband is a crime boss, 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 kidnaps Norris. As an amusing form of revenge, Cressner blackmails Norris into a dangerous ordeal: Norris must circumnavigate 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' car.

Norris agrees. During the circumnavigation attempt Cressner appears on balconies and at windows to taunt and distract him. Despite Cressner's efforts Norris makes it back to the apartment, where Norris learns Mrs. Cressner has been dead the whole time. A fight ensues, leaving one of Cressner's accomplices dead and Norris in possession of a gun. Norris forces Cressner to undergo the same ordeal on the ledge, but the casino owner is less successful and falls to his death while the cat watches.

"The General"

The cat 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 the cat 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 until he manages to find another way in. The troll kills the parakeet and then tries to steal Amanda's breath, but General comes in and battles the troll. The troll escapes, leaving Amanda and her parents to discover the death of the budgie. 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 bird caused the wound.

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 the girl's house.

General again battles and successfully defeats the troll, causing a great deal of noise. The ruckus awakens her parents, who are initially incapable of getting to her due to the door being blocked. Once they manage to 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 General'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.

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 or Belvedere from Christine. During "Quitters, Inc.", James Woods' character is seen watching The Dead Zone on television, and Amanda's mother in the last segment is reading Pet Sematary in bed. The third segment takes place in Wilmington, NC, 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.

The film was released on DVD by Warner Home Video in 2004. 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

External links

• Cat's Eye at the Internet Movie Database
• Allmovie entry for Cat's Eye