That Darn Cat (1997 film)

That Darn Cat!
Promotional poster
Directed by	Bob Spiers
Produced by	Robert Simonds
Screenplay by	Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Story by	Gordon Gordon Mildred Gordon Bill Walsh (1965 screenplay)
Based on	Undercover Cat by Gordon Gordon Mildred Gordon
Starring	Christina Ricci Doug E. Doug Dean Jones
Music by	Richard Kendall Gibbs
Cinematography	Jerzy Zielinski
Editing by	Roger Barton
Studio	Robert Simonds Productions
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	February 14, 1997 (1997-02-14)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$18,301,610

That Darn Cat is a 1997 mystery comedy film starring Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug. It is a remake of the 1965 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the book Undercover Cat by Gordon and Mildred Gordon.

Plot

The scene is Boston, "before the turn of the century". A rich businessman is annoyed at his wife's pestering, so he calls for the maid to prepare some warm milk. However, a pair of inept robbers kidnap a maid from a house, believing her to be the wife. The film switches to a small New England town called "Edgefield", where 16-year-old Patti Randall is disgusted with how boring and old-fashioned the town is. She does love her Maine Coon cat, D.C. ("Darn Cat") however. Her parents are unhappy at the way Patti acts and dresses. Every night D.C. leaves at 8 and harasses the neighborhood (such as tricking the Bullmastiff and eating the dog food or playing with a bird cage while a geriatric and senile old lady orders travel packages). However, Patti's big break comes when D.C. walks into a dilapidated building where the maid wraps a Timex watch around D.C.'s neck with "Hell" scratched on it (she meant to write "Help" but only came in some of the way). Patti discovers the watch around her cat's neck and informs the FBI. The rest of the film revolves around the various humorous scrapes and struggles that Patti and the agent Zeke (Doug) face trying to get D.C. to lead them to the victim.

Cast

• Christina Ricci as Patti Randall
• Doug E. Doug as Agent Zeke Kelso
• Dean Jones as Mr. Flint
• George Dzundza as Boetticher
• Peter Boyle as Pa
• Michael McKean as Peter Randall
• Bess Armstrong as Judy Randall
• Dyan Cannon as Mrs. Flint
• John Ratzenberger as Dusty
• Megan Cavanagh as Lu
• Estelle Parsons as Old Lady McCracken
• Rebecca Schull as Ma
• Tom Wilson as Melvin
• Brian Haley as Marvin
• Mark Christopher Lawrence as Rollo

Production

Title sequences were produced by Pacific Titles & Optical. Animal Makers created the animatronic version of the cat. Buena Vista Home Entertainment distributed the video in most regions, while Abril Vídeo covered Brazil. It was filmed using a 35mm camera for both the coloured moving and black and white still pictures. The aspect ratio of the film was 1.85/1.

The film was shot in three main locations, 1) Edgefield, South Carolina, 2) Augusta, Georgia and 3) Aiken, South Carolina.

Reception

That Darn Cat received generally negative reviews, currently holding a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Accolades

The film earned Ricci two award nominations; the first was a Kids Choice Award for "Favorite Movie Actress" and the second was a Young Artist Award - "Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Actress".

External links

• That Darn Cat at the Internet Movie Database
• That Darn Cat at AllRovi
• That Darn Cat at Box Office Mojo
• That Darn Cat at Rotten Tomatoes