DVD Review: Cat Chaser (D+)

Cat Chaser (1989)
Directed by Abel Ferrara
Starring Peter Weller, Kelly McGillis, Charles Durning, Frederic Forrest and Tomas Milian
MPAA: R
Grade: D+

Review by Bobby Nashville

I got suckered into this one by all of the great names attached. Abel Ferrara is an all time fave of ours, so even though this looked stupid, I gave it a shot. Well folks, it is stupid and it wasn't really worth the effort.

Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, Cat Chaser is a paint by the numbers mystery set in Miami and the Dominican Republic. Peter Weller plays a hotel owner that gets mixed up in a classic "Body heat" style romance with Kelly McGillis. Unfortunately, she's married to a General in the Dominican Republic army. Toss in seedy private eye type side characters played by Charles Durning and Frederick Forrest (two more DVD Confidential faves) and you've got yourself a pretty basic Elmore Leonard grift film.

Reportedly, Ferrara (King of New York) was tossed off the film when the film company went through management changes, and it shows. The version that I saw was missing two Ferrara style scenes - one where a woman is forced to open her legs with the barrel of a gun, and another where two men are stripped down naked and murdered in the shower. The watered down dialogue and action that made it to the public in the R rated version feels like a bad made for cable movie and fans of any of the stars attached will probably (like me) end up disappointed.

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