Cat Chaser *** (1989, Peter Weller, Kelly McGillis, Charles Durning, Frederic Forrest, Tomas Milian) – Classic Movie Review 13,463

‘Passion. Greed. Murder. Tonight They Pay.’ Director Abel Ferrara’s 1989 thriller film Cat Chaser is based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, and stars Peter Weller, Kelly McGillis, Charles Durning, Frederic Forrest, and Tomas Milian.

Peter Weller stars as former US Marine George Moran, now a Miami hotelier at a small beachfront motel, gets together with a rich former lover called Mary DeBoya (Kelly McGillis) whose sadistic husband Andres DeBoya (Tomas Milian) is a deposed general from the Dominican Republic, causing no end of grief.

Moran joins a plot by fellow military veteran Nolen Tyner (Frederic Forrest) and former New York policeman Jiggs Scully (Charles Durning) to rip off Andres DeBoya so Moran can get his money and his wife.

Cat Chaser is a muddled but still intriguing thriller from the 1982 Elmore Leonard book, with a compelling plot and classy acting from an interesting cast going much of the way to make up for the occasionally fumbled handling.

An intelligent, sometimes gripping script, with a carefully built-up atmosphere of menace punctuated by bursts of sudden violence, is marred by longueurs and clumsy pacing. But director Ferrara pumps up the swirling style and enjoys the maelstrom of betrayal, double-crosses, love affairs and sudden death.

The two stars are good, and Charles Durning is especially effective as Tomas Milian’s devious hatchet man. Anthony B Richmond’s cinematography is outstanding.

It runs 98 minutes and the cut version runs to 90 minutes. But it must have been a whole lot longer, A three-hour rough cut of was screened at Anthology Film Archives in New York City in the summer of 2014.

Weller was unhappy with the release version, particularly with the added narration, which he refused to provide, and was replaced with Reni Santoni by producers Peter Davis and William Panzer.

The film was shot in Old San Juan, Miami and Coral Gables, Florida.

Weller and McGillis clashed during filming, and McGillis stormed off the set after shooting a love scene with Weller.

Ferrara said McGillis accused him of replacing her with a body double for the rape scene he thought too physical because he didn’t think she was beautiful enough. They worked out a way that she could film it herself.

McGillis recalled: ‘It was the most hateful experience of my life. On the last day of shooting, I said to Abel “Are you done with me?'” I walked in my trailer and shaved my head. I said “Screw you, I never want to act again.”‘ She did not make another major film for almost a decade.

The film was released in the UK on December 8, 1989 (London).

It was released by Vestron Video on VHS in the US as a video premiere on October 2, 1991, and in the UK in 1991, and on DVD in 2003 by Lion’s Gate, and in the UK in 2004 by Arrow Films. The Lion’s Gate DVD cover markets it as an erotic thriller: ‘Passion. Greed. Murder. Tonight They Pay.’

The cast

The cast are Peter Weller as George Moran, Kelly McGillis as Mary DeBoya, Charles Durning as “Jiggs” Scully, Frederic Forrest as Nolen Tyner, Tomás Milián as Andres DeBoya, Maria M Ruperto as Luci Palma, Juan Fernández as Rafi, Phil Leeds, Kelly Jo Minter, Tony Bolano, Adrienne Sachs, Roberto Escobar, Vivian Addison, Maria M Ruperto, Brooke Becker, and Fara Schiller.

Elmore Leonard (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013)

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,463

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com