Il gatto milionario

I saw this movie first on TV in the 70's(I think). The story follows a multi-millionaire-baseball team owner who wishes his team would show some spunk. He meets Rhubarb, a golf ball stealing feral cat, and in the process of trying to eradicate the cat, finds just what he is looking for in a team player, all fight. He takes in the cat, and after the man passes away, the cat is willed ownership of the baseball team. (this has actually happened in real-life a few years ago, a cat inheriting millions.) Once the superstitious ball players are convinced the cat is good luck, the team begins to win, angering gangsters betting on the games. Battling them and his fiance's alergy to cats, the hero finally manages to conquer all. This movie is simply fun. I really wish it could be revived and sold as VHS or DVD. I would think it could make quite a lot of money, considering the millions of loving cat owners (including myself) who would enjoy seeing this show. If you want a simple and cute story,see this movie!

The movie is great fun. However, younger viewers, i.e Gen-Xers may not get some of the references. The plot is about a lovable but crusty industrialist, T. J. Banner, who finds a even more crustier cat which he names Rhubarb. When the man dies, six years later, he lives his fortune and baseball team, the Brookln Loons, to Rhubarb. Ray Milland plays the dead man's attorney Eric Yeager who is assigned as guardian to the the cat. The team resist the idea of being owned by the cat until Yeager convinces them that the cat is a good luck charm. Complicating matters is the late owner's daughter who was left with nothing and Yeager's fiancee, who is the teams manager's daughter, Polly Sickles, played by Jan Sterling, who is allergic to Rhubarb. This condition prevents the couple from marrying.

This movie is a skewed window on a bygone era. What I found amusing is that a TV broadcast broke away from a game during play for a commercial. Something I've never seen. Polly's reaction was no doubt standard for fans of that era.

Watch for the ending where Sterling's real-life husband, Paul Douglas, is sitting at a park bench, as Sterling, Milland, and Rhubarb walk by.

If you've never seen this 1951 screwball comedy, you have missed a real gem. A cat that can fight and beat dogs, an eccentric baseball team owner who dies and leaves the team to the cat (Rhubarb), the cat's guardian (Ray Milland) whose fiancée is allergic to cats, a group of gangsters who believe Rhubarb is hurting their earnings in the field of betting (the team begins to win after they believe Rhubarb is good luck), and the dead owner's relations who have been left penniless by Rhubarb usurping them in their inheritance all mix together to make great fun for cat lovers and baseball lovers alike. Nobody remembers this one very much because it is rarely televised and also because it was made by Paramount, a studio that tends to neglect its many classic films. In fact, the expression that the Joker utters in the 1989 Batman film : "Never rub another man's Rhubarb" refers to this film, although almost everyone assumed a more unsavory meaning for the expression. The baseball team in this film starts to turn their luck around when one batter pets (rubs) Rhubarb before a game. It really is a great family movie, but not many people at all have seen this one and thus few understand what the Joker was talking about.

Todays young audiences probably won't find much to keep their attention, but none-the-less, it's a gem by any standards. A simple, yet charming tail (and everyone else here has pretty much summed up the plot) that I enjoyed through the early and mid 80's on television. I haven't seen it in probably well over 10... probably 15 years, but I've never forgotten it, and I would love to see again. It's story is so basic and timeless, that I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't jumped on the re-make bandwagon with this one. But probably just as well. The performances were priceless, and I'd hate to see anything in the story altered or changed in any way. If you've never seen it, take the time to do so. It'll be worth it!

Hello Rhubarb fans...back in 1984 I stumbled across this movie and loved it! I went out the next day in "search" of my own Rhubarb. Found and orange tabby and he is awesome. Here it is 2002 ,he's 18 ys. old and still the the star around here! Whenever someone asks why I named my cat Rhubarb, I tell them about the movie. My kids and neighbor kids like to watch it too. Comical, sassy and full of spice...that's Rhubarb! ***MUST SEE***