Il gatto e il topo

"Mousy" (also known as "Cat and Mouse") is a made for television movie that was, according to IMDB, shown as a theatrical release overseas. It stars Kirk Douglas and Jean Seberg and John Vernon co-star in the film.

When the film begins, George Anderson (Douglas) is in a foul mood and walks off his job as a school teacher. Apparently, his wife left him for another man and he's sick of being seen as a meek man....hence the students' calling him 'Mousey'. He spends the rest of the movie working out a twisted revenge against her, though much of it is directed against innocent folks, as he travels to Montreal where his ex- lives and begins a reign of terror.

While in some ways the film is an interesting character study by Douglas and the filmmakers, it borders on being 'murder porn'....a movie that seems to get off showing a vile human being killing for kicks. And, unlike Freddy Kruger or Jason, this is realistic. I also worry that some sicko might watch the film and enjoy it or take their queue from it. Overall, a disturbing and somewhat offensive movie...one I cannot believe they actually made for television. Not for the squeamish!

Don't expect to get much pleasure out of watching this one-note, slow-moving made-for-TV thriller. It's just too thinly plotted for a feature-length film, and despite its cinematic look and Kirk Douglas' convincing performance, it has only a handful of mildly tense moments. (**)

This is an excellent little remembered made-for-TV thriller featuring Kirk Douglas as a biology professor (nicknamed "Mousey," much to his resentment, because of his quiet and shy manner) who quits his job and goes looking for his former wife who has moved to Montreal with her son from a previous marriage. He wants the boy (whom he regards as his own) back but he has been blocked from doing so by a court order.

Now, without work, without a family, obsessed with a son he has been told he can't go near, he decides to have his vengeance on his wife and the world - with a scalpel in his hand. Douglas is a marvel as the professor, alternately pathetic and creepy, as he follows his wife (played by Jean Seberg) around the city. He is, in turn, being followed by a private eye, hired by his former's wife's fiancee (John Vernon) to be sure they know where he is. The cat and mouse games that Douglas will play will not only be with the wife but with that detective, as well. And along the way, meeting "Mousey" in a laundromat one night, a lonely young woman will make the mistake of taking this man home with her.

Shot in England as well as on location in Canada, Cat and Mouse effectively builds its suspense towards the inevitable clash. And then, at the climax, there is a twist I didn't see coming. Film buffs will appreciate the presence in the film of Bessie Love (The Lost World, Broadway Melody) playing Vernon's mother. However, it's the bravura performance of Douglas that will remain in the memory. I'd actually rate this one a 7.5 rather than just a 7/10.

Disregard the relatively low score and negative comments. MOUSEY is one of the best made-for-TV suspense/horror films of the '70s, and that's saying something.

The film is taut from beginning to end....the sort of sustained low-key tension that keeps you on edge and engrossed, but rarely provides jump-out-of-your-seat moments. The alternate title, CAT AND MOUSE, is more apposite, for that's the game Kirk Douglas's character is playing throughout. How he outwits his ex-wife, her new husband, and their crew of private investigators is wonderfully entertaining.

Douglas's performance is a well-judged balance of pathos, dementia, and understandable spite, that ably evokes sympathy from the viewer. The remainder of the cast is not particularly noteworthy, but the other actors aren't given much to do anyway. It's Douglas's show.

The film's only other liability (minor as it is), aside from the odd snippet of painfully trite expository dialogue, is the music score. It isn't awful, but it doesn't do much to accentuate the suspense at key moments, and the same melancholy theme is repeated a little too often. Director Daniel Petrie's craftsmanship, however, is flawless and understated.

The thrilling conclusion of MOUSEY, a sequence of events that uncannily recalls the memorable, allegedly precedent-setting "call-tracing" scene from the estimable BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974), actually predates its more famous cousin: "Mousey" was broadcast on TV just weeks before "Black Christmas" started filming. Coincidence?

That is indeed the question. This movie has a lot of questions, but -provide few answers.

For instance: Why is Kirk Douglas taking revenge on his ex wife? Is it because she divorced him? Because she is giving her son her new husband's name instead of his? Or is it something else?

We get no answers to these questions. Maybe he is blaming his ex for being called "Mousey?" Who knows!

Here is the bottom line: Kirk Douglas is engaging the people involved in a game of cat & mouse and we are not told why.

This is no way to make a movie, even for TV. If they are going to make movies-don't ask questions and then not provide answers. There are far worse movies than this, but at least most of them provide answers as to why the characters do what they do.