Um Gato em Minha Vida

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!

A true classic especially for those lovers of furry little beasts and baseball. Gene Lockhart is delightful as T.J. Banner, owner of a baseball team that is not very good. He adopts a cat, a mean cat that has a "fire in his heart" that T.J. wants his ball team to have. That is why the name of Rhubarb is given to the cat. The team at first cannot stand being the laughing stock of the baseball world with a "cat" as the mascot. When another team brings a dog to chase Rhubarb the cat is the victor and the team slowly begins to behave with the "fighting spirit of the cat." Before T.J. can see all of this he dies and leaves his baseball team to Rhubarb with Ray Milland "Eric Yaeger" as the protector of the cat. This "cat team" starts to win and win and win. A must see comedy for all.

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***

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.

I saw this movie as the second feature with "The day the Earth Stood Still" in 1951. It was an enjoyable tale about a feisty cat that inherited a sub-par baseball team and proved unstoppable when it came to leading them to the winners circle. The movie opens with the owner of a baseball team playing golf. The owner, Thaddeus J. Banner (Gene Lockhart) discovers that on one of the holes there is a cat that feels it is his duty to retrieve any ball in sight and disappear with it. T.J. then tries every trick he can think of to discourage the cat. Fierce dogs are run off with their tails tucked between their legs, and the cat even dismantles a cat trap. When Lockhart finally trails him back to his lair he discovers the cat sitting on a pile of golf balls that would make any duffer cry. He looks like he is trying to hatch several thousand of them.

Eventually the crusty ball club owner manages to catch the cat but he becomes curious about his feistiness and names him Rhubarb, baseball slang for a brawl. When T.J. dies, he leaves the cat the baseball team. Baseball players being what they are didn't take kindly to their new owner, but one by one they were won over. When one of the players decides to try to pet Rhubarb he is rewarded with a slash on the hand from the cat. He is also rewarded with a bonus from the front office that had been spying on the scene. It seems that they had overlooked a small clause in his contract and was to receive a pay increase. Another player makes an overture to Rhubarb, and lo and behold, he also receives a bonus. Well… baseball players being what they are, or at least what they used to be, decide that the cat is a good luck charm. They become involved in a self-fulfilling prophecy and end up in the championship series. The plot thickens when, late in the series, Rhubarb is kidnapped by the other team. The cat escapes leaving his captors in worse shape then if they had tangled with Jackie Chan. He manages to make his way across town and the team is inspired to a come-from-behind situation to win the last game of the series.

I don't know how it would play to most 12 year old children today, but in the days of innocence it was a fun movie.