{"id":30676,"date":"2025-02-19T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T08:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30676"},"modified":"2025-02-19T00:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T08:01:11","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-cat-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30676","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE CAT (1988)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films will\nbe available for purchase on February 25th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the 1980s, action and crime films were a dime a dozen.\nThey were a lot of fun to watch, but the majority (with the exception of titles\nlike Robocop<\/em> or Runaway Train<\/em>, which were from European\ndirectors) followed a formulaic Hollywood pattern of an flawless hero gunning\ndown baddies and foiling the plot of a sinister villain. Of course, given the\npopularity of the genre during this era, other countries would also try to make\ntheir own action thrillers, often adding their own spin on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those pictures was the German effort, The Cat<\/em>\naka Die Katze<\/em>. The makers of this picture used a typical heist\/action\nfilm formula, only presenting their story in a rougher and more brutally\nrealistic fashion. While little known outside its home country, the film was a\nsmash in its homeland and other German-speaking territories. It even won\nawards, including a Best Director prize at the German equivalent of the Academy\nAwards. Radiance Films is now releasing a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray of the\nmovie so that North American audiences can finally catch up with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the plot might sound familiar, but the events\ndon\u2019t play out as one would initially anticipate. Viewers are literally dropped\ninto the picture with little background as Junghein (Heinz Hoenig) and Britz\n(Ralf Richter) drive into downtown D\u00fcsseldorf, ready to take part in a bank\nrobbery. As it turns out, the site is part of a public square that includes a\nhotel. The leader of the two criminals, Probek (G\u00f6tz George), watches from his\nhotel room window, coaching them every step of the way. With him is his lover,\nJutta Ehser (Gudrun Landgrebe). She is the wife of bank manager Filialleiter\nEhser (Ulrich Gebauer) and has given Probek details on her husband and the\nbusiness. Junghein and Britz go inside armed, taking the staff hostage. Police\noperations manager Voss (Joachim Kemmer) is called in to deal with the\nsituation as the men reveal their demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This movie doles out facts and personal background between\nthe robbers only when it becomes necessary during the operation, adding a\nsurprising amount of intrigue to the proceedings. The icy Probek is prepared\nand remarkably clever about his big plan. What initially seems like a\nstraightforward robbery turns out to be an elaborately-plotted hostage scenario\nwith the characters attempting to extract 3 million marks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Probek is in complete control early on, anticipating every\nmove of the authorities and taking countermeasures. But as the story\nprogresses, unexpected complications arise. Voss is the officer who previously\narrested Junghein, and thus the criminal\u2019s anger towards him puts the plan at\nrisk. Probek and Jutta have a passionate relationship, but the mastermind\ndoesn\u2019t know that she has her own motives and cruel wants, eventually making\nher own demands about the heist. Pobek and Junghein also have an unexpected past\nrelationship that comes to a head. And while the central villain is depicted as\ncold, calculating and willing to throw anyone under the bus to get his money,\nhe ultimately shows some affection towards an unexpected recipient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, while the robbery is a technical operation, there is a\nlot going on beneath the surface as motivations are slowly revealed. The film\nis briskly paced and remarkably tense as complications arise, which become\nharder and harder for Probek to deal with. This leads to plenty of excitement\nduring the final act. It seems that realism and authenticity were important to\nthe filmmaker and crew, and so there\u2019s a harsh edge to what is occurring as\nwell. All of the robbers are quite mean, terrorizing their hostages and, at\ntimes, enjoying it. And the final act offers a couple of really unexpected\ndouble crosses and the money changes hands in surprising ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a strong film and one of the better crime pictures\nof its era. The picture quality on this Blu-ray is very satisfying as well. The\nimage quality is solid and the grading was overseen by the film\u2019s director,\nDominik Graf. There is a natural amount of grain, particularly indoors during\ndarker lit sequences in the hotel room. It isn\u2019t distracting though, and many\nof the outdoor shots are very clean and crisp. There is an attempt to provide a\nnaturalistic look to the film in order to add to the realism and this transfer\ncaptures it perfectly. It\u2019s a nice-looking presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bonuses are also very enlightening, seeing as this is a\nGerman title that isn\u2019t well known outside of its home country. There is an\nhour-long interview with director Graf, who goes into great detail about making\nthe movie. It seems that lead actor G\u00f6tz George was a huge star at the time\n(the German equivalent of Tom Selleck, perhaps?), and was looking to play with\nand twist his heroic image. Without his participation, the movie would never\nhave been funded, and Graf also talks about how the performer would tell the\nproducers and money men to leave the director alone when they questioned the\ntone of the film and the fact that George was playing such a nasty figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The director notes that the majority of the story takes\nplace in one location. Graf details his troubles in finding the right locale\nand altering the script to use some of the real square and hotel elements into\nhis tale. The filmmaker notes that while almost everything was set in one\nplace, how difficult it was to shoot outdoor scenes with significant crowds and\nextras. It\u2019s an interesting track with plenty of good information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a 30-minute discussion with the screenwriter,\nwho talks about adapting the written source material and the bits of the novel\nthat really struck him as original. He also discusses how he dealt with the\nnasty behavior of the characters and the ways in which he tried to engage\nviewers in their story. He notes that it obviously helped to have an actor whom\naudiences had previously found very likable, and comments about focusing on the\ndeeper personal relationship between Probek and Junghein as a way to get\nviewers more invested in the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, the producer appears for another half-hour\ndiscussion about the film. He mentions what attracted him to the source\nmaterial, and selling a story to the public that was filled with unlikable\nindividuals. He has some different ideas than the previous two speakers, making\nan interesting contrast in opinions as to why the movie works as well as it\ndoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if that wasn\u2019t enough, director Dominik Graf provides\nscene select audio commentaries. These are mostly action bits where he points\nout how he staged the sequences. Listeners learn about the difficulties he\nfound dealing with real explosions, a shoot-out in an actual hotel, and the\nother unpredictable problems that can arise while shooting this kind of a\nfeature. Finally, there is a trailer for the movie. And as with other Radiance\nFilms Blu-ray releases, a booklet with writing on the movie is included in the\npackage, as well as a reversible sleeve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again, Radiance Films has managed to unearth a wildly\nentertaining action\/thriller that this reviewer had no idea even existed until\nrecently. The Cat<\/em> is a really tense picture with plenty of memorable\nstory turns. The picture quality is strong and the bonuses are fantastic,\ngiving viewers all the details about how the picture, against all odds, managed\nto come together brilliantly. This disc comes highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Radiance Films will be available for purchase on February 25th. In the 1980s, action and crime films were a dime a dozen. They were a lot of fun to watch, but the majority (with the exception of titles like Robocop or Runaway Train, which were from European directors) followed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[121,697,2275,2928,3073,5862,5863,8220,8547,8707,9014,9015,16584,16617,17135,20240,20243,20248,22825,23473],"class_list":["post-30676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-121","tag-action","tag-bank-robbery","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-die-katze","tag-die-katze-review","tag-germany","tag-gotz-george","tag-gudrun-landgrebe","tag-heinz-hoenig","tag-heist","tag-radiance-films","tag-ralf-richter","tag-robbery","tag-the-cat","tag-the-cat-blu-ray-review","tag-the-cat-review","tag-thriller","tag-ulrich-gebauer"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}