The Cat from Outer Space (1978)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Norman Tokar

Writer:

Ted Key (written by)

Release Date:

9 June 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Family | Comedy

Tagline:

Mysterious visitor with unknown powers on our planet for supplies.... A six-pack of tuna?

Plot:

A UFO is stranded on earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that has special powers...

Plot Keywords:

Cat | UFO | Cat Actor | Betting | Spacecraft

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Ken Berry	...	Dr. Franklin 'Frank' Wilson
Sandy Duncan	...	Dr. Elizabeth 'Liz' Bartlett
Harry Morgan	...	General Stilton
Roddy McDowall	...	Mr. Stallwood
McLean Stevenson	...	Dr. Norman Link
Jesse White	...	Earnest Ernie (the Gambling Dealer)
Alan Young	...	Dr. Wenger
Hans Conried	...	Dr. Heffel
Ronnie Schell	...	Sgt. Duffy / Voice of Jake the cat
James Hampton	...	Capt. Anderson
Howard Platt	...	Col. Woodruff (as Howard T. Platt)
William Prince	...	Mr. Olympus
Ralph Manza	...	Weasel
Tom Pedi	...	Honest Harry
Hank Jones	...	Officer

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Golden Oak Ranch - 19802 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Ronnie Schell, who provided the voice of the title feline, was also given the small part of an army sergeant. In post-production, it was decided that his voice was too easily recognizable, so the on-screen role was re-dubbed by another, unidentified actor.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Early in the film, Frank and Jake discuss procuring the bar of gold necessary to repair the ship. During the discussion, Jake says that he will need to reduce it while retaining all its properties. Later, when Jake reduces the gold to the size of a small pencil, Liz easily picks it up. If the "reduced" gold had retained all of its original properties as Jake said, it should have had the same mass as a bar of gold.

Quotes:

Dr. Elizabeth 'Liz' Bartlett: But I don't have a parachute!
Mr. Charlie Olympus: Then you have a problem.
Mr. Stallwood: But I don't have a parachute either!
Mr. Charlie Olympus: Then you have the same problem.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Making a 'Splash' (2004) (V)

"B-b-but your lips aren't moving, I mean, you're not speaking"

The Cat From Outer Space was a troubled shoot, with a severe personality clash between it's two stars.

The film involves, as you might guess from the title, a cat. From outer space. Except the cat, "Jake", looks suspiciously like an Earth cat. If this were modern-day Disney then sophisticated CGI would be used to at least make Jake's mouth move. Yet this was 1978 and we had to settle for Jake being "telepathic" and looking in vaguely the right direction.

But while Jake – played by two cats, a boy and a girl – may act on cue, his body language tells a different story. Whenever he/she is picked up by Frank (Ken Berry), Jake's tail flashes furiously, despite the on-screen buddy-buddy nature of their relationship. I don't know what Berry made of Jake, but it's obvious the cat wasn't his biggest fan and didn't like being handled.

I imagine that Hollywood egos came into effect, Jake demanding a bigger trailer. The sex, the drinking, the catnip. Finally, his claim that "I'm worth $20 million a picture" would have sunk his movie star prospects.

Berry went on to appear in Featherstone's Nest, The Golden Girls and The Legend of Forrest Tucker. For Jake (Rumpler/Amber), this amiable, likeable family comedy was the only role in his short-lived career.



FILM'S LASTING INSPIRATION: A scene where Jake the alien cat is in the basket of a (motor)bike ridden by Frank and makes it fly in the air to avoid capture. Mr. Spielberg, were you watching?