That Darn Cat!

(1965)

Comedy / Family

116 minutes

Walt Disney Productions

Directed by Robert Stevenson

Cast:

Hayley Mills as Patti Randall 
Dean Jones as Zeke Kelso 
Dorothy Provine as Ingrid Randall 
Roddy McDowall as Gregory Benson 
Neville Brand as Dan 
Elsa Lanchester as Mrs. MacDougall 
William Demarest as Mr. MacDougall 
Frank Gorshin as Iggy 
Richard Eastham as Supervisor Newton 
Grayson Hall as Margaret Miller 
Tom Lowell as Canoe 
Richard Deacon as Drive-in-Manager 
Iris Adrian as Landlady 
Liam Sullivan as Graham 
Don Dorrell as Spires

 
A woman is abducted and somehow uses a cat to send a message. The FBI is informed about the message by the cat’s owner and they use the cat to lead them to the woman. 

Darn Cat (or DC for short) is an audacious Siamese tomcat, and the pet of sisters Patti and Ingrid Randall. Every night at 9:00 p.m. he likes to roam the town, embarking on adventures. One night while out on his stroll DC teases Blitzy the Bulldog (whose owner ends up in a relationship with Ingrid) as usual, then follows Iggy, a bank robber, back to his apartment where he meets up with his partner Dan. Here they are holding bank teller Margaret Miller (whom they like to call “Moms”) hostage and hiding from the police. Their plan is to get rid of her when the time is right. Seeing the cat, they let him inside and feed him. When the crooks leave Margaret alone for a moment, she attempts to scrawl the word “help” into the wristband of her watch, but only gets to “HEL”. Still, she places the watch around DC’s neck, and sends him outdoors.
 
When the cat arrives home, Patti discovers the watch. She gets a bad feeling that the owner of the watch is a kidnapped woman she heard about on the news. Trusting her gut instinct, she notifies the FBI. Supervisor Newton assigns Zeke Kelso, who is terribly allergic to cats, to monitor the cat’s whereabouts in hopes of locating the missing woman. However, the cat disappears, even with three agents tailing him. All this while, nosey neighbor Mrs. McDougall has been watching their actions and mishaps. Eventually the team decides to implant a bugging device on DC’s collar. He comically leads Zeke through multiple backyards and a drive-in movie.
 
On the third night of being followed the cat finally takes them to the robber’s hideout. Patti and Zeke save Margaret, and bring the criminals to justice. The next day, DC visits his mate and their brand new litter of kittens. 

That Darn Cat! trailer