The Cat

Many Americans have discovered that the best suspense thrillers with sexy criminals, complicated plotting and weird violence now come from Europe: if you want formula dramas that showcase handsome actors posing with guns, U.S. broadcast TV will suffice. The popular Nordic Noirs on streaming have become more outlandish in the last few years, which makes this less exaggerated German thriller seem all the more classic in form.

Back in 1988, the crime thriller that made the biggest worldwide splash wide was John McTiernan’s Die Hard, a spectacular mix of action and comedy. The same year brought the West German heist thriller Die Katze (The Cat). Its leading player Götz George was an established German TV star. It was a big hit in Europe, so big that its director Dominik Graf jumped to ‘A’- list status. But like most non-art foreign films, the show remained unknown here. With plenty of action thrillers by Stallone, Schwarzenegger and 007 hogging space in the multiplexes, few Euro genre pictures got significant U.S. releases. Most Americans have never heard of Götz George.

Could they have picked a less memorable title? 

The Cat is a superior heist picture that now seems ahead of its time. It isn’t as spectacular as Die Hard. The emphasis is on character and suspense — the action and violence is not dispensed on the American timetable designed to keep ADD audiences from getting itchy. Several aspects remind us of later Quentin Tarantino films … the use of a pop song, and the quirky behavior of some characters.

Like the best heist / caper thrillers, The Cat’s perfect crime unravels in an interesting way. We drop into the plan without knowing who’s who or what’s happening; it takes half a reel to establish that a bank is being robbed. Two unstable masked gunmen, Jungheim and Britz (Heinz Hoenig & Ralf Richter) take hostages. They include the bank manager Ehser (Ulrich Gebaur), who doesn’t realize that his wife Jutta Ehser (Gudrun Landgrebe) is working with the thieves. As an army of cops surround the bank, the criminal mastermind Probek (Götz George) monitors everything from a hotel window. He’s able to inform Jungheim and Britz about the actions of the cops, and assures them that ‘everything is going to plan.’  Probek repeats that message, even after the bank’s safe proves not to hold very much money.

“Everything is Going to Plan!” 

That statement becomes Probek’s mantra. The mastermind has radios to monitor the polizei frequencies, and other equipment to keep his own communications from being intercepted. His cohorts trust him implicitly, even when he says that creating a drawn-out hostage situation was part of the plan. Outside the bank, a large police force gathers, soon backed up by a paramilitary unit delivered by helicopter. Leading the cops is Voss (Joachim Kemmer), a chain-smoking strategist equally trusted by his officers; Voss parlays with the thieves and agrees to their demands, all the while prepping a strike-back using knockout gas and hard force.

Meanwhile, we’re having fun trying to decide if Probek is a genius, or just crazy. Jutta appears to be crazy about him; she’s integral to his plan to hoodwink the cops and spirit away millions in hard currency. She ignores instructions, showing up at Probek’s hotel room mid-heist because she can’t get enough of the crook. The opening is a very dark sex scene, with Eric Burdon’s song “Good Times” playing on a car radio. The two thieves holding the hostages are pumped-up eccentrics; they sing in the car on the way to the robbery. Against Probek’s instructions, Jungheim takes off his mask, revealing his identity; he even gives his name to Voss, who was the arresting officer for his last conviction. Probek isn’t the type to ignore details: could using Jungheim and Britz be part of his plan, knowing that the loose cannons will do everything wrong?

The Cat becomes a guessing game — how much of what Probek does is ‘part of the plan,’ and how much is his inspired improvisation?  It’s not too long before Voss realizes that the thieves inside the bank must have outside help, and begins a search that includes Probek’s hotel. Things get dicey when Probek must go into action to stop the police department’s gas attack … he finally leaves that hotel room and gets his hands dirty. Probek has somehow inspired real team loyalty. Jungheim and Britz are so gung-ho, they may be high on something. Jungheim is so faithful to Probek that he even admits to having betrayed him in the past. Jutta seems totally committed to Probek as well, as a way of leaving her bank manager husband.

But we’ve seen these setups a hundred times before, and know not to trust appearances. How many of the thieves have an alternate plan that doesn’t include sharing the loot with their partners?  How is Probek going to get Jungheim and Britz out of such a hopeless situation?  Jutta is forced to be the one to transport two suitcases containing millions through the Düsseldorf traffic …

The Cat is a cut above most hostage robbery stories. Dominik Graf’s direction is clear at all times, allowing us to study Probek for signs of what he’ll do next. The ‘cold calculation’ logic of later heist films comes into play, but not so severely that we give up on a positive outcome. Probek is the one villain we can’t figure. Jutta seems driven by desperation, and Jungheim and Britz are too foolish to despise. We really like Voss, a supervisor who commands authority much like Walter Matthau in  The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. As in the European crime series now the rage on streaming, the characters feel fresh and real. Frankly, they’re more interesting than most of the talent seen on U.S. TV shows. These are not stock characterizations.

The film’s violence is in check as well. To shake up the cops, Jungheim acts crazy with the hostages, terrorizing a bank teller and even nicking her with a bullet. The hostage-captor interaction is kept to a minimum, with no Dog Day Afternoon– style sympathies exchanged. When that frightened hostage is back inside, she suddenly feels exhilarated by her ordeal. But the siege never becomes escapist fun. A fiery explosion set off by Probek results in some terrible injuries. The only weakness we saw were a few details of credibility. This isn’t Die Hard, with a lone cop performing superhuman feats while dodging bullets and cracking wise. Just the same, we’d think Voss would have secured that hotel, so Probek couldn’t dash to the basement to commit serious sabotage.

Götz George was already popular on TV in the cop show Tatort. He was the son of Heinrich George, ( Metropolis) a famous actor with a  tragic life story. George’s enigmatic Probek inspires loyalty from Jungheim and hormone-driven devotion from Jutta. To the cops he’s a complete phantom. We can’t tell if Probek is going to show some heart, or if a ruthless betrayal is a key part of his plan.

Gudrun Landgrebe generates an instant attraction. Her Jutta looks too intelligent to be anybody’s patsy. She’s quite good when fooling the cops, playing games with tracking devices in her little getaway car. This is the pre- cell phone year 1988, but the show is certainly up to date with its spy gear.

Heinz Hoenig and Ralf Richter’s hostage takers are excellent as nut cases that maintain high spirits. Probek somehow keeps them from panicking, when the bank vault has no millions and the police have all avenues of escape covered. They hold together on Probek’s simple promise that ‘everything is going to plan.’ The Cat never succumbs to the dullness of TV standoffs with people holding guns to one another’s heads.

Two versions of the Eric Burdon song are heard, over the end credits as well as the opening dark sex encounter. The balance of the picture focuses on intense realism, with few stylized effects for their own sake. Probek’s heist scheme is wild, but comes across as reasonably credible. Crime aficionados looking for a practical puzzle caper will find The Cat a welcome discovery.

It’s certainly completely unknown here … and just the kind of surprise Radiance Films springs on us every couple of months.