That Darn Cat!
That Darn Cat! is a 1965 American live-action comedy from Walt Disney Productions in which a Siamese cat named D.C. (Darn Cat) unwittingly leads the FBI to two bank robbers holding a teller hostage. Directed by Robert Stevenson, it runs 116 minutes, was rated G, and opened in New York on December 2, 1965.1 • 2
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | December 2, 1965 (New York); Los Angeles opening December 29, 1965; 116 minutes, Technicolor, RCA sound2 |
| Source | Screen rights to the crime novel Undercover Cat by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon, purchased by Disney in January 1963; the book's cat, "Pancho," was called "Damn Cat"2 |
| Director and writers | Robert Stevenson; screenplay by Gordon Gordon, Mildred Gordon, and Bill Walsh3 |
| Stars | Hayley Mills (Patti Randall), Dean Jones (FBI agent Zeke Kelso), Dorothy Provine (Ingrid Randall), Roddy McDowall, Elsa Lanchester, Neville Brand, Frank Gorshin1 |
| Box office | More than $9 million, a big Christmas release4 |
| Career markers | Hayley Mills' last Disney film and Dean Jones' first5 |
| Remake | A 1997 version with Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug, directed by Bob Spiers, grossed $18.3 million in the United States6 |
Spoilers
Plot
Two sisters, Ingrid and Patti Randall, are temporarily alone in their suburban home with their free-roaming Siamese cat, D.C. At night the cat follows a man named Iggy, who carries a piece of salmon. Iggy and his partner Dan are bank robbers holding teller Margaret Miller hostage in their hideout. Iggy lets D.C. in to feed him, and Margaret slips her wristwatch, scratched with the word "Help," around the cat's neck in place of his collar.2
When Patti recognizes the watch as belonging to the kidnapped teller, she calls the FBI. Supervisor Newton assigns Zeke Kelso, an agent allergic to cats, who tails D.C. with teams of agents while the cat eludes them. A bugging device in the cat's collar leads to a chase through a drive-in movie and a neighbor's backyard, and on the third night of surveillance Patti and Zeke rescue Margaret.2 • 4
Production
Disney bought the screen rights to Undercover Cat in January 1963, before the novel was published that year, and trade papers reported early on that the title would likely be softened from the book's "Damn Cat" to "Darn Cat."2 Production began on October 19, 1964. By early December 1964 the human actors were nearly finished, but eighteen cats remained scheduled on set until June 1965, each performing a separate stunt, under animal supervisor William R. Koehler.2 One of the featured cats was Syn, who had earlier played the cat Tao in Disney's The Incredible Journey.7
Walt Disney cast Dean Jones after seeing him in the NBC sitcom Ensign O'Toole, which aired before Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color; the film began Jones' long run as a Disney live-action lead.8 For Hayley Mills, already 19 at the time of filming, it was her final Disney performance.9
Reception and legacy
The film was a strong Christmas-season release, grossing more than $9 million at the box office, helped by a screenplay written with the original novelists and a popular title song by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.4 It was released on video in 1985 and 1993 and later streamed on Disney+.4 On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 94% Tomatometer from 16 reviews and a 72% audience score.5
A remake, That Darn Cat (1997), moved the story to suburban Massachusetts with Christina Ricci as Patti and Doug E. Doug as Agent Zeke, with Dean Jones appearing in a supporting role as Mr. Flint. It ran 89 minutes, was rated PG, and received far weaker reviews, holding 13% on the Tomatometer against a 24% audience score.6 Critics such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch judged the substitution of Ricci for Hayley Mills a mistake, and Common Sense Media called the original "far more entertaining."10
References
- That Darn Cat (1965), Disney Movies
- That Darn Cat (1965), AFI Catalog
- That Darn Cat (1965), AFI Catalog filmography
- That Darn Cat! (film), D23
- That Darn Cat! (1965), Rotten Tomatoes
- That Darn Cat (1997), Rotten Tomatoes
- That Darn Cat! (1965), Cinema Cats
- Remembering Dean Jones, D23
- That Darn Cat!, Into Film
- That Darn Cat (1997) parents' guide, Common Sense Media
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1960s
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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