“German efficiency” is a phrase that is often used. Having grown up in West Germany when dad was stationed to U.S. Army bases in the early ’70s, I experienced it a lot. You’d would run into a lot of meticulous people. Whether they be storekeepers, train conductors or waiters, they wanted things done properly and in a direct manner. The Cat shows us the German efficiency when it comes to a major bank heist from both the perspective of the robbers and the cops. Which side’s efficiency is going to turn out to be an inefficiency in the end?
Probek (The Blood of Fu Manchu‘s Gotz George) has planned the perfect heist of a bank in Dusseldorf, Germany (although it was West Germany in 1988 when the film came out). Instead of the usual man on the inside, he has been sleeping with the bank manager’s wife Jutta Ehser (Der Bastard‘s Gudrun Landgrebe). She’s integral to his plan. When the bank opens, he has Junghein (Das Boot‘s Heinz Hoenig) and Britz (Das Boot‘s Ralf Richter) hold up the staff. One of them thinks this is going to be a straightforward bank heist. The other knows how they’re going to make the big money. Probek is renting a hotel room that looks down on the bank. He’s seeing everything and on the walkie-talkie with them. He calls the cops to report a robbery so they arrive before his two men can flee with the disappointing amount cash in the vault. He has plans for collecting a huge hostage payday. Along with his telescope, Probek has various radio monitors so he can hear what the cops are planning to do to his men. However, his efficient plan starts showing some weak points when Jutta returns to his hotel room with unexpected news. The plan also gets screwed up with one of his men accidentally blurts out his real name to the cop negotiator. They have a history. Can Probek overcome this and gather his ransom? Or will the cops’ plan to put an end to the hostage standoff work?
The Cat is a tense bank heist film that doesn’t let up. Every few minutes something explodes either emotionally or physically. The fact that one of the robbers has no real clue about the mission creates a great tension. There’s a scene where one character has to sneak under a bunch of cars in order to set off a major distraction that sets this apart from any American bank heist film. The dueling efficiencies between the police and Probek is perfect. They each are trying to get those extra seconds to make their plans work.
It’s a shame it wasn’t imported to America to play the art house circuit however in 1988, the Dependies (Miramax and New Line) had taken over the screens with American independent films that were Sundance darlings. The non-English language films that were booked had Oscar buzz. Equally strange is that no major Hollywood studio attempted to remake the film. Perhaps the fact that Probek was too wicked of a role during the era of the action hero hampered such an effort. Bruce, Arnold and Sly weren’t cut out for it. The lack of a remake will allow you to savor the original better. The Cat is one of the best bank robbery films ever made.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. This is a newly restored transfer. Visually it reflects the gritty nature of the heist. The Audio is German DTS-HD 2.0 and 5.1. The mix will give you the Eric Burdon song cleanly about the good times. The movie is subtitled in English.
Dominik Graf (65:05) is an interview with the director. He gives a lot of details about the production. He talks about going to film school in Munich wanting to make films like the French New Wave except the faculty didn’t like them. He gets into how his films worked out up to making The Cat and honing his film language. His father Robert Graf was an actor who appeared in The Great Escape with Steve McQueen.
Christopher Fromm (32:01) allows the screenwriter to get into how he adapted Uwe Erichsen’s novel. He talks about what he brought to the heist.
Georg Feil (32:23) has the producer feeling proud about the film. He points out that this is a film that can’t be made today because of the talent and the ability to find the budget. He points out that the Bavaria film studio was more in tune with creating TV series than movies. He had met Graf and Fromm years before they made The Cat. He talks about shooting at the location Nikko Hotel in Dusseldorf. The local media thought they were making a war film with the helicopter action. Things went bad when the hotel owners had an issue with the filming.
Selected Scene Commentary (12:36) has director Dominick Graf breakdown three scenes. He explains the improvised scene involving a hostage early in the film. He had five or six cameras going during one exterior scene. It seems that a real-life robbery duplicated a scene in the film two years later. Graf feels uneasy about that.
Trailer (1:52) lets us know this is a serious bank heist flick.
Radiance Films present The Cat: Limited Edition. Directed by Dominick Graf. Screenplay by Christopher Fromm. Starring ötz George, Gudrun Landgrebe, Joachim Kemmer, Heinz Hoenig, Ralf Richter and Ulrich Gebauer. Running Time: 118 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: Febuary 25, 2025.
