Track of the Cat

Dir: William A. Wellman

1954

***

After adapting Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s adventure novel The Ox-Bow Incident in 1943, director William A. Wellman decided to shoot the authors other great story Track of the Cat with long time collaborator Robert Mitchum. John Wayne, star of The Ox-Bow Incident, decided to produce the film with Robert Fellows for their Wayne/Fellows production company. While there are glaring issues with the film as a whole, I have to say I was impressed with the brilliant script that struck me instantly. The film begins as we see three brother woken my the sound of screaming cattle. The Bridges family is experiencing a harsh winter on their remote ranch in northern California in the early years of the 20th century. Crude and quarrelsome middle brother Curt (Robert Mitchum) bullies his noble, unselfish eldest brother Arthur (William Hopper), while youngest brother Harold (Tab Hunter) endures Curt’s abuse in browbeaten silence. Their mother (Beulah Bondi) is a bigoted religious zealot and their father (Philip Tonge) is a loquacious, self-pitying drunk. Bitter old maid sister Grace (Teresa Wright) is temporarily gladdened by the arrival of Harold’s fiancé, spirited Gwen (Diana Lynn). As the brothers dress for breakfast before checking on their cattle, their ancient Native American hired hand Joe Sam (Carl Switzer) alerts the family that the cattle are being attacked by a black panther prowling the hills. Many years before his family was wiped out by a panther. Joe Sam’s superstitious dread of the panther irritates domineering Curt. Curt and Arthur split up to track the panther while the family tensely awaits their return. Gentle Harold tries to avoid conflict with his parents while Gwen tenderly encourages him to assert his claim to an equal share of the ranch. Although Grace tries to support her youngest brother and his fiancé, Ma Bridges spews hateful suspicion at Gwen, but she ignores the family’s histrionics calmly for Harold’s sake. Meanwhile Arthur and Curt are deep in the wilderness when the panther attacks. The two have split up to cover more ground and when Curt discovers Arthur’s horse alone he suspects the worse. His fears are realised when he discovers Arthur's body – the panther had attacked him before he could get raise his gun. Curt suspects that Arthur’s cow-print coat may have attracted the big cat so he swaps his red coat with his body, straps him to his horse and sends the horse home. When the horse arrives the family are openly relieved that it is Curt and not Arthur – until they realise it is Arthur, and he is dead. The family then deal with the death of the only family member who kept them together, each one of them finding their own individual way to morn or to forget. Curt, alone and without provisions, is left to fend for himself, now obsessed with coming face to face with the panther that killed his brother. By the end of the story, the major conflicts have been resolved, but not without tragedy and loss. The remaining characters seem hopeful that their ordeal may have created the basis for a happier future. The outdoor scenes were filmed on Mount Rainier, Washington and Mitchum regarded shooting in the deep snow and cold as the worst filming conditions he had ever experienced. Wellman had always intended to film a black & white movie in color. His idea was that if a movie were to be shot in mostly monochromatic shades, with stark blacks and whites and otherwise mostly very subdued colours that were almost shades of grey, he could use bright colors very sparingly for intense dramatic effect. The photography of William Clothier was designed to highlight black and white and downplay colors. Only key elements like the blue matches, the fire, and Mitchum's red coat stand out extremely well and the technique is very effective but at times the film is a little too stark. That said, it is a bleak story, so it suits it well. I found the film as a whole to be a little too melodramatic and the contrast between brilliant performance and over acting was something of a distraction. Why on earth they cast twenty-six year old Carl Switzer, child star of The Little Rascals (and Our Gang as it was originally named), as the elderly Native American Joe Sam is anyone’s guess. The make up is okay I suppose but seriously, they couldn’t have found a real Native American or an old man? Philip Tonge’s performance as a drunk was good for most of the film but I don’t think his script was up to much, his depiction of a drunk walking up stairs however is probably the most convincing I have ever seen. Unsurprisingly though, Robert Mitchum steals the show. Mitchum plays a good villein but Carl is a totally different bad guy to what he had played before. He is a bully and an antagonist but he is a provider and protector. I wonder whether he was an influence on Paul Newman’s Hud. The biggest problem with the film was later addressed by Wellman himself when he admitted that it had been a huge mistake not to have shown the panther at all in the film. There is no terror or intrigue when there should be and if you are never going to show the thing that is most integral to the film’s plot, then you have to build suspense around it and film it right, otherwise the actors just look foolish. It’s a great alternative western but it could have been a lot greater with only a few tweaks.