Bullet Points: C.A.T. Squad
The recent passing of William Friedkin reminded me of a Friedkin film that I had been meaning to watch for quite some time, but never got around to it… 1986’s C.A.T. Squad. The made for TV movie originally aired on NBC on July 27, 1986 and it is the subject of this edition of Bullet Points…
- Scientists Beware: As the movie begins we learn about the growing problem that is international crime and it isn’t long before we get to see some prime examples of it, as terrorist “Carlos” (Eddie Velez, The A-Team) disguises himself as a priest and assassinates a German scientist. Then in Paris, “Carlos” strikes again taking out a Nobel Prize winning physicists (and a restaurant full of innocent bystanders) with an exploding cherries jubilee.
- South of the Border: We are introduced to John “Doc” Burkholder (Joe Cortese) as he has gone undercover in Mexico along with fellow government operatives Bud Raines (Steve James, The Delta Force) and Nikki Blake (Patricia Charbonneau, Shakedown). The trio use some less than by the book tactics to gain custody of a wanted man from the Federales and bring him back to U.S. soil for his day in court… Doc’s play by his own rules style makes him the perfect choice to lead an elite black ops unit known as the Counter Assault Tactical Squad (or C.A.T. Squad for those in the know).
- Squad Goals: Doc is recruited by The Director of the C.I.A. (played by Barry Corbin of Solo fame). Doc agrees to take the job but only IF he can recruit his team. Not surprisingly Doc’s first picks are Bud and Nikki… he then travels to Antarctica to recruit the best explosives guy in the business, John Sommers (Jack Youngblood of Los Angeles Rams fame) and aspiring Secret Service agent (and man of many languages) Leon Trepper (Bradley Whitford, RoboCop 3).
- The Grass Isn’t Always Greener: It turns out that there is a method to the madness where “Carlos” is concerned. He’s not just taking out scientists at random, all of the scientists being killed by “Carlos” were a part of a space-based laser weapon system being developed by NATO, known as Project Green Grass. We get another “Carlos” killing when he blows up another scientist with a rocket launcher! The stolen rocket launcher ends up being the C.A.T. Squad’s first clue as they begin to make some headway.
- All Roads Lead to Princeton: Another vital piece of information obtained by the C.A.T. Squad is that the next target is the head of Project Green Grass, Princeton University’s own Dr. Henry Spivak. The C.A.T. Squad sets up shop at Spivak’s home to make sure he isn’t added to the list of victims…. unfortunately it comes at the expense of one of their own. The C.A.T. Squad begin to unravel more of the plot and player looking to take out the Project Green Grass scientists. They even learn the true identity of “Carlos”!
It would not be fair to compare a TV movie like C.A.T. Squad to Friedkin classics like The French Connection or The Exorcist or even some of his more unsung work like To Live and Die in L.A. With that said, C.A.T. Squad did not feel much different than any other TV movie from that era. It had some fantastic moments (mainly the kills) but the fantastic moments felt few and far between… however the movie did have Steve James in it, which made it worth watching for me.
Will these Bonus Bullet Points be worth reading? Only one way to find out…
- AKA: C.A.T. Squad is also known as Stalking Danger.
- Composed By: The legendary Ennio Morricone (The Untouchables and The Thing) was the composer for C.A.T. Squad.
- They Made a Sequel?: When I saw that C.A.T. Squad originally aired in the middle of summer, I thought that was a strong indicator that NBC did not have a ton of confidence in the movie and just threw it on because they’d already paid for it. However, nearly two years later NBC aired a sequel on May 23, 1988 titled C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf with Friedkin once again at the helm and Cortese, Youngblood and James all reprising their roles from the original.
