The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (film)

Film rights were sold, before the novel had been published, for $50,000. Eleanor Perry had read the novel in galleys and loved it.[4] She took the novel to producer Martin Poll who bought it and they agreed to produce together with Perry writing the script.[7][8]

Perry had recently split from her husband Frank personally and professionally. In early 1972 she said the film would contain "very little of the murderous violence we've seen in westerns lately."[9] Perry described the film as "the first woman's lib western."[10]

Perry admitted the novel was "female fantasizing. But what else was Wuthering Heights?"[11]

Poll set up the film at MGM where Dan Melnick was head of production. The movie was that studio's biggest budgeted film of the year.[12] Melnick tried to get Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw to play the leads but was unsuccessful. Perry said the film "cried out for Hepburn and Bogart but we settled on Burt Reynolds."[11]

Burt Reynolds was signed in November 1972. Reynolds said he did the movie "because I loved the book. I'd never done a love story, either."[13]

The filmmakers wanted Jane Fonda for the female lead and Candice Bergen was discussed. Anthony Harvey was pursued to direct.[14] Carol Lynley said the female lead in the film was one of the two roles in Hollywood "every actress wants to do", the other being Daisy in The Great Gatsby.[15]

In January 1973 Richard Sarafian signed to direct.[16] The same month, Sarah Miles was cast in the female lead.[17]

Perry says Poll sidelined her during pre-production and would continue to do so through production. "I never had one approval. I never knew what was happening."[7]

Poll claimed that his contract with Perry gave her no approvals and that she was often not available for consultation during pre-production.[8]

It was filmed in Bryce Canyon National Park, Kanab, the St. George–Hurricane area, Zion, Virgin River and Silver Reef in Utah as well as Gila Bend and Old Tucson, Arizona.[18]

While filming in Arizona, Sarah Miles' personal assistant, David A. Whiting, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his hotel room at Gila Bend, Arizona, on February 11.

The night before, the cast and crew had gone to the town of Ajo to celebrate Reynolds' birthday. When they returned to the hotel, Miles spent several hours in Reynolds' room until 3 am (later claiming she was using the services of a masseuse there). When she returned to her room, Whiting was there and asked where she had been. She told him, Whiting hit her, she screamed and was helped to escape by Miles' son's governess. Miles returned to Reynolds' room for the rest of the night. When she returned to her room the next morning at 11 am she found Whiting dead. Investigators discovered a head injury on Whiting and some blood stains.[19][20][21]

An inquest into the death was heard. MGM objected to Miles, Reynolds and Miles' son's governess appearing on the grounds it would hold up production. A doctor gave evidence that the death was due to a drug overdose, and the head injury came from Whiting falling against a table. Filming of the unit shifted to Rio Rico, Arizona.[20]

Whiting's mother was upset that Miles and Reynolds did not appear at the inquest and accused them of a coverup.[22][23] Reynolds and Miles eventually gave evidence at the inquest after being ordered to by a judge.[24]

The inquest found that Whiting died of a drug overdose.[25]

It was later revealed that Miles and Whiting had been having an affair, and this, together with the resulting publicity, contributed to the disintegration of her marriage to Robert Bolt.[26]

Perry did not go on set because Poll did not want her there. She says much of her script was rewritten by the actors, notably George Hamilton, and several writers, notably William Norton, Robert Bolt, Tracy Keenan Wynn, Steve Shagan and Brian Hutton.[7][23] Poll denied Bolt, Wynn, Shagan, Hamilton or Hutton rewrote the script. He says he, Sarafin and MGM were dissatisfied with the script and hired William Norton to work on it prior to shooting. He says she was offered the chance to collaborate with Norton but Perry declined.[8]

"It was fairly easy to batter me since Westerns are traditionally the turf of jocks", said Perry.[27]

In particular she fought with Poll and Sarafin over a rape scene. The lead female was raped in the novel but Perry removed it from the screenplay. "She was independent, a sort of 1880s liberated woman", said Perry. "I thought she would defend herself, that she would not be raped. But the director and my co producer thought otherwise... One of them told me 'rape turns some men on'."[28]

Perry lost the fight. She says although she was co-producer she had no actual authority. "From now on I only want to work with people I respect and like", she said. "Life's too short."[28]

Poll claimed the rape was necessary to motivate the action and denied he was a chauvinist. "I love women", he added. "I am a heterosexual man who loves women. And I have probably had more women work for me than anyone else."[27]

Norton tried to claim credit for the script but the WGA awarded sole credit to Perry.[8]

Reynolds said of the film "it's not as good as the book."[13]

Roger Greenspun of The New York Times did not care for the film:

The film's poetry is as numbing as its violence. The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing is, indeed, a kind of festival of incompetence. Each shot is held slightly too long or too short, and is somehow off-center. Each performance is uncertain, like something seen in an early rehearsal. Even the Indians look fake, including good old Jay Silverheels, who is real. The screenplay, based on Marilyn Durham's novel, is by Eleanor Perry (David and Lisa, Diary of a Mad Housewife), who can do much, much better.[29]

In contrast, Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times liked the movie. In his review for the John Williams Web Page, he noted the complications in making the picture. He concluded his review: "In spite of the difficulties faced by the actors and filmmakers, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing boasts gorgeous widescreen location photography, an interesting feminist spin on traditional western formulas — with Miles' strong-willed Catherine Crocker an engaging screen presence throughout — and strong support from virtually the entire cast; in particular, the film proved once and for all that Burt Reynolds was capable of handling a straight dramatic role as well as a lightweight comic one."[30]

"There's nothing to talk about in Cat Dancing except that it brings me pain", said Reynolds later. "So I'd rather not talk about it."[31]