A homeless man (an excellent performance by Joe Pantoliano) becomes a popular and successful carnival performer known as Ulrich the Undying after he receives a surgical craft from a cat that gives him the feline's nine lives. Director Richard Donner, working from a tight and witty script by Terry Black, brings a tremendous amount of energy and polished style to this particular episode: the brisk pace whisks along without ever hitting any draggy lulls, Donner adroitly mines a wickedly funny line in smart'n'sick gallows humor, and, best of all, everyone has a divinely warped blast depicting death as the ultimate gleefully grotesque spectacle (a key source of amusement and entertainment stems from all the different ways devised to kill Ulric that include drowning, hanging, electrocution, and being shot with an arrow). Moreover, the bang-up cast has a ball with the cheerfully twisted material: Pantoliano excels as the sarcastic lead character, Robert Wuhl delivers a marvelously robust turn as a sharp-tongued carny barker, the cute Kathleen York is a total hoot as the sweetly ditsy Coralee, and Gustav Vintas does well as quirky physician Dr. Emil Manfred. Richard Bowen's slick cinematography and Nicholas Pike's bouncy calliope score further enhance the overall sterling quality of this very cool and enjoyable outing.
Review of Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone
