‘70s exploitation film shot in Charlotte to screen at Independent Picture House
Decades before “The Hunger Games” and “Talladega Nights” brought Hollywood productions to Charlotte, a handful of locals gave independent movie making a shot with varying degrees of success.
“The Night of the Cat” — a long-lost 1973 exploitation film about a woman avenging her sister’s death at the hands of the mob — celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special screening Thursday, Dec. 21, at Independent Picture House.
In 1972, filming in the Carolinas wasn’t entirely unheard of.
“There were only two things drawing Hollywood films here then — Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Biltmore Estate,” says film historian and veteran director Worth Keeter. “These were Hollywood productions coming in. The first independent film made here, ‘Preacherman,’ was produced by a New York-based writer/director named Albert Viola.
“He had a script about a con man preacher and convinced some owners of movie theaters and drive-ins in the area to invest in this film. The film actually did very well and played here at theaters and drive-ins forever.”
“Preacherman’s” success led to the making of JG Patterson’s “The Body Shop” (also known as “Doctor Gore”), which Keeter worked on while still in high school.
“It got an X rating because of the gore,” he says. “But there was a theory that you could do this and be profitable. That’s what Norman Williams was trading on with ‘Night of the Cat.’ ”
Williams was “Cat’s” writer and its original producer until he ran into some legal trouble over the film’s funding. That’s when Michael Plumides Sr., a local night club owner who happened to be Williams’ attorney, got involved.
Buoyed by a recent NC Supreme Court victory over the Alcoholic Beverage Commission concerning the legality of alcohol sales and topless dancing at his night clubs, Plumides mortgaged his house to fund the film.
“Everything I learned about movies I learned from sitting and watching movies with my dad,” says Plumides’ son, Michael Plumides Jr., a former club owner and author. “When the opportunity came along, he wanted to be part of it.”
He not only mortgaged the home. The South Park mansion doubled as a location in the film. The younger Plumides, who was 7 when filming began, remembers wearing a fake mustache and throwing himself down the stairs Chevy Chase-style as party guests arrived.
“I told them I was going to be a stuntman,” he says. He wasn’t as excited when a recently sedated cat, who plays dead in the movie, used his bedroom as a litterbox.
Plumides Sr. died in 1995, but his ex-wife and Michael Jr.’s mother, who appears in the film, still lives in the nearly 100-yea-old house. She and Keeter will appear as special guests at the IPH screening.
“It was 4 1/2 acres in the center of south Charlotte. It was secluded, so it was perfect for making the film,” says Plumides Jr., who is working on his first novel, “Nocturnity.”
Expectations for the film were high given the local press it garnered both in The Charlotte Observer and The Gaston Gazette. One of the film’s stars and early investors, Garland Atkins’ family, owned the Gazette and three other papers at the time.
“Kays Gary, a reporter for the Observer, would print all these glowing stories while the film was being made,” recalls Keeter. “One article said experts who’d seen the chase scene in ‘Night of the Cat’ said it was better than the one in ‘The French Connection.’ ...It certainly didn’t live up to the glowing press.
“You could tell what it wanted to be. With a better production and casting there was a story there,” Keeter continues. “The talent pool wasn’t like it is now. Now in this area there are a lot of accomplished actors that do film and television work, but at that time there weren’t any. So all of these films relied on just finding people that fit the parts or had done local theater or commercials. That hampered a lot of these productions.”
It didn’t help that “Night of the Cat” was initially slapped with an X rating and relegated to the Astor Theatre, which showed predominantly adult movie (it’s now the Neighborhood Theatre).
“People may have thought it was tasteless or whatever. Now with the nostalgic aspect, it’s kind of a kitschy slice of Americana that’s rare. especially for these parts,” says Plumides. “Whether positive or negative, it is a part of filmmaking history in Charlotte and we can now look back on it as pioneering for film and TV in Charlotte and its environs.”
“We all could see it leading to something,” says Keeter, who made 15 films for Earl Owensby’s Shelby film studio before moving to L.A. “It was in the early stages. More and more productions were made here and they got better. ‘Night of the Cat was one of the ones initially planting a flag and saying ‘we’re going to do this here.’ “
Want to go?
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21
Where: Independent Picture House, 4237 Raleigh St.
Tickets: $5
Details: https://independentpicturehouse.org/movies/the-night-of-the-cat-50th-anniversary-screening/
