Cat And Mouse (aka Mousey) (1974)

After his wife (Jean Seberg) leaves him and takes their son (Stuart Chandler), though he isn't the biological father, a timid man (Kirk Douglas) begins to unravel to the point where he is a danger to himself ... and others. Indeed, he calls the police to inform them that he will kill someone before midnight! Debuting on television in the U.S. but playing theatrically in Europe, it takes awhile for the thriller aspect to kick in but when it does, it's pretty intense. In fact, one of the film's key scenes was used in WHEN A STRANGER CALLS five years later but it steals a little bit from the earlier WAIT UNTIL DARK too. Up till then it's a rather unexceptional thriller. One wouldn't normally think of Douglas as a milquetoast type but lest we forget he started out in the 1940s playing such types in films like A LETTER TO THREE WIVES and STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS. He's actually a sympathetic figure at first and one can't help but feel Seberg did him wrong but that all goes by the wayside once the senseless killings start. Directed by Daniel Petrie (FORT APACHE THE BRONX). With Sam Wanamaker, John Vernon and Bessie Love.