C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf

William Friedkin – 1988 – USA
 

This is a pretty lousy TV movie - a sequel to a previous C.A.T. Squad movie - directed by the great William Friedkin seemingly during his sleep.  It’s got something to do with an elite team of American espionage agents up against a fascist regime in South Africa, or some such thing.  (You know they’re fascists because of the goose-stepping and the little red armbands bearing a neat party logo.)  Everything about it is disconcertingly sloppy; from simple transitions to absurd exposition to an incongruous mix of original and newsreel footage.  It’s pretty shameless enough as is, but all the more tragic considering Friedkin’s involvement.  Stranger still is the fact that it was made within a year of another film he directed for television; Rampage (1987), which is excellent and remains one of the most mature treatments of serial killers ever made; so it’s not like he was incapable of making good films at the time or merely in the middle of a bad phase.  It’s sad to see Friedkin reduced to this, but it would still be of interest if there was a shred of evidence of his style anywhere on-screen.  But unfortunately, if his name were removed from the credits, you’d never suspect the film wasn’t made by a lazy hack TV director.