cult film freak: JUNE KENNEY, JACK HOGAN & GREG PALMER IN 'THE CAT BURGLER'

Written by James M. Tate / 10/07/2025 / No comments / beatnik , espionage , gene roth , gregg palmer , jack hogan , jazz-score , june kenney , neo noir , sixties , thriller

JUNE KENNEY, JACK HOGAN & GREG PALMER IN 'THE CAT BURGLER'

10/07/2025 | No comment

Jack Hogan and June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR Year: 1961 Rating: ***

Late film-noir/early-neo-noir often had beatnik-like characters backed by hip jazz scores including sporadic explosions of bongo drums... and the swiftly-directed THE CAT BURGLAR begins with what seems like your average crime flick until Jack Hogan, while robbing an apartment, steals a briefcase...

Turning a thriller into outright espionage after the apartment's victim June Kenney, known for playing screaming ingenues in monster movies, gets one of her first grownup roles, skinnier and edgier but still insanely gorgeous...

John Baer and June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR

Her inevitable attraction to the man who robbed her is intriguing but ultimately underused... her steady briefcase-owning good-guy boyfriend's predictably involved in pro-Russian spying, making that titular pro-antagonist the prime opportunity for desperate woodwork romance...

But too much time's spent on Hogan and Kenney on their own... he's dealing with backstabbing partners (including fearsome Gregg Palmer and neurotic old Gene Roth) while she's a deer-in-headlights... making their inevitable bonding scenes work more as a character-driven programmer overpowering the complicated spy flick — making CAT BURGLAR a B-movie attempting A-status that should have stuck with the pulpy hard-boiled basics.

Jack Hogan and June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR

June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR

Jack Hogan and Gene Roth in THE CAT BURGLAR

Gregg Palmer in THE CAT BURGLAR

June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR

Jack Hogan and June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR

June Kenney in THE CAT BURGLAR

Jack Hogan in THE CAT BURGLAR

John Baer in THE CAT BURGLAR

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Tags : beatnik , espionage , gene roth , gregg palmer , jack hogan , jazz-score , june kenney , neo noir , sixties , thriller

James M. Tate

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