Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats (1964)

Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats is a 1964 American animated musical adventure comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The first theatrical film starring the characters of the 1961-1962 animated sitcom Top Cat, is a theatrical spin-off and a swan song (series finale) to the show itself. Starring the main voices of the cast reprising their roles, with the guest talents of Elizabeth Taylor (Amy Vandergelt), Elvis Presley (Elvis), Tony Curtis (Arthur Vandergelt) and Vincent Price (Snerdly). The fiim, set in 1964, follows Top Cat and the gang helping a 16-year-old teenager named Amy solve a crime about her presumaby murdered aunt. This is also Maurice Gosfield's final appeareance in a theatrical film (and his final appeareance in a cartoon, generally) before his sudden death in October 1964.

The film was a box-office success and has received mostly positive reviews by critics and fans. Was dubbed to Spanish in Mexico the same year with the talent of the original Spanish dub cast. This dubbing was praised even by the creators and staff of the show and movie itselves. The movie also led to an animated television series starring the Vandergelt family and their pet dog: "Bringing Up Elvis".

The movie has music directed by Hoyt Curtin, with songs by Doug Goodwin, John McCarthy, with underscorings by Ted Nichols and Marty Patch. The songs' lyrics were written by Elvis Presley.

Plot
In 1964, Top Cat (Arnold Stang) and his gang, bored in the alley and tired of their boring and simple life, decide to find a master to adopt and feed them while they leave the dirty alley where they grew up. They try to be housed in a bakery, on a ship, in a port and even in a nightclub, but in all the places where they try to offer to have a home they are rejected by the ruthless locals and are mistreated by a crowd of naughty kids.

Out of curiosity, when they stop to rest after straying too far from the alley, they hear Officer Dibble (Allen Jenkins) being assigned by his boss to work at a police station in Beverly Hills due to a murder taking place there. Thinking that it would be nice to pretend to be assistants to Officer Dibble, the six cats decide to escape the city and come to Los Angeles, to obtain rewards and fame, and thus, that Officer Dibble can adopt them and give them a new home.

The gang finally arrive in Los Angeles, hiding in Dibble's suitcase, who does not realize their presence until he opens the suitcase. Annoyed, Dibble chases the cats to keep them from messing with him, although the very naughty ones deceive him by posing as cancan dancers, bakers and even merchants. Once Dibble is lost and leaves to go to the assigned police station, Top Cat and his gang finally reach an alley and settle there. To get a better chance of success in their adoption plan, the six cats pose as Boy Scouts, doing good deeds to earn money and give it to Dibble for the day they have a home. The cats are pretending to be singing dancers, when they are applauded by a 16-year-old teenager, Amy (Elizabeth Taylor), while taking her dog, Elvis (Elvis Presley), for a walk. Amy and Elvis see the gang singing and join them at the song's end. The cats tell her about their project, when Amy tells them that she will house them in her mansion for a while, on the condition that they help her in a strange case that is involving her family. Top Cat and his friends accept the deal and move into his mansion with Amy and Elvis, when suddenly, they find out that Officer Dibble is being among the police officers involved.

It turns out that there is a rumor that Amy's aunt, Gertrude (Jean Vander Pyl), was murdered by her butler, a greedy man named Snerdly (Vincent Price), and a valuable fortune fortune will be inherited by her husband, Arthur (Tony Curtis) who has disappeared the same day of the alleged murder. Sid Buckman (Richard Burton) declared that the heir will be Benny the Ball (Maurice Gosfield), and that if the latter loses his life and cannot survive in 48 hours, Snerdly will be the one who will have the money. Everyone is scared that Snerdly is a thief, even Benny himself. Elvis is assigned as Benny's bodyguard, while the rest of the gang are left to live luxuriously and quietly life at the Vandergelts' mansion. Snerdly, upset that Benny is going to be the heir to the fortune (given that Arthur and Gertrude are nowhere to be found), plans to assassinate him and keep all the money.

Snerdly tries to make Benny lose his life, but Elvis, Amy, and the gang know that what he's doing is dangerous. Even Dibble usually watches him with cameras and Amy even hides Benny's identity with the name of his older brother, [./https://nicthic.fandom.com/wiki/Catwalader Catwalader]. These plans frustrate Snerdly, who decides to get rid of Benny's greatest protector, Top Cat. Meanwhile, Brain (Leo De Lyon) is buying at a local supermarket, when he rescues a homeless cat named Kitty (Bea Benaderet). She accepts to stay in the mansion. The gang is laughing at a performance by Spook and Brain.

That night, Snerdly throws a costume party, and tricks Benny into dressing him up as a dog, but at that moment, the gang, Elvis, Amy, and Kitty catch Snerdly, and call the local police. Benny flees, while Snerdly is caught and taken to a police station. Officer Dibble assigns Amy and the gang to find Arthur and immediately save Gertrude. After a long search, they are shocked, upon learning that Snerdly is a jerk, because Gertrude and Arthur were actually alive and disguising as Sid Buckman to unmask the crime. Snerdly receives his punishment, but regrets having done such foolishness, because he finds that causing a false murder and trying to kill Benny no longer makes him a great person, and asks to be reformed, or else he would be accused of more crimes. Snerdly forgives Top Cat and his gang, who agree to make him a friend.

To celebrate Snerdly's change of sides, Top Cat and the gang have a delicious dinner at the mansion with the Vandergelts and Dibble, with Kitty joining them. But Top Cat feels sad and down because, despite all his attempts to have a welcoming home, he still misses New York City. He hears that Officer Dibble is coming back to town soon, and, angrily crying, runs from the reunion, which worries everybody, specially the gang, who also feel sad. Top Cat locks himself up in the living room of the mansion, when the gang cheers him up. That night, a sad and forlorn cats go to Amy's bedroom, when she lets them sleep with her at her bed. Amy comforts the cats, singing to them with her melodious voice.

A week later, Officer Dibble returns to New York, and this time he recounts the case to his boss, the Sergeant. This one tells him that Officer Prowler has already been in his position, and Dibble gets angry, because he was promised that he would go back to work. Top Cat and his gang, now reinstated in Manhattan, are saddened once more and deny that Dibble was fired, but he tells them that the Beverly Hills police station gave him a new job and even better salary. This makes the gang happy again, who return to Beverly Hills to accompany Officer Dibble, who finally agrees to adopt them and give them a home.

Officer Dibble sends Amy an invitation letter, inviting her to join him in a celebration because Top Cat and the gang will finally keep him company. The next day, Top Cat and his gang organize a picnic in the alley installed in Dibble's new house, and Amy comes to visit them with Elvis the dog to accompany them. Kitty also appears as a guest. The movie ends with our friends visiting the different parts of Beverly Hills, as they share and enjoy being together forever and ever.

Cast

 * Arnold Stang as Top Cat
 * Maurice Gosfield as Benny the Ball
 * Leo De Lyon as Brain and Spook
 * Gene Kelly as Brain's singing voice
 * Marvin Kaplan as Choo-Choo
 * John Stephenson as Fancy-Fancy and the Sargeant
 * Allen Jenkins as Officer Dibble
 * Elizabeth Taylor as Amy Vandergelt (a 16-year-old teenager who befriends the gang and Officer Dibble)
 * Elvis Presley as Elvis the dog (Amy's pet dog)
 * Jean Vander Pyl as Gertrude Vandergelt
 * Tony Curtis as Arthur Vandergelt (Amy's uncle)
 * Bea Benaderet as Kitty Glitter (a young cat girl who was a homeless)
 * Vincent Price as Snerdly (the Vandergelts' greedy butler who was guilty for "killing (this was false)" Gertrude Vandergelt. At the film's end, he reformed and became a good butler and friend for the gang)
 * Mike Douglas as Lester Pester (a detective who is Amy's faithful friend).
 * Dick York as Officer Prowler (the police officer who takes Dibble's role in the NYPD).
 * Mel Blanc as the Chef and Waiter
 * Daws Butler as the Dogcatcher (a dogcatcher who catches Snerdly)
 * Richard Burton as Sid Buckman
 * Robert Goulet as James the Chauffeur
 * Louis Prima as Vocalist ("Sad, Forlorn and Hopeless")
 * Frank Sinatra as the Narrator

Additional voices and surroundings

 * Marlon Brando - Jazz
 * Willy Schallert
 * Mary Astor
 * Patty Duke
 * Casey Kasem
 * Patty Mahoney
 * Tim Maheson
 * Christopher Reeve
 * Ernest Borgnine
 * Moe Howard
 * Ge Ge Pearson
 * Rita Hayworth
 * Jack Albertson
 * Jackie Cooper
 * Mary Badham
 * Eleanor Parker
 * Robert Taylor
 * Bette Davis
 * Tom Conway
 * George Sanders
 * Gerry Johnson
 * Sebastian Cabot
 * Mel Blanc
 * Marty Ingels
 * Bruce Cabot
 * Gregory Peck
 * John Ingle
 * June Foray
 * Carrie Fisher
 * Ken Weatherwax
 * John Astin
 * Gigi Perrau
 * Jamie Lee Curtis
 * Timothy Scott
 * Lisa Loring

Soundtrack

 * 1) "Opening" - Hanna-Barbera Singers.
 * 2) "Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats/Let's Get Outta Here/Searchin' for a Home" - Instrumental.
 * 3) "Fly Fly Cute Little Bird" - Leo De Lyon.
 * 4) "The Ship / The Club / At the Bakery / Those MEDDLING KIDS!" - Instrumental.
 * 5) "Policestation Visit / Los Angeles Trip" - Instrumental.
 * 6) "Oh, Beverly Hills!" - Arnold Stang, Maurice Gosfield, Leo De Lyon, Gene Kelly, John Stephenson, Marvin Kaplan.
 * 7) "Dibble VS The Gang / A New Alley / Cat Singers March / Amy and Elvis" - Instrumental.
 * 8) "A Melodious Song" - Arnold Stang, Maurice Gosfield, Leo De Lyon, Gene Kelly, John Stephenson, Marvin Kaplan, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley.
 * 9) "Goin' to the Mansion / Snerdly the horrible" - Instrumental.
 * 10) "I DON'T LIKE BENNY! / Failed Plans" - Instrumental.
 * 11) "Fun at the Mansion / A Funny Tune" - Leo De Lyon and Gene Kelly.
 * 12) "Fake Fancy Dress / Snerdly Gets Caught / Top Cat and the Gang Solve the Crime" - Instrumental.
 * 13) "You're Alive and Well! / Snerdly's reformed / Congratulations" - Instrumental.
 * 14) "Top Cat feels forlorn / NO! I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE!" - Instrumental.
 * 15) "Sad, Forlorn and Hopeless" - Louis Prima and Hanna-Barbera Singers.
 * 16) "Tender Lull" - Elizabeth Taylor.
 * 17) "Back to New York / Dibble is fired / The gang's finally got a home" - Instrumental.
 * 18) "Let's Party" - Instrumental.
 * 19) "We're NOT Billonaires" - Arnold Stang, Maurice Gosfield, Leo De Lyon, Gene Kelly, John Stephenson, Marvin Kaplan, Allen Jenkins, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley.
 * 20) "Ending: Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats" - Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor and the Hanna-Barbera Singers.

Production
After the TV show was cancelled after 30 episodes in ABC, Hanna-Barbera produced the film to make a finale to the show.

Reception
The film received mostly positive reviews by critics and fans, which said "It's a perfect finale for the original cartoon series". The Spanish dub has received better reviews by fans, critics and even the staff of the show and movie.

Home media
The film was released on DVD, VHS and Blu-ray since the 1990s. All the cast is credited.

Bringing Up Elvis (TV series)
Following the film's release, critical acclaim for the appearance of the Vandergelt family and their pet dog, Elvis, led Hanna-Barbera to make an animated TV series starring these Top Cat characters: "Bringing Up Elvis". Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis, Robert Goulet and Jean Vander Pyl reprised their roles.

Trivia

 * Do not confuse with the real 1988 TV film of the same name which had a very unsimilar plot.