Alley Cat
Alley Cat
R | 01 March 1984 (USA)
Alley Cat Trailers

A skilled martial artist tries to get revenge on the thugs who stole her tires and attacked her grandparents.

Reviews
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Uriah43 This movie begins with a woman named "Belinda 'Billie' Clark" (Karin Mani) being woken up in the middle of the night by her neighbor and told that two thugs are trying to steal her car tires. So she immediately dresses and confronts the two men responsible. However, rather than stopping they attempt to physically assault her instead. However, this soon proves to be a big mistake as she possesses superlative martial arts skills and easily turns the tables on them. Not only that, but her grandfather also appears and upon shooting a gun at them causes them to immediately run away. Not long afterward these two hoodlums report back to their boss who is not at all pleased with them and decides to take matters into his own hands by robbing Billie's grandfather and fatally stabbing her grandmother in the process. If that wasn't bad enough, the next night Billie attempts to stop a rape on another woman by those same two thugs and for her efforts she is arrested by a corrupt cop and booked on bogus charges while the real crooks escape justice--at least for the time being. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie certainly had potential but it was somewhat limited by the cheap production values and some rather weak combat scenes. Likewise, although Karin Mani turned in a decent performance, most of the other actors weren't nearly as good. In any case, although I don't consider this to be a good film by any means, it wasn't totally bad and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.
Leofwine_draca ALLEY CAT is a low budget American thriller clearly devised as a gender reversal twist on the DEATH WISH franchise. The heroine is a young woman blessed with martial arts skills who finds herself tangling with a gang of rapists and murderers when her grandparents are accidentally bumped off by the villains. She then cuts a swathe through the lower elements of the local nightlife.It's simplistic stuff indeed but not without a simple verve to see it through. Various sub-plots have been added in in order to increase the running time, including a dull romance between the heroine and some Jewish guy and a brief sojourn in prison which manages to include the usual prison clichés despite not occupying much screen time.It's quite artificial stuff but not without merit. Sadly the action sequences are poorly shot and conceived; if they'd been decent then this might have been an acceptable little thriller, but as it stands they're quite boring. The cast is full of those types of actor that you've never heard of before or after and most of the film takes place at night which means a lot of night scenes where you can't really make out what's going on.
merklekranz Karin Mani stars in "Alley Cat", and is absolutely the only reason to see this somewhat rare exploitation female revenge flick. She stalks and attacks several scum types who mugged her grandparents. Everyone else, including Mani's love interest cop, the generic hoods, and incompetent judge, are easily forgettable. In the beginning there is some surprising sexual humor that helps, but technically the film is too dark in many places, and the acting by all is far from even marginal. Enjoy a pair of totally gratuitous shower scenes, and that's about it for "Alley Cat". In the end, all that really counts is Karin Mani and her sexy overbite. - MERK
Bogmeister Despite a very low budget, which shows in the bad acting, dialog and poor photography (some scenes are too dark), this has the energy of the best exploitation pics and is surprisingly entertaining. The lead character (Mani) is a tough karate fighter and repeatedly kicks in the faces of several gang members throughout the movie. She doesn't hesitate to speak her mind, even in court where it gets her into trouble, and is an early example of the tough heroine in films, still rare today. There's also an abundance of female skin revealed, including inside a women's prison; this picture has all the right ingredients for this type of picture. This is pretty much a version of "Death Wish"(74) with a female instead of Charles Bronson. Justice is shown to be blind, as far as the law & the court system, and this 'cat-fighter' has to make her own rules. There's also a fight scene between two cops which, while it has you chuckling at the lame dialog, is still exciting. Most of the gang members, grimy & scummy, are also funny, in that stupid fashion.