Cat's Eye (also known as Stephen King's Cat's Eye) is a 1985 American anthology horror thriller film directed by Lewis Teague and written by Stephen King. It comprises three stories, "Quitters, Inc.", "The Ledge", and "General". The first two are adaptations of short stories in King's 1978 Night Shift collection, and the third is unique to the film. The three stories are connected by the presence of a traveling cat, and Drew Barrymore both of which play incidental roles in the first two and major characters in the third.
Its cast includes Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Robert Hays and Candy Clark.
Plot
A stray tabby cat hides from a dog in a delivery truck, which drives to New York City. The tomcat sees the disembodied image of a young girl pleading for help and is picked up by a man named Junk.
"Quitters, Inc." Smoker Dick Morrison is advised by a friend to join Quitters, Inc., to kick his habit. Clinic counselor Vinnie Donatti explains that the clinic has a 100% success rate due to a uniquely persuasive method: every time Dick smokes a cigarette, horrors of increasing magnitude will befall his wife and child.
Using the tomcat that Donatti's assistant, Junk, caught in the street, Donatti demonstrates the first of these horrors: the tomcat is put in a cage and tormented with electric shocks coming from the floor. Donatti explains that if his new client is caught with a cigarette, Dick's wife Cindy will be shocked while he is forced to watch. For subsequent infractions, his daughter will be shocked, then his wife raped. Finally, Dick himself will be killed. Dick hides the threats from his family.
That night, Dick is angered by the methods Quitters, Inc., uses and notices a pack of cigarettes in his desk. He prepares to smoke, but notices a pair of feet in his closet, realizing Quitters, Inc., takes their threat seriously. The following day, Dick visits his daughter and gives her a doll. While at the school, Dick sees Donatti, who warns him that the organization will be watching him closely.
During a stressful traffic jam, Dick smokes after finding an old pack of cigarettes in his glove box. After watching Cindy suffer in the electric cage, Dick futilely attacks Donatti and Junk; the tomcat escapes in the scuffle. Dick is determined never to smoke again and tells his wife everything.
Time passes, and Dick is smoke-free, but has gained weight due to quitting. Donatti prescribes illegal diet pills and sets a target weight for Dick. Dick jokingly asks what will happen if he continues to gain weight; Donatti responds that someone will cut off his wife's little finger. Dick and his wife have a dinner party with the friend who recommended Quitters, Inc., to Dick and his wife, and toast the company. As she raises her glass, Dick sees that his friend's wife is missing her little finger.
"The Ledge" Having escaped Quitters, Inc., the tomcat leaves Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry, traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it sees the same disembodied girl's image asking for his help. Gambler and former tennis pro Johnny Norris is involved with a woman whose jealous husband, Cressner, is a crime boss and casino owner. Cressner, who will bet on anything, wins a wager that the tomcat will successfully cross the busy road outside his casino, and takes the tomcat home.
Cressner has Norris kidnapped and blackmails him into a dangerous ordeal: he must circumnavigate the exterior ledge of Cressner's penthouse. If he makes it all the way around, Cressner will grant his wife a divorce. If Norris refuses, Cressner will call the police and have him arrested for possession of drugs that have been planted in Norris's Mustang by a henchman named Albert.
Norris agrees. Cressner harasses Norris by startling him with a horn when he attempts to get into a window. A pigeon lands beside Norris and pecks at his foot, causing it to bleed, then Cressner turns on a fire hose to keep Norris from lingering. Norris returns to the apartment. Cressner says he will honor his bet: Albert removed the drugs, and presents Norris with a bag of cash—however, he kicks over the bag to reveal his wife's severed head. Norris attacks Cressner, while Albert is tripped by the tomcat and drops his gun. Norris seizes the gun and kills Albert, then points it at Cressner. Norris forces Cressner to undergo the same ordeal on the ledge. The tomcat watches as Cressner, harassed by the pigeon, falls to his death.
"General" The tomcat hops a freight train and travels to Wilmington, North Carolina, where it is adopted by the girl who was asking for help earlier, Amanda, who names him General. Amanda's mother believes General will harm their parakeet, Polly.