Thoughts on Morris the Cat, Burt Reynolds and Private Eyes

Caught “Shamus” the other night with my pal, Jack Pendarvis. Burt — as always — was great. But the movie itself was pretty bad even though it featured Morris the Cat at the zenith of his stardom. Jack was more disappointed in Morris’s performance than the movie itself and had me watch “The Long Goodbye” again. He wanted me to see a real cat actor. I have to admit — this orange cat who did not get billing — definitely didn’t phone it in. And I have forgotten what a terrific Marlowe Elliott Gould made. In a game of one degree of separation both Reynolds and Gould have read Robert B. Parker books on tape. And RBP even wrote the pilot episode of Burt’s series “B.L. Stryker.”