Customer Reviews

Cat Dancers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a disturbing look into the lives of 3 traveling exhibitionists who dance with and do tricks with large cats. Ron and Joy bring in another player, who they both fall deeply in love with. Chuck seems to be the crux of the matter, the hinge point upon which the balance of their world goes awry. Ron recounts this sad tale. He is a strange man in appearance, mannerisims, and in the way he assigns importance or weight to certain aspects of the narrative. At times I'm not sure I believe what he is saying at all; some of it is simply too bizarre. But, I don't think Ron is trying to deceive, but only that he is shell shocked and has beaten down by life to near insanity. He is a kind and loving man, of that there is not doubt. I would also say that both Joy and Ron do seem to know these cats, as well as one can. The moments where Joy discusses what is going in in these animals heads are pretty amazing. I wonder if their obsession with Chuck took off the edge, created a bit of slack in their situational awareness. It seems to have lead to their aquisition of Jupiter, to disasterous result. Nearly everything about these people is a head scratcher. Love triangles, tiger maulings, wigs, tight fitting costumes...it's a strange recipe. But, that's how they chose to spend their nickle, and it made them happy, which probably is all that matters.

HBO Documentaries always grab my attention. They usually fall into one of two categories: simply wonderful or truly trash. "Cat Dancers" falls into the first category. It's a loving and somewhat eerie look into the lives of Ron and Joy Holiday and their relationship with big cats and a young protege, Chuck Lizza.

The documentary premiered last night and has been plugged for weeks. I was captivated by the story of this couple who grew up together and eventually married. They became world-famous adagio ballet dancers but peaked in their early thirties (according to Ron in the documentary).

Looking for work, they eventually found themselves in the world of big cat training and performance. They gained knowledge on the subject through reading and much trial-and-error.

The documentary goes on to give us a glimpse into the life of this couple as the "Cat Dancers." Ron Holiday is brought close to tears (and eventually gives in) many times as he opens up about his life, his love of Joy and Chuck and his deep connection to the cats. We learn a little history of each of the Holiday's animals, from Shercon to Jupiter, the white tiger lovingly referred to as "Mr. Perfect." We also see Ron teach a class of students on the exotics farm on which he keeps his remaining animals. The documentary ends with two terrible tragedies that I won't reveal here.

One thing is for certain, the Holidays had a truly amazing bond with their cats and with Chuck Lizza. The bond shared between the humans and cats was very strong and very passionate.

This is an intimate portrait of three lives that intertwined to create something truly beautiful. While it can sometimes be bizarre, this story is a beautiful and tender look into the lives of some truly amazing performers. I highly recommend it.

You've heard of 'Siegfried & Roy' but that's nothing compared to all this. Wait until you hear this...

This is the story about how the best intentions can go so so wrong. How the purest love can turn into the darkest of horrors and how love can live on and still shine brightly for everyone else to see, even if everything appears to be blood red for a while.

When they received their first big cat from a Hollywood celebrity, they had no clue what to do with it so they treated it like a child. Instead of getting an education (which they eventually did), they added the animal to their act, got more famous and then just kept adding more animals, poorly trained (at first), to their act. Money was made, they lived very large and the price they paid was so dear, so tragic, so unbelievable, it made me feel so sad.

They made tons of mistakes, assigning the animals human emotions, treating the cats like children (including holding grudges against them), and basically doing all the same things that we all do with our pets. Except their pets happened to be 300-pound tigers.

In the end, I really loved Ron Holiday and I wanted to give him a hug and tell him time heals. He suffered a lot and had an unconquerable spirit. I hope he does make it to the Tiger Temple in Thailand. From this documentary, I took his spirit and attitude. He made me see that the human heart can endure massive pain and still come through like a champion, inspiring others. I think that is truly what this documentary is about. Sorry if that sounds hopelessly lame. But for me, that's what it was about.

I love documentary film, but I'm still pretty choosy. I watch alot, but many come out of the player in about 5-10 minutes. I really thought this would be cheezy and lame, I would have bet a paycheck on it. This wasn't what I thought.. there were these characters, I just didn't want to relate with, to care about, but I did. This is as personal as it gets, as much as people care bare their soul about amazing and tragic events. In short, it was REALLY, REALLY, good. You should watch it.

THIS WAS TRULY ONE OF THE MOST UNUSUAL DOCUMENTARIES I HAVE EVER SEEN OF OR READ. THIS STORY SHINES A LIGHT ON A ONCE BIG "FAMILY" OF "3" HUMANS AND THEIR CAT ANIMAL PETS THEY THOUGHT WERE THEIR CHILDREN.I LOVED RON AND JOY HOLIDAY "BEST" AS SIMPLY DANCERS.IT WAS SOME OF THE MOST CAPTIVATING,JOYOUS,AND LOVING I HAVE SEEN.THEY JUST SEEMED TO GENERATE A CALM AND LOVING SPIRIT THROUGH THEIR DANCING.I THINK THIS WAS THEIR CALLING.RON APPEARS TO BE A OF SOMEWHAT "MANIPULATIVE" NATURED.LIKE"GONNA GET MY WAY NO MATTER WHAT",BUT A GUESS TO BE IN CHARGE YOU HAVE TO HAVE A LITTLE PERSUASIVE TO GET ANYTHING DONE.I THINK HOWEVER WHEN CHUCK CAME INTO THE TRIANGLE THIS CAUSED THE MARRIAGE TO TWIST AND BEND TO RHE EXTREEMS.I THINK JOY MAY HAVE LEANED MORE TO A NORMAL RELATIONSHIP THAT SHE PROBABLY WAS ABLE TO NOW GET FROM CHUCK.BEING THAT SHE DID GROW WITH SUCH STRONG RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN HER CHILDHOOD;THAT RON HAD CAUSED HER TO SWAY FROM.ANIMALS DO CHOOSE THEIR MASTERS;AND I GOT THE FEELING THAT RON WAS A BIT JEALOUS OF THE RELATIONSHIP "JUPITER" HAD WITH CHUCK.RON APPEARED TO WANT TO BE THE "BEST" OF THE TRAINERS AND NOTHING LESS.IT IS AS ONE OF THE PREVIOUS REVIEWERS SAID QUITE "FRIGHTENING"TO TRY TO "ASSIGN HUMAN EMOTIONS TO WILD ANIMALS" AND EXPECT THEM TO RESPOND AS WE HUMANS DO.I THINK THEY TRULY TAUGHT THEIR PETS TO FEEL JOY AND SORROW "CRY!"HOWEVER THESE WILD ANIMALS ARE "NATURAL" PREDATORS AND WOULD TAKE TRULY MORE THAN A LIFE TIME TO CHANGE THAT.IF YOU SPOOK OR SCARE THEM IN ANY WAY OR FASHION;THEIR NATURAL INSTINCT "KICKS" IN FOR THAT MOMENT AND THEY ATTACK TO PRESERVE LIFE "THEIR LIFE".KNOWING NOTHING IN THE BEGINNING ABOUT WILD ANIMAL TRAINING THEY DID QUITE REMARKABLY.THEY WERE THE"BEST"OF THE BEST.THERE IS A LOT TO LEARN FROM THIS FILM.TRIAL AND ERROR IS HOW HUMANITY AND OUR WORLD HAS DEVELOPED THOUGH TIME.WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES.YOU DO;I DO;AND AS RON SAID THEY DID.HOWEVER SOMETIMES THE STAKES INVOLVE HUMAN LIFE.WE JUST LEARN FROM THEM.RON,JOY,AND CHUCK BROUGHT A LOT OF JOY MIXED WITH SORROW INTO THE WORLD.I'M SO GLAD RON IS ABLE TO SHARE HIS BIOGRAPHY WITH US.BECAUSE NOW HE CAN TEACH OTHERS THINGS HE NOW KNOWS;THAT WE SIMPLY DON"T!WE THINK WE DO;BUT ASK RON.HE CAN TELL US ,NOW.GET THE VIDEO.BUY THE BOOK.YOU'LL SEE FOR YOUSELF.IT'S AN "A+"ALL THE WAY!

WOW! I couldn't even pause this DVD to get a snack or have a bathroom break! Ron Holiday tells the story of his life with Joy, his wife of over 40 years and later partner Chuck Lizza. Included is a cast of tigers, leopards, jaguars, etc. that played a role in their onstage show career. They were big before Siegfried and Roy!

NOTE: There's a VERY tragic end to the story. I will no spoil it by telling it in this review!

Ron's real life story telling sincerely had me in tears many times. It's beautifully told and his love for Joy is so plainly seen!!!! His dedication to her and their animals is an inspiration! There's a special place in Heaven for Ron Holiday!!!!

Dear Ron...if you ever read this; I hope you make it to Thailand!!!! I'll pray for you! You are a lovely man.....a real man with a HUGE heart!

God Bless you!!! I'd love to be a member of AOTPOG!

Ron Holiday was my teacher when I went to Amazing Exotics. He is caring, compassionate and he really loves his cats and takes excellent care of them. They are his family. He was very open about his life and what had happened. I just recently watch the film and even though I knew the story I cried through most of it. The one thing he stressed during the short time I knew him was; if you have a dream go for it. Its not going to be easy but if you keep at you make it. I love the fact that Ron is who he is and he lives the life he wants to live and I say go for it. Ron you were a big inspiration in my life and where ever you are now I hope you're happy and doing well.

Watched this late one night when it came on HBO and had my life changed through the course of the movie. It was all I could think about for the next week. Then I shared it with more people, and that's all the could think about. So I knew I had to buy the DVD. This is a nice DVD with lots of nice extra interviews that I thoroughly enjoyed. A must see and a must buy!

I do recommend this movie. This is A REAL LIFE story. I watched it last night. I've read all the comments here and also read comments posted elsewhere in movie reviews for newspapers, etc. I won't comment more about the movie itself; folks here have covered it, and you can read elsewhere, too. I also will not comment about the movie reviews - that is for critics.

I will, however, comment about the personal commentary folks have made about Ron and Joy and Chuck. It is very disconcerting to read some of these. Judgments without firsthand knowledge or even just facts. I knew Ron and Joy, before Chuck was part of the act/family, when they worked summers on MDI, in Maine, in the early 1980s. My sister knew them more than I did, since she was actually still working at the animal park where I'd worked and at which they performed.

From my personal experience and from my sister's narrative of her work days at the park back then, they were totally committed to their animals and were gentle people,easy to be around and to hold conversation with, especially when talking about their cats. They were not 'on stage' unless they were actually performing. Never were they concerned about 'being seen', they were outwardly focused and focused on the 'now', during my conversations with them. Rugged and real and passionate, is how I'd describe them, looking back 30 years.

All their felines were their family members, not just 'treated like'. Just like my dogs and cats are to me and my family. I've worked with or around wild animals and domestic animals, large and small. Small, domestic animals - dogs and cats - most people can handle safely. Working with large, domestic or small, wild ones can result in injury or death - even to trained people. I've seen enough close calls.

However, wild AND large animal work - like Joy's and Ron's - requires huge amounts of animal perception and task concentration and animal behavior knowledge and regular training and good luck. Large, wild animals can always kill you or injure you in an instant - especially the felines. (Hippos still kill more humans than any other large, wild animal, BTW!)

That work was way out of my league, so I was only an appreciating spectator of their animal caretaking and practice. Their care and handling of their 'family members' was confirmed by my sister, now an animal veterinary technician and a large, domestic animal owner and trainer, and always the first person to speak up when kids or animals are being neglected or mistreated.

Tragically, for Joy and Ron, their good luck ran out; it ended in 'domestic violence' - a homicide, if you will. But, not the way some of you folks are thinking; a beloved family member (Jupiter, the white Bengal tiger) killed Chuck and then killed Joy. Ron's luck, I'm pretty sure, has been the worst; he's the lone human survivor. I'm sure, though, that the animal members of the family also missed Chuck and Joy. Ron could confirm that; years later he euthanized his remaining cats when he had nowhere to turn to keep them.

This was just a cross-species 'accidental homicide' - most humans won't understand - a tragic event that is part of a rugged and real and passionate life. Live and work with (and love?) large wild carnivores and you may. Take care of yourself, Ron!

I wasn't crazy about the way the filmmakers decided to "distress" so much of the older color film, to make it look incredibly old. Or worse, as when Ron remembers the tragic day his second loss took place, the film seems splotched with blood--a sadly cheap and gimmicky effect.

Filmmakers seem to take Ron's account of "Cat Dancers" pretty straightforwardly, but I would have preferred a more authoritative approach. Couldn't they find anyone else to interview for the movie (outside of Chuck's mom, who appears only on audio)? How old were Ron and Joy anyhow? We get only vague references to actual dates, but I'm wondering were they actually born in the 1920s? If so, they were amazingly old when they encountered the young, virile, crush magnet Chuck Lizza. Yes, it would have been nice if some disinterested party had described the career of the Cat Dancers in terms we could understand. Were they really bigger than Siegfried and Roy? Seems hard to believe. According to Ron, they were already big stars when they met Tennessee Williams in Key West shortly after the Broadway premiere of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (what a prophetic title!)--so that must have been 1955. In the 1970s they're still looking pretty good, but man oh man, if that's what happens to you when you spend your life feeding cats in Florida, lord preserve us from that harsh sun! I'm glad I'm lost in the fog in San Francisco. Ron and Joy had great bodies but those faces were like dried up hamburgers.

I like Ron, though after watching "Mr. G" on the Australian series HBO imported this autumn "Summer Heights High," that colored it a bit for me since Ron seems so much like the fictional, and horrid, Mr. G (a drama teacher at the fictional Oz high school). It is a tragic story and nothing will change the bitter ending, but I think Ron might have been better served by a director willing to put his story into some context, instead of making it GREY GARDENS II.