The sexual awakenings and misadventures of teenagers became a theme in Czech cinema during the late 1970s and early 1980s within the genre of films “about youth and for youth”. One film that addresses such motifs, and which certainly does not deserve to sink into the ranks of the forgotten, is a Milan Muchna comedy made in 1979. The film’s heroine is a naïve student named Bláža living in a small town. She decides that it’s time to lose her virginity. After failing to do so in her home town, she travels to Prague where she meets a chance acquaintance, a tennis player named Pavel. Like the heroine of Miloš Forman’s Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde, 1965), Bláža too is eventually dispossessed of her illusions and has to confront reality. In devising the light-hearted script, Muchna and Karel Štorkán were assisted by Miloš Macourek. The latter’s contribution ensures that Hon na kočku goes (Chasing the Cat) beyond mere entertainment. It does in fact offer a convincing narrative of events that divest a naïve secondary school student of her dreams of romance. Muchna found the perfect actress for the lead role in Jaromíra Mílová.
A slim and a bit childish Bláža Hořešovská from a small spa town has definitely decided to loose her virginity. She puts heads together with her schoolmates from secondary school. While walking with her friend Magda she refuses a dandy-like seduction of the book-seller Kučera, the local Casanova. In the afternoon Bláža visits her friend, the eighteen year old Vojta Voborník. They cuddle a bit clumsily in the loft of his house. Their attempt to get closer is interrupted suddenly and embarrassingly by Vojta's mother. She slaps her son and shows the girl out. At the Hořešovskýs home is everything as usually. The mother is tidying up and the father is drinking bear in front of TV. On Saturday Bláža and her friends meet young tennis-players from Prague. Bláža gets closer to one of them, called Pavel. She tells him about her dreams. The ironic young man is enchanted by the girl's naive romanticism and the couple dances on the colonnade. Magda invites her friends and the Prague gentlemen to their villa, her parents left. Bláža's father influenced by the information of the annoyed Voborníková is looking for his daughter around the town. The intimate party in the villa ends up as Magda's grandpa arrives. A couple of days later Bláža goes to Prague to see Pavel. But he is not on the ball to which he has invited her. The girl is lured into a certain studio by his alleged friends. First there she learns that Pavel is on a tournament outside of Prague. Without her handbag and documents she escapes both pushing young men. Bláža's Prague adventure ends up by a detention by police. Her terrified parents await her at home with lots of bans. Her mother checks her in the evening, but she is sleeping deeply. First after Mrs. Hořešovská leaves her room, Vojta hidden behind Bláža peers up in her bed.
Bláža Hořešovská
Vojta Voborník
Anna, Blážina matka
Fanouš, Blážin otec
Vojtova matka
tenista Pavel Rejsek
Magda, Blážina kamarádka
Dana, Blážina kamarádka
vedoucí knihkupectví Kučera
fotograf Kamil Pilc
Petr
Jarouš
Houba
kulturista Karel Čumpelík
tenista Stanislav Keberle
tenista Tomáš Rotter
Václav Pokorný, Blážin dědeček
František Zítek, Magdin dědeček
zpěvačka Blanka/členka lázeňského orchestru
Blážina teta
Mirka, Blážina nemocná spolužačka
diskžokej
hudebník-pozounista
hudebník-klarinetista
hudebník-hobojista
člen skupiny Katapult
kapelník skupiny Katapult
člen skupiny Katapult
člen skupiny Katapult
Romeo v televizní inscenaci
Julie v televizní inscenaci
Eva
učitelka
Lidunka, Blážina kamarádka
Štěpán
Venca
zdravotní sestra
zdravotní sestra
zdravotní sestra
technik
technik
technik
technik
servírka
servírka
vrchní
číšník
barman
dívka
pořadatel
vousatý mladík
lékař
lékař
blondýna
příslušník VB
dirigent
člen lázeňského orchestru
Zdeněk Pazdírek
Miloš Macourek, Milan Muchna, Karel Štorkán, Richard Valenta
Jan Hodný, Karel Kočí, Jiří Matějka
Milan Nosek
Jindřich Panáček (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček), skupina Katapult
Song Composer Jiří ČervenýAdolf Školka /úprava/
Writer of Lyrics Tomáš HertanAdolf Školka /úprava/
Singer Emilie Zíchová
Singer ženský hlas
Singer ženský hlas
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří JelínekJana Malknechtová
Song Composer Oldřich Říha
Writer of Lyrics Ladislav Vostárek
Singer skupina Katapult
Song Composer Oldřich Říha
Writer of Lyrics Ladislav Vostárek
Singer skupina Katapult
Hon na kočku
Hon na kočku
Chasing the Cat
film
featuretheatrical distribution
comedy
Czechoslovakia
1979
1979
literary Screenplay approved 14 September 1978
start of filming 12 March 1979
technical Screenplay approved 12 April 1979
end of filming 5 October 1979
projection approval 30 October 1979
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1990
premiere 4 April 1980 /unsuitable for youths/
Dramaturgická skupina Miroslava Hladkého, Miroslav Hladký (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)
feature film
76 min
2 172 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: 2. festival československé filmové veselohry Nové Město nad Metují
1980
Nové Město nad Metují / Czechoslovakia
Bronislav Poloczek