Monday, March 30, 2026

Play It Again Sam (1972)

 


Play It Again, Sam is a 1972 American comedy film written by and starring Woody Allen, based on his 1969 Broadway play of the same title. The film was directed by Herbert Ross, instead of Allen, who usually directs his own written work.

The film is about a recently divorced film critic, Allan Felix, who is urged to begin dating again by his best friend and his best friend's wife. Allan identifies with the 1942 film Casablanca and the character Rick Blaine as played by Humphrey Bogart. The film is liberally sprinkled with clips from the movie and ghost-like appearances of Bogart (Jerry Lacy) giving advice on how to treat women.

Plot

Set in San Francisco, Play It Again, Sam begins with the closing scenes of Casablanca, with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Allan Felix watches the film in a cinema, mouth agape. He leaves the cinema depressed that he will never be like Bogart.

Apart from apparitions of Bogart, Allan also has frequent flashbacks of conversations with his ex-wife, Nancy, who constantly ridiculed his sexual inadequacy. His best friend, Dick Christie, and Dick's wife, Linda, try to convince him to go out with women again, setting him up on a series of blind dates, all of which turn out badly. Throughout the film, he is seen receiving dating advice from the ghost of Bogart, who is visible and audible only to Allan. Nancy also makes fantasy appearances, as he imagines conversations with her about the breakdown of their marriage. On one occasion, the fantasy seems to run out of control, with both Bogart and Nancy appearing.

When it comes to women, he attempts to become sexy and sophisticated, in particular he tries to be like his idol, Bogart, only to end up ruining his chances by being too clumsy. Eventually, he develops feelings for Linda, around whom he feels relatively at ease and does not feel the need to put on the mask. At the point where he finally makes his move on Linda (aided by comments from Bogart), a vision of his ex-wife appears and shoots Bogart, leaving him without advice. He then makes an awkward move. Linda runs off but returns, realizing that Allan loves her.

However, their relationship is doomed, just as it was for Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca. Dick returns early from Cleveland and confides to Allan that he thinks Linda is having an affair, not realizing that her affair is with Allan. Dick expresses to Allan his love for Linda.

The final scene is an allusion to Casablanca's famous ending. Dick is catching a flight to Cleveland, Linda is after him, and Allan is chasing Linda. The fog, the aircraft engine start-ups, the trenchcoats, and the dialogue are all reminiscent of the film, as Allan nobly explains to Linda why she has to go with her husband, rather than stay behind with him. Bogart says that he has learned how to be himself and no longer needs him for advice. The music from the scene in Casablanca resumes the theme, "As Time Goes By", and the film ends.

Cast

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman appear in archival appearances from Casablanca as Richard "Rick" Blaine and Ilsa Lund, respectively.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 35 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10.[1] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[2]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, giving it three out of four stars and saying, "as comedies go, this is a very funny one." He elaborated, concluding, "Maybe the movie has too much coherence, and the plot is too predictable; that's a weakness of films based on well-made Broadway plays. Still, that's hardly a serious complaint about something as funny as Play It Again, Sam."[3] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune also gave it three out of four stars, writing, "For those who prefer their films with a beginning, middle and an end, and, consequently, were unsettled by the hellzapoppin' plots of 'Bananas' or 'Take the Money and Run,' 'Play It Again Sam' will provide warmth, sanity, and an unconventional story with laughs."[4] Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "a very funny film" although he felt that "the shape of the ordinary Broadway comedy, with three acts and a beginning, middle and end, inhibit the Woody Allen that I, at least, appreciate most."[5] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was "in the tradition of the best bright comedies of the past, full of funny lines and situations but supported and enriched by an accurately perceived and recognizable character whose own consistency provides the logic for mad events and a lasting power for the laughter."[6] David McGillivray of The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a treat for Woody Allen fans and a quite amusing, unobjectionable comedy for everyone else," though he thought it "hardly improves" upon the original play.[7]

Influence

Quentin Tarantino said on his commentary track for True Romance (1993) that the character of Elvis Presley as portrayed by Val Kilmer, who appears to Christian Slater's character and gives advice and assurance, was based on the Bogart character in this film.

The 2005 song "Beautiful and Light" by Tunng contains samples from the film.

The Second City comedy troupe's television show SCTV parodied the film. Play It Again, Bob stars Allen (Rick Moranis) and Bob Hope (Dave Thomas).

The Family Guy episode "Play It Again, Brian" is an homage to the film, with Brian Griffin having unrequited feelings for Lois Griffin, his best friend Peter's wife.

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Bananas (1971)

 


Bananas is a 1971 American comedy film directed by Woody Allen and starring Allen, Louise Lasser, and Carlos Montalbán. Written by Allen and Mickey Rose, the film is about a bumbling New Yorker who, after being dumped by his activist girlfriend, travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest revolution.[1] Parts of the plot are based on the book Don Quixote, U.S.A. by Richard P. Powell.[2]

Filmed on location in New York City and Puerto Rico,[3] the film was released to positive reviews from critics and was number 78 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" and number 69 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs in 2000.

Plot

The film opens with Howard Cosell's coverage of the assassination of the president of the fictional "banana republic" of San Marcos and a coup d'état that brings Gen. Emilio Molina Vargas to power.

Fielding Mellish is a neurotic blue-collar man who tries to impress social activist Nancy by connecting with the revolution in San Marcos. He visits the republic and attempts to show his concern for the native people. However, Vargas secretly orders his men, disguised as Vargas's opponents, to kill Mellish to make the rebels look bad so that the U.S. will send Vargas financial aid. Mellish evades Vargas's assassins but is shortly captured by the real rebels. Vargas declares Mellish dead regardless, leaving Mellish no choice but to join the rebels for two months. Mellish then clumsily learns how to be a revolutionary. When the revolution is successful, it becomes apparent that Esposito, the Castro-style leader, has gone mad. The rebels decide to replace him with Mellish as their president.

While traveling back to the U.S. to obtain financial aid, Mellish (sporting a long fake beard) reunites with Nancy and is exposed. In court, Mellish tries to defend himself from a series of incriminating witnesses, including a reigning Miss America and a middle-aged African-American woman claiming to be J. Edgar Hoover in disguise. One of the witnesses does provide testimony favorable to Mellish, but the court clerk, when asked to read back this testimony, replies with an entirely different, wholly unfavorable rendition. Mellish is eventually sentenced to prison, but his sentence is suspended on the condition that he does not move into the judge's neighborhood. Nancy then agrees to marry him. The film ends with Cosell's coverage of the between-the-covers consummation of their marriage, an event that was over much more quickly than Nancy had anticipated, with Mellish anticipating a rematch in the early spring.

Cast

Eddie Barth and Nicholas Saunders make their theatrical film debuts as the characters Paul and Douglas, while comedian Conrad Bain plays Semple and actor Allen Garfield plays the Man on Cross. Uncredited appearances include Sylvester Stallone as a subway thug #1, Mary Jo Catlett as a woman in a hotel lobby[4] and Tino García in an undisclosed role.

Production

Development

According to an interview in the notes of the film's DVD release, Allen said that there is absolutely no blood in the film (even during executions) because he wanted to keep the light comedic tone of the film intact.

Allen and Lasser had been married from 1966 to 1970 and were divorced at the time the film was made.

The verdict in Mellish's legal case is portrayed as the headline story of a Roger Grimsby newscast.[5] Included in the scene is a parody television advertisement for New Testament cigarettes with a Catholic priest (Dan Frazer) promoting the fictitious brand while performing the sacrament of the Eucharist.[6] The movie received a C (condemned) classification from the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures because of the spoof.[5]

Original title

The film was originally titled El Weirdo. The film's screenwriters Woody Allen and Mickey Rose wrote the first 40 pages of the film under the title El Weirdo and submitted it to a producer who rejected it. In the year 1971, a different producer released the completed film under a new title, Bananas.[7]

Budget and filming

According to a July 1970 Los Angeles Herald Examiner article, Bananas cost $1.7 million and was the first of a three-picture deal Allen had with United Artists.[5] A riot scene involving 2,000 students was shot at Queens Community College in New York.[5]

The scene where musicians appear to play instruments in pantomime at General Vargas's dinner was not originally planned; the rented instruments had not arrived on set, and Allen decided the miming fit the film's tone.[2]

According to Julian Fox's biography Woody: Movies from Manhattan, the film originally had a different ending in which Fielding, invited to make a revolutionary speech at Columbia University, would emerge from an explosion in blackface. Co-editor Ralph Rosenblum convinced Allen to change it.[8]

Theatrical title

The title is a pun, "bananas" being slang for "crazy", as well as being a reference to the phrase "banana republic" describing the film's setting. When Allen was asked why the film was called Bananas, his reply was, "Because there are no bananas in it." Some writers have made the connection between this and The Cocoanuts, the first film by the Marx Brothers, by whom Allen was heavily influenced at the time, and which featured no coconuts.[9]

Music

Reception

Box office

Bananas was the number one film at the U.S. box office on May 2, 1971, for one week, and finished as the 18th highest-grossing film of 1971.[11]

Critical response

Bananas was well received by critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 35 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10.[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[13] Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised the film, saying: "Allen's view of the world is fraught with everything except pathos, and it's a view I happen to find very funny. Here is no little man surviving with a wan smile and a shrug, but a runty, wise-mouthed guy whose initial impulses toward cowardice seem really heroic in the crazy order of the way things are." He concluded: "Any movie that attempts to mix together love, Cuban revolution, the C.I.A., Jewish mothers, J. Edgar Hoover and a few other odds and ends (including a sequence in which someone orders 1,000 grilled cheese sandwiches) is bound to be a little weird—and most welcome."[14] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four and called the opening scene "one of the funniest bits of film," though he thought the romance "gets in the way" and "could have been omitted easily."[15]

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Allen seems to have been unable to figure a suitable finish for the plot, which does not so much peak as stop. Still the best jokes have a glorious insanity about them. Given the diminishing ability to laugh like blazing idiots these days, Bananas is welcome even if Allen is not quite at the top of his form."[16] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film was "in a word, hilarious," and "an immense improvement" over Take the Money and Run.[17] Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin thought that "the gags seem a little brighter than in Take the Money," but also found the scattershot humor "too undisciplined and disparate."[18] John Simon wrote of the film's plot: "None of it makes for sense or solidly developing humor, and much of it is in bad taste".[19]

Pauline Kael of The New Yorker wrote that the "inexplicably funny took over; it might be grotesque; it almost always had the flippant, corny bawdiness of a frustrated sophmore running amok, but it seemed to burst out, as the most inspired comedy does."[20]

Accolades

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Don't Drink The Water (1969)

 


Don't Drink the Water is a 1969 American comedy film starring Jackie Gleason and Estelle Parsons.[2] It is directed by Howard Morris and based upon a 1966 play Don't Drink the Water by Woody Allen. The supporting cast includes Ted Bessell and Joan Delaney.

In 1994, Allen remade the story as the television film Don't Drink the Water, with himself as Walter Hollander.[3]

Plot

Walter Hollander, a caterer, is on vacation with his wife Marion and daughter Susan. While flying to Athens, their plane is hijacked to Vulgaria, behind the Iron Curtain. While waiting for the plane to be cleared to take off again, Marion insists they go outside and take a few pictures. Unfortunately they are in a restricted area so the secret police suspect them of being spies. Inspector Krojak sends a squad of soldiers with machine guns to arrest them, and the Hollanders flee to the car of the American ambassador which is parked nearby.

The Hollanders take refuge in the U.S. Embassy nearby. The ambassador is away, leaving only his inept son Axel Magee to grant the Hollanders political asylum. Picketers protest outside the embassy as everyone tries to figure a way out. Complicating matters further is that Susan has fallen in love with Axel.

Marion busies herself by scrupulously cleaning the embassy as if it were her own home. Walter can make long-distance phone calls, but they bring only bad news...including that his catering business has become involved in a food poisoning scandal.

Axel hopes that an influential Arab Sheik might help out. But when the Sultan shows signs of wanting to add daughter Susan to his harem; Walter explodes and throws the Sultan out.

Axel finally gets the idea of throwing a fancy party at the Embassy, and to have the Hollander's leave in disguise among the guests. Father Drobney, an eccentric rabbi also seeking asylum, gets them through border checkpoints thanks to his knowledge of the local language.

Daughter Susan has remained behind to marry Axel and remain in the safety of the embassy while Walter, Marion, and Drobney escape Vulgaria in a rickety biplane.

Cast

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Take The Money And Run (1969)

 


Take the Money and Run is a 1969 American mockumentary crime comedy film directed by Woody Allen. Allen co-wrote the screenplay with Mickey Rose and stars alongside Janet Margolin. The film chronicles the life of Virgil Starkwell, an inept bank robber.[3]

Filmed in San Francisco and San Quentin State Prison,[4] Take the Money and Run received Golden Laurel nominations for Male Comedy Performance (Woody Allen) and Male New Face (Woody Allen), and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (Woody Allen, Mickey Rose).[5]

Plot

As a child, Virgil Starkwell is a frequent target of bullies, who take his glasses and stamp on them on the floor. In school, he scores well on an IQ test. When he steals a fountain pen, his teacher instructs the class to close their eyes so the thief can return it. While all eyes are closed, Virgil returns the pen, but takes the opportunity to "feel" all the girls.

As an adult, Virgil is clumsy and socially awkward. Stealing a gun to rob an armored truck, during a shootout with the guards, he finds that his gun is a cigarette lighter. Arrested, Virgil attempts an escape from prison using a bar of soap carved to resemble a gun, but his "gun" dissolves in the rain. He is sentenced to an additional two years but is released on bail after he volunteers to receive an experimental vaccine, following which he briefly becomes an ultra-Orthodox Jew.

Out on parole, Virgil's attempt to rob a local pet shop fails when a gorilla chases him away. In the park, he meets Louise; after 15 minutes he knows he is in love and wants to marry her, after 30 minutes he gives up the idea of snatching her purse. Virgil steals coins from a gumball machine, paying for dinner with nickels.[a]

Virgil's attempt to rob a bank is stymied by an argument about his handwriting on a demand note. The cashier asks what "I am pointing a 'gub' at you" means, and Virgil insists it says "gun"; the cashier's supervisor asks what "Abt natural" means. Virgil insists it's "act natural". While over a dozen bank employees attempt to decipher the note, the police arrive. Virgil is sentenced to ten years in maximum security. He asks Louise to bake him a cake with a gun in it and a dozen chocolate cookies with a bullet in each (she does not). Virgil joins a mass breakout plan, but the guards become suspicious when all their uniforms are missing from the laundry. The breakout is called off, and Virgil is the only inmate not informed, but manages to escape anyway.

Virgil marries Louise, but finds it difficult to support his family. Lying about his background, he is hired in the mailroom. He is eventually blackmailed by a fellow employee, Miss Blair, who forces him into a romantic relationship.[b] Deciding to kill his blackmailer, he disguises sticks of dynamite as candles. He attempts to run her over with his car, but she evades it. He attempts to stab her with a knife, but grabs a turkey leg by mistake and stabs her with it. She finally lights the "candles" that explode.

Another bank robbery is botched when a second gang also holds up the bank, and the customers vote that they prefer the other gang to rob the bank. Virgil is sentenced to ten years on a chain gang, where he is tortured in a penalty box with an insurance salesman. Virgil eventually asks another prisoner whether his aim is good enough to smash his chain with a sledgehammer; his aim misses and Virgil's foot is hit instead.[c] Virgil and five other prisoners—including two black prisoners—all chained together later make a break for it while on work detail.[d] Attempting to scatter, they do not get very far. They take an old woman hostage, telling her to pretend to the police that they are her cousins and attempting to hide their chains by standing close together and moving in unison. They knock out the officer and escape, hiding out with Louise.

Virgil is eventually recaptured attempting to rob a former friend who is now a policeman. Virgil is tried on fifty-two counts of robbery and sentenced to eight hundred years, but remains optimistic reasoning, "with good behavior, he can cut the sentence in half." Virgil is later carving a bar of soap and asking an interviewer making a documentary about his life if it is raining outside.

Cast

Production

This was the second film directed by Woody Allen, and the first with original footage (after What's Up, Tiger Lily?, which consisted of visuals taken from a Japanese James Bond knockoff). He had originally wanted Jerry Lewis to direct, but when that did not work out, Allen decided to direct it himself. Allen's decision to become his own director was partially spurred on by the chaotic and uncontrolled filming of Casino Royale (1967), in which he had appeared two years previously. This film marked the first time Allen would perform the triple duties of writing, directing, and acting in a film. The manic, almost slapstick style is similar to that of Allen's next several films, including Bananas (1971) and Sleeper (1973).

Allen discussed the concept of filming a documentary in an interview with Richard Schickel:

Take the Money and Run was an early pseudo-documentary. The idea of doing a documentary, which I later finally perfected when I did Zelig was with me from the first day I started movies. I thought that was an ideal vehicle for doing comedy, because the documentary format was very serious, so you were immediately operating in an area where any little thing you did upset the seriousness and was thereby funny. And you could tell your story laugh by laugh by laugh... The object of the movie was for every inch of it to be a laugh.[8]

The film was shot on location in San Francisco,[4] including scenes filmed at a Bank of America branch on the 4th of July 1968,[9] and in Ernie's restaurant, whose striking red interior was immortalized in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). Other scenes were filmed at San Quentin State Prison,[4][10] where 100 prisoners were paid a small fee to work on the film. The regular cast and crew were stamped each day with a special ink that glowed under ultra-violet light so the guards could tell who was allowed to leave the prison grounds at the end of the day. (One of the actors in the San Quentin scenes was Micil Murphy, who knew the prison well: he had served five and a half years there, for armed robbery, before being paroled in 1966.[citation needed])

Allen initially filmed a downbeat ending in which he was shot to death, courtesy of special effects from A.D. Flowers. Reputedly the lighter ending is due to the influence of Allen's editor, Ralph Rosenblum, in his first collaboration with Allen.

Reception

Box office

The film opened on August 18, 1969 at the 68th St. Playhouse in New York City[1] and grossed a house record $33,478 in its first week and even more in its second week with $35,999.[11]

By 1973, the film had earned rentals of $2,590,000 in the United States and Canada and $450,000 in other countries. After all costs were deducted, it reported a loss of $610,000.[2]

Critical response

The film received mostly positive reviews. Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as "a movie that is, in effect, a feature-length, two-reel comedy—something very special and eccentric and funny", even though toward the end "a certain monotony sets in" with Allen's comedy rhythm.[12] In his later review of Annie Hall, Canby revised his opinion of Take the Money and Run, stating "Annie Hall is not terribly far removed from Take the Money and Run, his first work as a triple-threat man, which is not to put down the new movie but to upgrade the earlier one".[13]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times found the film to have many funny moments, but "in the last analysis it isn't a very funny movie", with the fault lying with its visual humor and editing.[14] In October 2013, the film was voted by the Guardian readers as the sixth best film directed by Allen.[15]

Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote:

"Once again he (Allen) is the bespectacled shnook, this time the shnook as criminal. We never believe for a moment that Allen is a criminal – as we can believe, at least partially, that Keaton is a Confederate railroad engineer-so the fun is all conscious comment. This means that the comment has to keep coming; there is little chance for dramatic understructure in the comedy. And this, plus the fact that Allen doesn't even seem to sense the need for cumulation and growth, makes the picture a series of items, good or less good. But a lot of them are funny."[16]

On the review aggregator web site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 91% positive rating with an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 23 reviews.[17]

Awards and honors

  • Golden Laurel Nomination for Male Comedy Performance (Woody Allen)
  • Golden Laurel Nomination for Male New Face (Woody Allen)
  • Writers Guild of America Award Nomination for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen (Woody Allen, Mickey Rose).[5]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Bank Teller #2: "Gun. See? But what's "abt" mean?"
Virgil Starkwell: "It's "act". A-C-T. Act natural. Please put fifty thousand dollars into this bag and act natural."
Bank Teller #1: "Oh, I see. This is a holdup?"
– Nominated[19]

Home media

Take the Money and Run was released on VHS in 1980, with reissues in 1987 and 1992. It came to DVD through MGM Home Video on July 6, 2004 as a Region 1 fullscreen DVD. Kino Video released the film on Blu-ray in October 2017, although the only bonus features are trailers for other films.[20]

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What's New Pussycat? (1965)

 


What's New Pussycat?[a] is a 1965 screwball comedy film directed by Clive Donner, written by Woody Allen in his first produced screenplay, and starring Allen in his acting debut, along with Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capucine, Paula Prentiss, and Ursula Andress.

The Academy Award-nominated title song by Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) is sung by Tom Jones.[2] The film poster was painted by Frank Frazetta, and the animated title sequence was directed by Richard Williams.

The expression "what's new pussycat?" arose from Charles K. Feldman, the producer, overhearing Warren Beatty, who was original choice for the lead role, answering the phone to a girlfriend and saying "what's up pussycat". In the film, Michael (O'Toole) calls all women "Pussycat" to avoid having to remember their names.

Plot

Notorious womanizer Michael James wants to be faithful to his fiancée Carole Werner, but most women he meets become attracted to him, including neurotic exotic dancer Liz Bien and parachutist Rita, who accidentally lands in his car. His psychoanalyst, Dr. Fritz Fassbender, is unable to help, since he is pursuing patient Renée Lefebvre, who in turn longs for Michael. Carole, meanwhile, decides to make Michael jealous by flirting with his nervous wreck of a friend, Victor Shakapopulis. Victor struggles to be romantic, but Carole nevertheless feigns interest.

Fassbender continues to have group meetings with his neurotics and obsessives and cannot understand why everyone falls for Michael. The group sessions become stranger—including an indoor cricket match. Michael dreams that all his sexual conquests simultaneously bombard him for attention, listing the places where they had sex with him.

One night, Fassbender goes to the Seine, fills a rowing boat with kerosene and wraps himself in the Norwegian flag, preparing to commit suicide in the style of a Viking funeral. Victor, who has set up a small dining table nearby, asks what he is doing. Distracted, Fassbender forgets his idea of suicide and starts giving Victor advice. Despite his attempts to womanize, Fassbender is revealed to be married with three children.

Meanwhile, Carole's plan seems to work and Michael asks to marry her. She agrees and they settle on marrying within the week. She moves in with Michael, but he finds fidelity impossible. When Liz introduces herself as Michael's fiancée, Carole becomes indignant. Simultaneously, Rita parachutes into Michael's open-top sports car and the two check into a small country hotel, though he resists her attempts to seduce him.

Soon, all parties gradually arrive at the hotel; some are checked in, but most simply appear. This includes Carole's parents who wander the corridors, causing Michael to jump from room to room. A rumor also circulates locally that an orgy is taking place at the hotel, so side characters such as the petrol station attendant also surface. Carole arrives and wishes to see Michael's room. As they speak, all the other participants chase each other around in the background. Fassbender's overbearing wife, Anna, tracks him down.

Everyone ends up in Michael's room with most of the women half-naked. As the police arrive outside and form a line, Anna, dressed as a valkyrie and wielding a spear, leads the group through the police. They all escape to a go-kart circuit. They leave the circuit and go first to a farmyard, then through narrow village streets still on the go-karts, then back to the circuit.

After a mayor marries Michael and Carole in a civil marriage ceremony, the couple are signing the marriage certificate when Michael calls the young female registrar "Pussycat", infuriating Carole. They leave and Fassbender attempts to court her instead.

Cast

Production

Woody Allen, Romy Schneider, Eddra Gale, and Peter O'Toole

Charles Feldman had been developing a script about a Don Juan style figure based on the play Lot's Wife for Cary Grant and Capucine.[5] Warren Beatty wanted to make a comedy film about male sex addiction and hoped Feldman would produce it. The title What's New Pussycat? was taken from Beatty's phone salutation when speaking to his female friends. Beatty desired a role for his then-girlfriend, actress Leslie Caron, but Feldman wanted a different actress.[6]

Beatty and Feldman sought a joke writer and, after seeing him perform in a New York club, Feldman offered Woody Allen $30,000. Allen accepted provided he could also appear in the film. As Allen worked on the script, his first screenplay, Beatty noticed that Allen's role was continually growing at the expense of his own.[7]

Eventually, Beatty threatened to quit the production to stop this erosion, but the actor's status in Hollywood at that time had declined so severely that Feldman decided to let him leave and gave the part to Peter O'Toole. Beatty later said, "I diva'ed my way out of the movie. I walked off of What's New, Pussycat? thinking they couldn't do it without me. I was wrong."[8] According to Beatty, a new screenwriter was brought in and Allen's role was pared back to a minor character.[8]

Groucho Marx was to have played Dr. Fassbender, but at O'Toole's insistence, he was replaced by Peter Sellers. O'Toole, Sellers, and director Clive Donner all made changes to the script, straining their relationship with Allen. Tension was also generated by Sellers' demanding top billing, but O'Toole described the atmosphere as stimulating.[9] Donner was given the job of directing on the strength of Nothing But the Best.[10]

Burt Bacharach composed the score, which was his first film soundtrack. In his book on Bacharach, Serene Dominic writes, "Bacharach's inexperience at film scoring caused him to leave a lot of the work to the last minute." Said Bacharach, "I didn't have a clue. Not a clue. I must've gone in with 40 different themes and recorded them … I didn't know how to score a picture. And then afterwards Charlie Feldman fell in love with the title song and he took out all these pieces I'd written and stuck in instrumental versions of 'What's New Pussycat?' … I wanted to take my name off the picture. I was married to Angie (Dickinson) at the time and she said, 'Don't be a fool, this picture's going to be a huge hit.' So I was glad I listened to her." In addition to the title theme, Bacharach and David wrote "Here I Am," sung by Dionne Warwick, and "My Little Red Book", performed by Manfred Mann.[11]

Second unit director Richard Talmadge is credited with creating the karting sequence. Principal photography began on October 13, 1964, and concluded on January 25, 1965, with locations including Paris, Luzarches, Castel Henriette in Sèvres, Château de Chaumontel in Chaumontel, and Billancourt Studios in Boulogne-Billancourt.[12][13][14] The film was released in New York City on June 22, 1965, and opened in Paris in January 1966 as Quoi de neuf, Pussycat? It grossed $18,820,000 at the domestic box office.[1]

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. Bosley Crowther in The New York Times gave the film a negative review. He criticized the script, the directing and the acting and described the film as "the most outrageously cluttered and campy, noisy and neurotic display of what is evidently intended as way-out slapstick". He praised the scenery and title song.[15] On the other hand, Andrew Sarris in The Village Voice wrote: "I have now seen What's New Pussycat? four times, and each time I find new nuances in the direction, the writing, the playing, and, above all, the music. This is one movie that is not what it seems at first glance. It has been attacked for tastelessness, and yet I have never seen a more tasteful sex comedy."[16] Filmink called Prentiss "ravishing and hilarious" although she had a nervous breakdown during the making of the movie.[17]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 28% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10.[18]

Accolades

Award Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards[19] Best Song "What's New Pussycat?"
Music by Burt Bacharach;
lyrics by Hal David 		Nominated
Laurel Awards Top Male Comedy Performance Peter Sellers 4th place
Top Song "What's New Pussycat?"
Music by Burt Bacharach;
lyrics by Hal David 		4th place
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Written American Comedy Woody Allen Nominated

Home media

What's New Pussycat? was released on DVD by MGM Home Video on June 7, 2005, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD, on May 22, 2007, as part of The Peter Sellers Collection (film number two in a four-disc set) and on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber on August 26, 2014, as a Region 1 widescreen Blu-ray. It was previously released in VHS.

Novelization

Slightly in advance of the film's release, as was the custom of the era, a paperback novelization of the film was published by Dell Books by crime and western novelist Marvin H. Albert.

Sequel

The 1970 film Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You was intended as a sequel to this film, and includes much of the same premise of a young man (played by Ian McShane) visiting his psychiatrist to discuss his love life.


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