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What's New Pussycat?

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What's New Pussycat?
Theatrical release poster by Frank Frazetta
Directed byClive Donner
Screenplay byWoody Allen
Produced byCharles K. Feldman
Starring
CinematographyJean Badal
Edited byFergus McDonell
Music byBurt Bacharach
Production
companies
  • Famous Artists Productions
  • Famartists Productions S.A.
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • June 22, 1965 (1965-06-22) (United States)
  • January 28, 1966 (1966-01-28) (France)
Running time
108 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • France
LanguageEnglish
Box office$18.8 million[1]

What's New Pussycat? 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

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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.

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

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Production

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

Warren Beatty wanted to make a comedy film about male sex addiction and hoped Charles K. 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.[5]

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.[6]

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."[7] According to Beatty, a new screenwriter was brought in and Allen's role was pared back to a minor character.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9][10][11] 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]

In addition to the title theme, songs featured were "Here I Am" by Dionne Warwick and "My Little Red Book" performed by Manfred Mann.

Reception

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Critical response

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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.[12] 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."[13]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 32% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.[14]

Accolades

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Award Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards[15] 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

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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

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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

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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.

References

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  1. ^ a b "What's New Pussycat (1965) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  2. ^ McEvoy, Colin (February 9, 2023). "What It Was Like to Work with Burt Bacharach, in the Words of his Collaborators". Biography. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  3. ^ "What's New Pussycat". The Independent. March 31, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  4. ^ Deluxe, Jean-Emmanuel (2013). Yé-Yé Girls of '60s French Pop. Port Townsend, Washington: Feral House. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-936239-72-6.
  5. ^ Nashawaty, Chris (November 22, 2016). "Warren Beatty: An oral history of the elusive icon's six decades in Hollywood". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 25, 2016.
  6. ^ Biskind, Peter (2011). Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-1-4391-2661-5.
  7. ^ a b Harris, Mark (2009). Scenes from a Revolution: The Birth of the New Hollywood. Edinburgh: Canongate. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-1-84767-121-9.
  8. ^ Sellers, Robert (2015). Peter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. pp. 150–151. ISBN 978-0-283-07215-4.
  9. ^ "What's New Pussycat? (1964) Clive Donner". Ciné-Ressources. Retrieved July 30, 2024. Select "Tournage" tab.
  10. ^ Stamp, Elizabeth (May 14, 2019). "The Most Beautiful European Villas in Film". Architectural Digest. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  11. ^ Rykner, Didier (April 25, 2023). "Hôtel Mezzara : Take the money and run". La Tribune de l'art. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
  12. ^ Crowther, Bosley (June 23, 1965). "The Screen: What's New Pussycat?: Wild Comedy Arrives at Two Theaters". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  13. ^ Sarris, Andrew (August 5, 1965). "What's New Pussycat". The Village Voice (review). Retrieved July 23, 2024 – via Letterboxd.
  14. ^ "What's New, Pussycat?". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  15. ^ "The 38th Academy Awards (1966) Nominees and Winners". Academy Awards. Archived from the original on January 11, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
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