''What's New Pussycat?'' is a 1965 screwball comedy film directed by

Clive Donner Clive Stanley Donner (21 January 1926 – 6 September 2010)Ronald Berganbr>Obituary: Clive Donner '' The Guardian'', 7 September 2010 was a British film director who was part of the British New Wave, directing films such as ''The Caretaker ...

, written by

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

in his first produced screenplay, and starring Allen in his acting debut, along with Peter Sellers,

Peter O'Toole Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old V ...

, Romy Schneider,

Capucine Capucine (, born Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre , 6 January 1928 – 17 March 1990) was a French fashion model and actress known for her comedic roles in ''The Pink Panther'' (1963) and ''What's New Pussycat?'' (1965). She appeared in 36 film ...

, Paula Prentiss, and

Ursula Andress Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...

. The Oscar-nominated title song by

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

(music) and Hal David (lyrics) is sung by

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

. 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 in the

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. History In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the under ...

generation and is a general query aimed by men at women. In the film, Michael (O'Toole) calls all women "Pussycat" to avoid having to remember their names.

Plot

Notorious womanizer Michael James ( Peter O' Toole) wants to be faithful to his fiancée Carole Werner ( Romy Schneider), but every woman he meets seems to fall in love with him, including neurotic exotic dancer Liz Bien ( Paula Prentiss) and parachutist Rita (

), who accidentally lands in his car. His

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...

, Dr. Fritz Fassbender ( Peter Sellers), cannot help, since he is stalking 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 get stranger—including an indoor

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

match. Michael dreams that all his sexual conquests simultaneously bombard him for attention, listing where they made love. Fassbender goes to the

River Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributari ...

and fills a rowing boat with

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning " wax", and was re ...

and wraps himself in the Norwegian flag - preparing to commit suicide in the style of a

Viking funeral Norse funerals, or the burial customs of Viking Age North Germanic Norsemen (early medieval Scandinavians), are known both from archaeology and from historical accounts such as the Icelandic sagas and Old Norse poetry. Throughout Scandinavia, the ...

. Victor appears and sets up a small dining table nearby and asks what he is doing. Distracted, Fassbender forgets his idea of suicide and starts giving Victor advice. Despite his attempts to womanise, 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 but Michael finds fidelity impossible. When a second "fiancee" arrives, she knows the worst. Simultaneously, a woman parachutes into Michael's open-top sports car and he ends up sleeping with her, also meeting other conquests at the bar. This takes place at a small country hotel, where all parties materialise in the format of a typical French farce. Some are checked in, but most just appear. This includes Carole's parents who wander the corridors, causing Michael to jump from room to room. A rumour has also started locally that an orgy is taking place so side characters such as the petrol station attendant also start to appear. Carole appears and wishes to see Michael's room. As they speak, all the other participants chase each other around in the background. Fassbender's wife tracks him down. Everyone ends in Michael's room with most of the females half-naked. The police arrive and form a line. Anna—Dr. Fassbender's wife, played by Eddra Gale—charges in operatic Valkyrie costume, complete with a spear. 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

* Peter Sellers as Dr. Fritz Fassbender *

as Michael James * Romy Schneider as Carole Werner *

as Renée Lefebvre * Paula Prentiss as Liz Bien *

as Victor Shakapopulis *

as Rita, the parachutist *

Michel Subor Michel Subor (, born Mischa Subotzki; 2 February 1935 – 17 January 2022) was a French actor who gained initial fame with the starring role in Jean-Luc Godard's second feature, '' Le petit soldat'' (1960), but the French government banned it un ...

as Philippe * Eddra Gale as Dr. Fassbender's wife, Anna * Katrin Schaake as Jacqueline * Eléonore Hirt as Carole's mother, Mrs. Sylvia Werner * Jean Parédès as Marcel, Renée's husband * Jacques Balutin as Etienne * Jess Hahn as Mr. Werner, Carole's father *

Howard Vernon Howard Vernon (15 July 1908 – 25 July 1996) was a Swiss actor. In 1961, he became a favorite actor of Spanish film director Jesús Franco and began starring in many low-budget horror and erotic films produced in Spain and France. After po ...

as Doctor * Françoise Hardy as Mayor's assistant (the registrar) * Sabine Sun as Nurse * Nicole Karen as Tempest * Jacqueline Fogt as Charlotte * Daniel Emilfork as Gas Station Man * Tanya Lopert as Miss Lewis

Cast notes

* Richard Burton has a cameo appearance as a man at the bar in a strip club.

Production

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

wanted to make a comedy film about male sex addiction and hoped

Charles Feldman Charles K. Feldman (April 26, 1905 – May 25, 1968) was a Hollywood attorney, film producer and talent agent who founded the Famous Artists talent agency. According to one obituary, Feldman disdained publicity. "Feldman was an enigma to Holly ...

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, the actress Leslie Caron, but Feldman wanted a different actress. Beatty and Feldman sought a joke writer and, after seeing him perform in a New York club, Feldman offered

$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. 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

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

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

was to have played Dr. Fassbender, but at O'Toole's insistence he was replaced by Peter Sellers. O'Toole, Sellers and director

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. Second unit director

Richard Talmadge Richard Talmadge (born Sylvester Alphonse Metz; 3 December 1892 – 25 January 1981) also known as Sylvester Metzetti, Ricardo Metzetti, or Sylvester Ricardo Metzetti, was a German-born actor, stuntman and film director. Early life Born in ...

is credited with creating the ''karting sequence''. The film was shot in and around

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

between October 1964 and January 1965 and released in New York on 22 June 1965. It opened in Paris in January 1966 as ''Quoi de neuf, Pussycat?'' The total box office take was $18,820,000. In addition to the title theme, songs featured were "Here I Am" by

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...

and "

My Little Red Book "My Little Red Book" (occasionally subtitled "(All I Do Is Talk About You)") is a song composed by American songwriter Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Bacharach's songwriting partner Hal David. The duo were enlisted by Charles K. Feldman to compos ...

" performed by

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two diffe ...

Homage

The scene by the River Seine in which the lovelorn Dr. Fassbender plans to commit suicide and Victor's intrusion inhibiting him from doing so pays tribute to the

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

film ''

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...

'' (1931), in which the Little Tramp saves a dipsomaniacal millionaire bent on self-destruction.

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Bosley Crowther in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave the film a negative review. He criticised 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. On the other hand, Andrew Sarris in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'' 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."

Awards and nominations

Home media

''What's New Pussycat?'' was released to 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 to 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 A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of the film was published by Dell Books. The author was renowned crime and western novelist Marvin H. Albert, who also made something of a cottage industry out of movie tie-ins. A fecund writer, he seems also to have been the most prolific American screenplay novelizer of the late '50s through mid '60s, and, during that time, the preeminent specialist at light comedy.

Sequel

The 1970 American movie ''

Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You ''Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You'' is a 1970 American comedy film directed by Rod Amateau. Intended as a sequel to the 1965 film ''What's New, Pussycat?'', it stars Ian McShane, Anna Calder-Marshall, John Gavin and Severn Darden. Plot A neurot ...

'' 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

External links

* * * * {{Clive Donner 1965 films 1965 romantic comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s screwball comedy films 1960s sex comedy films American romantic comedy films American screwball comedy films American sex comedy films American slapstick comedy films English-language French films Films about psychiatry Films directed by Clive Donner Films scored by Burt Bacharach Films set in hotels Films set in Paris Films shot in Paris Films with screenplays by Woody Allen French romantic comedy films French sex comedy films United Artists films 1960s American films 1960s French films