What's New Pussycat?
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| What's New Pussycat? | |
|---|---|
 original movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Clive Donner |
| Produced by | Charles K. Feldman |
| Written by | Woody Allen |
| Starring | Peter Sellers Peter O'Toole Romy Schneider Capucine Paula Prentiss Ursula Andress |
| Music by | Burt Bacharach |
| Cinematography | Jean Badal |
| Editing by | Fergus McDonell |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | 1965 |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Country | UK / U.S.A. |
| Language | English French |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
What's New Pussycat? is a 1965 film directed by Clive Donner and starring Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capucine and Ursula Andress.
Michael James, played by Peter O'Toole, a notorious womaniser, desperately wants to be faithful to his fiancée Carole Werner, played by Romy Schneider, but runs into serious problems since every woman he meets seems to fall in love with him. His psychoanalist Dr. Fassbender, played by Peter Sellers, cannot help him either since he's busy courting one of his patients who in turn longs for Michael. A catastrophe appears on the horizon as all the characters check into the Chateau Chantelle hotel for the weekend not knowing of each other's presence.
This was Woody Allen's film debut, as well as his first produced script.
The title theme of the film was written by Burt Bacharach and sung by Tom Jones.
Contents |
[edit] Starring
- Peter Sellers — Dr. Fritz Fassbender
- Peter O'Toole — Michael James
- Romy Schneider — Carole Werner
- Capucine — Renée Lefebvre
- Paula Prentiss — Liz Bien
- Woody Allen — Victor Shakapopulis
- Ursula Andress — Rita
- Michel Subor — Philippe
- Eddra Gale — Anna Fassbender (as Edra Gale)
- Richard Burton — Man in Strip Club
- Katrin Schaake — Jacqueline
- Eléonore Hirt — Mrs. Sylvia Werner
- Jean Parédès — Marcel
- Jacques Balutin — Etienne
- Jess Hahn — Mr. Werner
- Howard Vernon — Doctor
- Françoise Hardy — Mayor's assistant, scribe
[edit] Trivia
- American film critics condemned the film as decadent and immoral.[citation needed]
- Warren Beatty was originally to have played the part of Michael with Groucho Marx as Dr Fassbender. All of Michael's girlfriends were to have been played by the same girl. Beatty fell out with Charles Feldman over the script and quit.
- Capucine played Renée Lefebvre; in real life, her name was Germaine Lefebvre.
- When Woody Allen turned in his script to Charles Feldman it did not have a title. It stayed this way until one day Feldman overheard Warren Beatty, who was living at his Beverly Hills mansion, talking to one of the hundreds of gorgeous women he was seeing at the time. His usual greeting of "What's new, pussycat?" was heard by Feldman who screamed out "title!"
[edit] Quotes
Michael joins Victor at a pavement cafe where he is playing chess with a girl. He is followed by Toulouse Lautrec who sits at another table with Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
Later in the same scene:
- Michael: "Did you get a job?"
- Victor: "Yes, I got something at the strip-tease, I help the girls dress and undress"
- Michael: "Nice job"
- Victor: "Twenty Francs a week"
- Michael: "Not very much"
- Victor: "It's all I could afford"
A typical Woody Allen one-liner: at one point, when under extreme pressure to marry, Michael says "Marriage? That's for life! It's like cement!"
Peter O'Toole bumps into Richard Burton in a strip club; Burton says: "Excuse me, but don't you know me from somewhere?" O'Toole answers, "The name's familiar, but I just can't place the face..."
[edit] References
The Times, 2 September 1965 and 6 September 1966
