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What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
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Overview
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Release Date:
2 November 1966 (USA)
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Tagline:
WOODY ALLEN STRIKES BACK! more
Plot:
In comic Woody Allen's film debut, he took the Japanese action film "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" and re-dubbed it, changing the plot to make it revolve around a secret egg salad recipe. full summary | add synopsis
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NewsDesk:
Don’t Call it a Comeback -- Dellamorte reviews Vicky Christina Barcelona
(From Collider.com. 20 January 2009)
(From Collider.com. 20 January 2009)
User Comments:
One of the few Woody Allen films that doesn't work for me
more (58 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Tatsuya Mihashi | ... | Phil Moscowitz (archive footage) | |
| Akiko Wakabayashi | ... | Suki Yaki (archive footage) | |
| Mie Hama | ... | Teri Yaki (archive footage) | |
| John Sebastian | ... | Himself (as The Lovin' Spoonful) | |
| Tadao Nakamaru | ... | Shepherd Wong (archive footage) | |
| Susumu Kurobe | ... | Wing Fat (archive footage) | |
| Sachio Sakai | ... | Hoodlum (archive footage) (as A No Star Cast) | |
| Eisei Amamoto | ... | Cobra Man (archive footage) | |
| Tetsu Nakamura | ... | Foreign Minister (archive footage) (as A No Star Cast) | |
| Osman Yusuf | ... | Gambler (archive footage) (as A No Star Cast) | |
| Woody Allen | ... | Himself / Dub Voice / Projectionist | |
| Zal Yanovsky | ... | Himself (as The Lovin' Spoonful) | |
| Joe Butler | ... | Himself (as The Lovin' Spoonful) | |
| Steve Boone | ... | Himself (as The Lovin' Spoonful) | |
| Frank Buxton | ... | Dub Voice (voice) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
80 min | Spain:76 min (DVD edition)
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The world premiere of this movie was at the Campus Theatre in East Lansing, MI.
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Quotes:
Shepherd Wong:
I didn't order any fumigation! It's Wing Fool, you fat! I mean... it's Wing Fat, you fool!
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Fantastic Fantasy Fright-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)
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Woody Allen gives a Japanese-directed James Bond-styled actioner a new soundtrack, including different dialogue telling a new story. Allen's changes turn the film into a spy versus spy quest for the recipe of the world's best egg salad.
I'm a huge Woody Allen fan. The idea behind this film is promising and the basic premise of Allen's story, grafted on to a pre-existing film, International Secret Police: Key of Keys (Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi), from 1965, by Senkichi Taniguchi, is funny, if silly. However, this is one of the very few Allen films that just doesn't work for me. The Taniguchi film seems chopped up to a point of incoherence (maybe it's presented here in its entirety and in the same order, but that would mean that its running time is around 60 minutes or less), although that could be a factor of the changed dialogue. I found myself wishing there was an alternate soundtrack that was a legitimate dubbing of the original film.
Although there are a few very funny scenes, one-liners and ideas in Allen's new story, most of it isn't very funny. Too many scenes seem like they may be serious translations of the Japanese dialogue. There are too many occurrences of silly vocal noises, but not enough to make that a motif so that it's funny. There are too many long sections where the film is mostly boring. The untranslated beginning goes on far too long. The mini-interview with Allen that explains the film's premise would only be funny if it weren't true. The Lovin' Spoonful scenes aren't funny, and perhaps weren't intended to be--they seem like a studio attempt to try to put more butts in theater seats upon the film's release by featuring a popular rock group. It doesn't seem like Allen spent much time on thisthe dialogue seems largely improvised and mostly disjointed. In short, the film is basically a mess, and only worth viewing for Woody Allen completist, and men with a serious Asian woman fetish (it's also worth noting that Taniguchi seems to share a foot fetish).
What would have worked better, and probably would have made the film much funnier, is if Allen would have written and directed both the film that we're seeing visually and a completely different story for the soundtrack. Much more time would have to be spent crafting each component to make them seem unrelated but coherent and funny. That's an experiment that remains to be done, to my knowledge.
There are enough positive aspects that the film doesn't deserve a 1--as I noted, there are times that What's Up, Tiger Lily is funny--but the best I can do is a 5 out of 10.