A playboy who refuses to give up his hedonistic lifestyle to settle down and marry his true love seeks help from a demented psychoanalyst who is having romantic problems of his own.
Michael James, a notorious womanizer, desperately wants to be faithful to his fiancée Carole, but runs into serious problems since every woman he meets seems to fall in love with him. His psychoanalyst Dr. Fassbender can't 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.Written by
Robert Zeithammel
Actor-writer Woody Allen once said that Peter Sellers gave himself all the best lines in the picture and so after this film Allen wanted more artistic control and became a director. Frank Miller at the Turner Classic Movies website states that Sellers "started improvising his own lines and suggesting added scenes. Even more damaging, he and Allen developed a rivalry that wasn't helped by their resemblance to each other. Sellers resented people's mistaking him for the neophyte actor-writer. And it got worse when an executive producer on the film, thinking he was Allen, reassured him that he wouldn't let Sellers damage his picture. Sellers began improvising more and even got the producer to give him lines and scenes Allen had written for himself. Suddenly Sellers was the film's star, and Allen was reduced to a supporting role". See more »
Goofs
When Michael first arrives at Fritz's place and sits down, he has his hands crossed at the back of his neck. In the very next shot, a close-up, he sits in a different position. See more »
Quotes
Michael James:
[in a dream]
RIGHT! I want ALL YOU CATS... to SHAPE UP!
[cracks whip madly]
See more »
Crazy Credits
The opening credits feature animated titles of the main seven cast members. Peter Sellers's credit appears backwards, so the film stops briefly to correct this. See more »
"What's New Pussycat? (1965) was directed by a British director, Clive Donner and it is the first feature film for which Woody Allen wrote the original screenplay. Allen also played a supporting role of Victor Skakapopulis, the friend of Michael James (Peter O'Toole). Michael is a fashion editor, surrounded by beauty and glamor of his models which he can't refuse. He truly loves his fiancée Carole (Romy Schneider) and wants to be faithful to her but what can a man do if the gorgeous women literally fell for him from the sky? He sees a psychoanalyst Dr. Fassbender (Peter Sellers) who is not much of help and faces his own demons. Meanwhile, Victor is desperately in love with his best friend's fiancée...
The movie reminds a lot "Casino Royale" - it was made in the 60s, has a great cast (Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capucine, Paula Prentiss, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress), strikingly beautiful women and the song by Burt Bacharach. It takes place in Paris - and it is almost as much mess as "Casino... " is - silly, naive, and often simply ridiculous but somehow it works after all these years. One of the reasons I believe is Allen's script, the dialogs and one-liners that are hilarious. This time, Allen received more screen time that in Casino.... and he made his scenes very funny. "What's New Pussycat?" is not a great movie but it is charming and I like it.
6.5/10
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"What's New Pussycat? (1965) was directed by a British director, Clive Donner and it is the first feature film for which Woody Allen wrote the original screenplay. Allen also played a supporting role of Victor Skakapopulis, the friend of Michael James (Peter O'Toole). Michael is a fashion editor, surrounded by beauty and glamor of his models which he can't refuse. He truly loves his fiancée Carole (Romy Schneider) and wants to be faithful to her but what can a man do if the gorgeous women literally fell for him from the sky? He sees a psychoanalyst Dr. Fassbender (Peter Sellers) who is not much of help and faces his own demons. Meanwhile, Victor is desperately in love with his best friend's fiancée...
The movie reminds a lot "Casino Royale" - it was made in the 60s, has a great cast (Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider, Capucine, Paula Prentiss, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress), strikingly beautiful women and the song by Burt Bacharach. It takes place in Paris - and it is almost as much mess as "Casino... " is - silly, naive, and often simply ridiculous but somehow it works after all these years. One of the reasons I believe is Allen's script, the dialogs and one-liners that are hilarious. This time, Allen received more screen time that in Casino.... and he made his scenes very funny. "What's New Pussycat?" is not a great movie but it is charming and I like it.
6.5/10