What's New Pussycat (1965)

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.

Director:

Clive Donner

Writer:

Woody Allen (original screenplay)

Stars:

Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, Romy Schneider

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Sellers	...	Dr. Fritz Fassbender
Peter O'Toole	...	Michael James (as Peter O'toole)
Romy Schneider	...	Carole Werner
Capucine	...	Renée Lefevre
Paula Prentiss	...	Liz Bien
Woody Allen	...	Victor Shakapopulis
Ursula Andress	...	Rita
Eddra Gale	...	Anna Fassbender (as Edra Gale)
Katrin Schaake	...	Jacqueline
Eléonore Hirt	...	Mrs. Werner (as Eleonor Hirt)
Jean Parédès	...	Marcel (as Jean Paredes)
Jacques Balutin	...	Etienne
Jess Hahn	...	Mr. Werner
Howard Vernon	...	Doctor
Michel Subor	...	Philippe

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

chateau | hotel | title based on song | angel wings | psychiatrist | 

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Taglines:

How You Cats Will Laugh when you see the answer to the comedy question of the year!!!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

22 June 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Was gibt's Neues, Pussy?

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Gross USA:

$18,820,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Famous Artists Productions,Famartists Productions S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was originally created by Warren Beatty, who saw it as a comedy about male sex addiction and was going to star in it as Michael James. The film's title "What's new, pussycat?" was a line Beatty said to his girlfriends when talking to them on the telephone. However, production did not go the way Beatty wished: he wanted his then-girlfriend Leslie Caron to appear in the film, but Capucine was cast instead, and later he said that Woody Allen, whom he had hired to work on the film, was expanding his role in the film at the cost of Beatty's role. Beatty left, and was replaced with Peter O'Toole.

Beatty later said about the film: "I diva'ed my way out of the movie. I walked off thinking they couldn't do it without me. I was wrong."

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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.

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Quotes

Dr. Fritz Fassbender: May I explain that what you see happening here is merely an illusion...
Anna Fassbender: An illusion?
Dr. Fritz Fassbender: An illusion. Shut the door, count three...
Anna Fassbender: Three?
Dr. Fritz Fassbender: Four, if you like, but close the door and you'll see it's just an illusion.

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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.

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Connections

Featured in Die Unverbesserlichen: Nichts dazugelernt (1966)

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Soundtracks

Here I Am
(1965)
Music by Burt Bacharach (uncredited)
Lyrics by Hal David (uncredited)
Sung by Dionne Warwick

User Reviews

Woody Allen's hit and miss sex comedy

This film is so sixties you can't believe it, from its eye-popping colours to the sight of Peter O'Toole and pals dancing OTT to Manfred Mann's 'Little Red Book'. O'Toole plays Michael James, a sex-mad fashion magazine editor who takes his troubles to a sex-mad psychiatrist (the amusingly bats Peter Sellers, in a Richard III wig and tight costumes), and shares neuroses with his weedy friend Woody Allen (who scripted this hit and miss movie).

There are some excellent bits - Romy Schneider, as Michael's fiancée and number one girlfriend, Carole, runs a language class which pitches in on a quarrel she has with him ('Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye' - 'You're all parrots!); Michael has nightmares where Sellers appears as, yup, Richard III, and all his girlfriends converge on him like a swarm of ants; Sellers plans a Viking funeral suicide (swathed in the Union Jack) but is interrupted by Allen dining al fresco for his birthday; O'Toole assists Sellers in a Cyrano de Bergerac style wooing; and there is frentic chase involving go-karts towards the end of the film. All this and the opera-shrilling psychiatrist's wife. And a lot of potted plants.

Fun food for the eyes really and a no-brainer, but 'What's New Pussycat?' is fun, off-the-wall, and requires no real attention span. O'Toole was certainly right for the part and of course, there is always Tom Jones' famous theme song and the cartoon credits with a chorus line of pussycats ...