Was gibt's Neues, Pussy?

I guess this was the weekend on TCM for '60s international films. In the '60s, most of what was done was big - big historical dramas, big western dramas, big international comedies, and done on a smaller scale, the sex comedies like Sex and the Single Girl.

What's New Pussycat was an international sex comedy with the usual huge, well known cast: Peter Sellers, Romy Schneider, Peter O'Toole, Ursula Andress, Paula Prentiss, Capucine, with a cameo by Richard Burton. This was Woody Allen's first produced film script and his first film role. It wasn't a happy experience.

Peter O'Toole plays Michael James, the British editor of a Paris magazine He is in love with Carole (Schneider). She wants to get married, but he can't commit to her. Women are constantly after him, and he is constantly giving in.

He sees one Dr. Fritz Fassbender (Sellers) who wants Michael's life, particularly one of his patient, Renee (Capucine). Carole, meanwhile, is friendly with Michael's friend Victor (Allen) who is crazy about her and also wants Michael's life. The whole thing converges at the Château Chantel one weekend.

This film is purportedly based on the love life of Warren Beatty and the title taken from the way he answered the phone. He obviously did not wind up making the film. Peter Sellers adlibbed through a great deal of the movie and took all of Woody Allen's funny lines, diminishing Allen's part. The two of them loathed one another.

What's New Pussycat started out hilariously, with funny dialogue and situations. As it went on, it became more and more of an annoying mess and went out of control, culminating in a Keystone Kops type scene that was very funny. However, what preceded it was disorganized insanity.

There definitely are funny scenes and good performances. Paula Prentiss is especially good, as is Allen. Sellers is great until he seems to veer off of the script. I'm not sure if Peter O'Toole did his own stunts, but some of what he did was fantastic - the role called for him to be very physical. He was quite funny. Romy Schneider as usual was the straight man to this chicanery.

Watch in the bar scene where Peter O'Toole and a man talk and O'Toole says, give my best to what's-her-name - it's Richard Burton, and the what's-her-name is guess who. Very cute.

I like slapstick, I like madcap, but I like it structured, so I'm not the best judge of this. I prefer the MGM Marx Brothers to the Paramount ones, for instance.

This was hard to take after a while.

Even for a budding great movie writer and producer such as Woody Allen, this film fails to measure up to the lowest level of entertainment. Heavy, plodding script, patchwork scenes, a very loose plot. Generally, not worth the time spent in watching it. HOWEVER, the Oscar-nominated title song, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and as performed by the incomparable Tom Jones, makes it all worthwhile.

WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? was a popular ticket in 1965--but when seen outside the context of its era it emerges as a slightly choppy, slightly slapdash film long on froth and short on actual amusement.

Originally written by Woody Allen as a vehicle for Warren Beatty, both script and cast underwent a mighty change before it reached the screen, so much so that the experience prompted Allen to swear he'd never allow any one but himself to direct one of his scripts in the future. The story revolves around Michael James (Peter O'Toole), a handsome man who wants to marry Carol (Romy Schneider) but can't stop sleeping around long enough to make a commitment. He accordingly goes to psychiatrist Dr. Fritz Fassbender (Peter Sellers)--who is a sex-crazed nut in pursuit of patient Renee (Capucine.) Before the dust settles Woody Allen, Paula Prentiss, Ursla Andress, and Edra Gale are added to the mix.

O'Toole and Sellers are hardly challenged by the material and Allen introduces his "I'm a New York neurotic" screen persona for the first time--but it is really the abundance of supporting actresses that give the film what little zing it still retains. Romy Schnieder was among Europe's greatest stars and finest actresses of her era; although the script offers her little, she is charming indeed. Much the same can be said of the legendary Capucine in the role of a world-weary nymphomaniac; Ursula Andress, who arrives in the film via parachute, and bovine Edra Gale, who runs riot in Wagnerian attire. But the real scene stealer is Paula Prentiss.

Although extremely attractive, Prentiss was originally typed as a "second lead" of the Eve Arden type--but she quickly graduated to neurotic comedy roles for which she had a truly unique flair. WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? finds her at the top of her form as the interestingly-named Liz Bien, who writes bad poetry, has a tendency to overdose on pills every time she goes to the bathroom, and who attaches herself to the much-harassed Peter O'Toole. It really is a performance that transcends the material and which lingers in the mind long after the credits roll.

The DVD release is third rate, with mediocre visual elements and sound so uneven that I constantly adjusted the volume as I watched. When all is said and done, this is really a film for hardcore fans of its various stars--and especially for Paula Prentiss. If for no other reason, the film is worth watching for her alone.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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 ...

"What's New, Pussycat" marks the writing and acting debut of Woody Allen; as an actor, he clearly steals the show, and he has a couple of hilarious scenes. Peter O'Toole is agreeable in a somewhat self-parodying role, but Peter Sellers is really disappointing in this film, constantly overacting and earning very few laughs. Allen's screenplay has some witty lines but generally it's a complete and utter mess - in a way that gives the film an feeling of sloppiness. There are a few chuckles in this movie, but it's very dated, and as comedy it can best be described as highly uneven. And I didn't understand if the sets were intentionally so fake-looking.