What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Directors:

Woody Allen
Senkichi Taniguchi

Writers:

Woody Allen (writer)
Julie Bennett (writer)

Release Date:

2 November 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

WOODY ALLEN STRIKES BACK!

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.

Plot Keywords:

Recipe | Government Agent | Peeping Tom | Flamethrower | Eye Chart

Cast

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)

Runtime:

80 min | Spain:76 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Spain:13 | Argentina:Atp | France:U | USA:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

Company:

Benedict Pictures Corp.

Trivia:

This movie is Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965) (aka "Key of Keys") with new dialogue by Woody Allen dubbed in.

Quotes:

Phil Moscowitz: [while printing the microfilm code] And now I will read you some ancient erotic poetry. "There once was a man from Nantucket...”
Wing Fat: You fool! You're leading me on.
Phil Moscowitz: How do I know after I give you the recipe you won't kill me.
[runs his finger over his throat]
Wing Fat: Kill you? Come on.
[opens jacket]
Wing Fat: Does this look like the body of a killer?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Iron Fist Pillage (2001) (V)

Tiger Lily Serves Up A Loving Spoonful of Some REALLY Good Egg Salad

A woman steps into the room wearing a towel. She and her lover gaze longingly at each other. "Name three presidents!" she says.

In the wake of his early successes as a writer, Allen obtained the rights to an extra-cheesy Japanese spy thriller, threw out the entire soundtrack, then wrote and dubbed in a new script. Mix in a "what has this got to do with anything?" soundtrack by the folk-rock 60s group The Lovin' Spoonful and a few new scenes, and the result is the infamous WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? And it is one of the most bizarre movies you're likely to see this lifetime, a film which has attained cult-movie status of the highest order.

The movie is uneven--but that is actually part of its charm. Where else can you see big-haired 60s mamas get down like psycho killers to the innocuous music of The Lovin' Spoonful? Or tacky special effects, inept hop-and-chop fighting, and ridiculously bad cinematography reworked into the story of a bunch of spies on the track of a recipe for the world's best egg salad? And some of the lines are a hoot and a half. My own favorite: "Bring plenty of dynamite. It's a big mother!" Hardcore Allen fans, who often approach him as if he were God, will probably be embarrassed by this movie. Allen himself is pretty embarrassed: he's been trying to live it down for years. But if you have a taste for the bizarre--not to mention some good, I mean REALLY good egg salad--TIGER LILY is the movie for you. Recommended to egg salad junkies, bad hop-and-chop movie watchers, and cult-film enthusiasts everywhere.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer