oOoBarracuda What's Up, Tiger Lily was Woody Allen's directorial debut in 1966, although there is some debate about that. By Woody ALlen's own admission the film was taken out of his hands to the point that even the dubbing during the closing credits isn't even the director's voice as intended. American International Pictures bought the 1965 Japanese film "Key of Keys" for $66,000, and What's Up, Tiger Lily is that film re-dubbed with dialogue written by Woody Allen. The good news is, Woody Allen illustrates that even in his first (sort of) film his penchant for brilliant openings. Woody Allen plays himself in What's Up, Tiger Lily, not a version of himself or a character like him which ensured that I would at least like an aspect of the film. In its entirety, however, I can only recommend WHat's Up, Tiger Lily to extreme Woody Allen fans who are completionists, otherwise the film is largely insufferable.

headly66 My friends and I have traded lines from this movie since I first saw it in high school in the 80's. Spartan Dog! Spanish Fly! I still laugh my ass off at this movie today. People may say it's dated but if you love Woody and get all the jokes (which I think most kids today won't) it is hilarious and will always be a classic. Woody is probably kicking himself he let this out of his ownership hands as many people are commenting on edited or re dubbed versions shown on TV. When I heard the great line again in the beginning when Phil Moscowitz looks at the girl when he opens her towel & gives his third Presidential answer as Lincoln (referring to his beard) I couldn't help but laugh had this been written today & he could have answered Bush! Just plain silly stuff that I still cry at including the shower peeking scene, "MOM!?" and "Where am I going to get a long thin coffin?!!" This movie is diffidently meant as background to a group hangout with friends accompanied by some intoxicants.

Michael_Elliott What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) ** (out of 4) AIP film was the first directing credit for Woody Allen but I'm not sure if a director's credit was needed here. Allen takes a Japanese film and then redubs it to try and make a funny film, which is a spoof of the James Bond type of entertainment. I really don't have too much to say because there's nothing to say other than that the film didn't make me laugh. I've seen a lot of dubbed films and on their own they can be very funny but this film here never made me laugh, which was rather interesting since it was redubbed for the purpose of comedy.

Bogmeister MASTER PLAN: must get recipe for egg salad. The premise is simple enough: take a standard movie thriller from Japan and remove the original sound track. Then, dub in your own wacky dialog. This ends up as the most unusual parody of the James Bond-type spy action of the sixties, with Japanese actors of the time voicing silly, inane sentences, usually in an overly silly style. One sinister henchman, for example, speaks in the style of a bad Peter Lorre imitation, way over-the-top. The whole thing is hit-or-miss: if you're really into awful Lorre imitations, you'll probably be giggling; if not, you'll just find that aspect, well, kind of stupid & tiring. A lot of the intended humor stems from just listening to some weird, juvenile guttural sounds or snickering seeming to emanate from the actors on screen; of course, that's the illusion: the actors you see had nothing to do with all the strange noises you hear. So, the main question is how clever was Woody Allen and his 'staff' of voice actors in adding on their interpretations of what passes for funny? It was hit-or-miss, about 50/50. There's also the problem of all those insertions of The Lovin' Spoonful singing for no reason except to fill up time. That doesn't do much for the pace of the film.The film begins with a standard action scene from the original Japanese film and it's not that bad, involving a flame thrower and then a 'lady-in-peril' scene, with some exciting fights. It actually looks like the conclusion of the film. We suddenly switch to Woody Allen, seated in a nice office with an interviewer, as he explains his vision of re-authoring a film. Allen's one big scene is pretty amusing and he pops up briefly later, as well as at the conclusion. The movie itself doesn't make much sense and is hard to follow. The hero, some kind of agent, encounters femme fatales and various villains, all in the pursuit of a code describing the ultimate egg salad recipe. The hero gets into some fights, always yelling stuff like "Saracen Pig!' and 'Spartan Dog!' It may sound funnier than it actually is. He's also good at pulling carpets out from under the feet of bad guys, which may have been funny in the original film, as well. Many of the more clever bits involve the dialog of the villains, who put a very strange spin on some of the threats they make, such as a special camera that takes pictures which removes the clothes from the subjects. The ending has some genuine thrills. The main connection to the Bond films, however, is that two of the actresses here also appeared in "You Only Live Twice" a couple of years later. Hero:6 Villains:7 Femme Fatales:6 Henchmen:5 Fights:7 Stunts/Chases:5 Gadgets:3 Auto:4 Locations:7 Pace:6 overall:6