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The Owl and the Pussycat (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Owl and the Pussycat' is a 1970 American romantic comedy film directed by Herbert Ross from a screenplay by Buck Henry, based on the 1964 play of the same name by Bill Manhoff. The film follows Doris (Barbra Streisand), a somewhat uneducated actress, model and part-time prostitute who moves in temporarily with her neighbor Felix (George Segal), an intellectual aspiring writer. Their many differences are obvious, yet over time they begin to admire each other. Comedian and actor Robert Klein appears in a supporting role.
Plot
Felix Sherman, a meek book clerk and aspiring novelist, struggles to maintain peace and quiet in his walk-up New York City apartment. When he reports to his landlord that his brash, uneducated neighbor Doris is working as a prostitute, she is suddenly evicted. She then confronts him about this immediately, in the middle of the night. Felix, who had not intended that she actually be evicted, reluctantly allows her stay at his apartment on a temporary basis.
Later that same night, Doris dares Felix to disrobe, to which she reacts with a laughing fit that gives her a furious case of the hiccups. She asks Felix to scare her so that she stop hiccuping. He obliges, dressing up in a skeleton Halloween costume and jumping at her suddenly. She instinctively acts in self-defense, and the noise of their scuffle causes the landlord (and several neighbors) to barge in and evict both.
In the middle of the night, Felix and Doris relocate to the apartment of Felix's friend and coworker, Barney. The two very different personalities continue to clash throughout the night as Felix tries in vain to maintain his routine and to try to get some sleep. The TV-loving Doris becomes upset after Felix reads her an excerpt from his novel, which she vehemently dislikes, and the noise from their argument causes Barney and his girlfriend to leave. Nevertheless, as Felix and Doris get to know each other better, discussing topics like Doris' various stage names, they grow to like each other and they make love. However, in the morning their fighting resumes and Doris leaves in anger.
Felix and Doris return to their separate lives and both struggle in their careers. Felix passes a theater showing an adult film starring Doris and decides to watch it out of curiosity. He becomes uncomfortable and leaves midway through the film. Now a week after Doris had left, one of Doris' friends, Eleanor, goes to the bookstore where Felix works and mistakenly confronts Barney instead of him. Eleanor then tells Felix that Doris is at a cafe, where Felix goes to meet her. They two walk around the city near Lincoln Center, now clearly drawn to each other and Felix is impressed by how Doris has been trying hard to expand her vocabulary. However, their night is interrupted when they have to run away from a group of violent youths.
They then go to a fancy townhouse where Felix is staying, and discovers more details about Doris' past that make him uncomfortable, while Doris discovers that Felix is actually engaged to be married. Doris puts Felix in bed and tells him both that she is planning to move to Los Angeles and that she has thought about the excerpt from his novel that he had read to her before and now really likes it. He kisses her and they make love again. They then get stoned and continue to bond. Suddenly, Felix's fiance and her parents return and discover Felix and Doris both stoned in the bathtub.
Kicked out of the townhouse and no longer high, Doris and a frustrated Felix, carrying his typewriter, walk together in Central Park that morning. They start to argue and Felix cruelly ridicules Doris on top of Cedar Hill. She starts to cry and a regretful Felix kisses her hand before she smacks him. Felix admits to her that his actual name is Fred and he tosses his typewriter down the hill. Doris reveals that her full name is Doris Wilgus. Now, finally without any pretensions between each other, they walk away together, as a happy couple.
Cast
Background
The screenplay, written by Buck Henry, was based on the stage play of the same name by Bill Manhoff.[http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=2835 Internet Broadway Database entry for 196465 "Owl & The Pussycat" production] In the stage version, the would-be writer and the would-be actress are the only characters. Though the race of the characters is not specified in the script of the play, in the original Broadway production (19641965), the "Owl" was played by white actor Alan Alda and the "Pussycat" by black actress and singer Diana Sands, and many subsequent productions followed this precedent; the film version omitted the characters' interracial relationship.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack[http://barbra-archives.com/record/albums/owl_pussycat_streisand.html Barbra Archives Streisand Discography: "The Owl & The Pussycat" soundtrack album] (Columbia Masterworks MS30401) features dialogue from the film and music from the jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears.
Deleted scenes
Barbra Streisand filmed a nude/topless scene for 'The Owl and the Pussycat' that was cut from the film.Author unknown (1970-05-18). 'Time Magazine', [https://web.archive.org/web/20090702121118/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909196-2,00.html May 18, 1970]. Streisand told the press: "The director of 'The Owl and the Pussycat' wanted a topless shot, and I agreed on two conditions one, there would be nobody in the room but George [Segal]; two, I had the right to kill the shot if I didn't think it would work."[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EwYOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gXwDAAAAIBAJ&dq=streisand%20topless&pg=5147%2C3194673 "No Nude Scenes". 'St. Petersburg Times']. "Compiled from AP, UPI wires", December 27, 1983. In November 1979, the U.S. pornographic magazine 'High Society' published the nude frames that were cut from the film. Streisand sued 'High Society' for publishing the .[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DhwLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KFADAAAAIBAJ&dq=streisand%20topless%20photos&pg=6603%2C5829157 "Barbra Suing Mad"]. 'The Prescott Courier', September 28, 1979.
Cultural references
'Mad' published a spoof of the film in its September 1971 issue, in which much is made of Doris' profanity. At the end, Felix first throws his typewriter down an embankment, saying that the pretentious words he's used as a writer made him sick, then he throws 'her' over: "Four-letter words make me even sicker! So long, Foul-Mouth!"'Mad', Issue #145, September 1971.
Reception
Box office
'The Owl and the Pussycat' grossed $23,681,338 at the domestic box office, making it the 10th highest-grossing film of 1970 in the United States. The film also grossed $11,645,000 in rentals. The total gross for the film was $35,326,338.Critical response
Stanley Kauffmann of 'The New Republic' wrote, "if computers can turn out romantic comedies, the results would be a lot like 'The Owl and the Pussycat'".Accolades
Barbra Streisand received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, her 3rd in this category. She also ranked 2nd place in Laurel Award for Best Comedy Performance, Female. George Segal also ranked 2nd place in National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. Buck Henry was also nominated for Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium.The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
*2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominated
See also
* List of American films of 1970
References
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