What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

There is no chance that Tiger Lily has "lost it's luster" with age. In fact, you can see it's influence on the Police Squad genre of absurd discordance, Farrelly brothers crudity, South Park, Robot Chicken, and any other irreverent, politically incorrect gutter swamped comedies. It is so funny from start to finish (except for those Lovin' Spoonful inserts) that you won't even hit all the jokes with two viewings. Watching What's Up Tiger Lily is better than bong hitting your way through Big Bambu on tape, in a dorm room, when you hear new jokes every single time you laugh through it. Far better. That Allen and company layered so much satire and subtlety in one film is astounding. There is no reason to explain the plot, as there really isn't one, but that is not the point. This is absurd to the extreme, and you can't sell me enough egg salad to prove otherwise. Get baked, and bust your gut watching it. You will never forget your first Tiger Lily...

On Woody Allen's first outing as director, instead of making a real film, he spliced two Japanese films and had voice actors re-dub the dialogue so it tells a much different storyline from the source material. However, during the intro where Woody is interviewed, he makes it clear that what happens with the action and what happens with the spoken plot are supposed to be two completely different things, they end up being very similar. Most of what happens mirrors, although more comically(supposedly), what seems to happen in the action.This isn't even an original idea(it had been done before with silent films). Only a few parts are actually funny and even those aren't that great. I've seen some other Allen films and they were superior in every way to this nonsensical garbage. The jokes are painful. I think a bunch of frat boys could have come up with funnier dialogue that was completely opposite of what was happening in the action.In fact, I'd rather watch the actual two Japanese spy films with their original dialogue(even if it wasn't dubbed and was in subtitles) than re-watch What's Up, Tiger Lily.The two best aspects of this "film" are the 80 minute runtime and the striptease by the very "healthy" China Lee at the end of the film. If you are a Woody Allen fan, then I suppose you "must" see this, however, if you are not, totally avoid this film. Watch Mystery Science Theater instead, if you must see something that's similar.

Woody Allen's cinematic portfolio is one robust with different ideas, consistent styles, humour and staples that make his work his own which, over the course of his career, he has employed to make a name for himself as one of America's most beloved and respected directors. Yet many probably wouldn't have imagined such a future blossoming from the "director" of dub-comedy What's Up, Tiger Lily?; a series of shtick gags and farcical slapstick derived from cheap puns and hordes upon masses of crude sex jokes, half-clothed women and cheesy spy b-movie acting.So just to be clear for those unaware, What's Up, Tiger Lily?, although credited with Allen as the director, at least can only attain this credit when it comes to assembling bits and pieces, and re-scripting two Japanese spy movies into one zany mix of comedy back dropped against a low budget action flick. The result is a mixed, but mostly enjoyable romp that feels stunted and cheap, but not at the expense of its humour. Sure enough there are moments when Allen's comedy doesn't quite pay off and feels overly contrived, but for every bum note, there are at least two solid gags that click surprisingly well given the circumstances. In fact, if you don't laugh out loud at lines such as "It's Wing-Fool, you fat! I mean… it's Wing-Fat, you fool!" then I suggest you look around for where you dropped your funny bone.The re-imagined plot line from Woody, which revolves around a secret recipe for the "world's best egg-salad" and two opposing factions fighting over it, or something, is perfunctory; if you're watching for the purpose of enjoying a good story, then you're in the wrong place and should see your psychiatrist—it's as simple as that. For what it's worth, Allen does a decent job of maintaining his version of the story particularly well considering that he skews the entire premise to revolve around an egg-salad recipe, even if the entire story never takes off on its own. Best of all however is that things are kept light and fun with several amusing cutaways with Allen that break up the monotony of all those sex jokes at times.Taken in retrospect, the movie as a whole is something of a bewildering pastiche of some of Allen's most famous quirks and wit that would dominate his work for years to come. Perhaps most foreshadowing of all however is that What's Up, Tiger Lily? with it's obtuse, somewhat bizarre take on cinema echoes the originality and distinctly off-beat nature that Woody would become renown for. From here on in Allen would, of course, take it upon himself to fully direct his own features rather than simply dub his own story onto cheap imports—but even here in his humble directorial beginnings, you can nevertheless spot something just a little bit special that shines throughout; something unique and artistic for its time.When it comes down to it however, this directorial debut, despite its crudeness and almost complete redundancy in terms of value to anyone not looking for a silly, no brainer eighty minutes of shtick, does well to entertain. Of course, it doesn't quite attain the heights of the director's later works, but this is hardly surprising given the premise and intent at hand and should be taken on its own. Inspiring countless TV shows, similar movies, internet memes and innumerable spoofs which echo the same kind of facetious irreverence displayed here, the cultural significance perhaps outweighs the significance of the film taken on its own merits, but that doesn't stop it from being any fun; in fact, quite the opposite—even a good four decades down the line, What's Up, Tiger Lily? has its fair share of downright hilarious spots.A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

We have gotten used to Woody Allen films of the present day, most of which are a little more cerebral than WUTL but when this first hit the screens I thought it was hilarious. Nobody had seen anything like it and it struck a chord with those with an appreciation of the absurd. And what could be more absurd that running around looking for the perfect egg salad recipe with surprise musical interludes from the Lovin' Spoonful? It's all pretty ridiculous but somehow it worked at the time and still does......at least for some of us.There are some great quotes from this film that rival those from Monty Python films/TV programs. And I'm a Monty Python fan.I probably could have done without the China Lee strip-tease and frankly the Lovin' Spoonful as well.....but who could not love the zany Phil Moscowitz, Wing Fool,you Fat, who loves Phil in his own way, and Sheppard Wong who does not have the body of a killer. And if the movie appears dated, it's only because we have Airplane, and the Austin Powers films in more recent times which have refined the approach to this type of craziness.Granted, WUTL is an acquired taste but it may be worth a watch to see the precursor to the MST3K type of humor......and don't forget the mayonnaise!!