Woody Allen took a Japanese spy movie called Kagi No Kagi, and replaced its original dialogue with an entirely new plot. In its revised state, this film follows the adventures of agent Phil Moskowitz who is on a deadly mission to secure the recipe for the "world's greatest egg salad." However, Moskowitz, with the help of the beautiful Suki and Terri Yaki, must prevent this unique recipe from falling into the hands of the evil Shepherd Wong. The group Lovin' Spoonful recorded the majority of the songs for this film. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Review
A single, sophisticated postmodern joke housing a whole lot of dumb, but often very funny gags, What's Up Tiger Lily marks Woody Allen's unlikely, but auspicious debut as a filmmaker. Redubbing a Japanese, James Bond rip-off -- and from the looks of things, not a particularly good one -- Allen fashions jokes around notions of genre, cultural assumptions, and less lofty subjects. The result is a surprisingly consistent film as funny in its own way as any of Allen's early comedies, although audiences weaned on the rapid-fire pace of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (its spawn in many respects), may find it slower than they prefer. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Susumu Kurobe - Wing Fat; Eisei Amamoto - Bartender with Peter Lorre accent; Julie Bennett; Frank Buxton; Louise Lasser; China Lee - Herself; The Lovin' Spoonful - Themselves; Kumi Mizuno; Mickey Rose
Credit
Woody Allen - Associate Producer, Woody Allen - Director, Henry G. Saperstein - Executive Producer, Dr. Jack Lewis - Composer (Music Score), The Lovin' Spoonful - Composer (Music Score), Henry G. Saperstein - Producer, Julie Bennett - Screenwriter, Frank Buxton - Screenwriter, Louise Lasser - Screenwriter, Bryan Wilson - Screenwriter, Woody Allen - Screenwriter, Mickey Rose - Screenwriter
