What's New Pussycat (1965)

Peter O'Toole: Michael James

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Michael James : Did you find a job?

  Victor Skakapopulis : Yeah, I got something at the striptease. I help the girls dress and undress.

  Michael James : Nice job.

  Victor Skakapopulis : Twenty francs a week.

  Michael James : Not very much.

  Victor Skakapopulis : It's all I can afford.

• Liz Bien : You're right. I must face my problems. I can't go through life being a semi-virgin.

  Michael James : What, in the name of all that is gracious, is a semi-virgin?

  Liz Bien : Here, I'm a virgin. In America, I'm not.

  Michael James : What do they do, stamp it on your passport?

• Dr. Fritz Fassbender : I, uh, decided to follow you here.

  Michael James : If you followed me here, how did you contrive to be here before me?

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : I followed you... very fast.

• Doctor : [Liz Bien, the stripper, has just made her second suicide attempt while in Michael's company. The same ER doctor has responded]  You wouldn't happen to be the young lady's fiancee, would you?

  Michael James : No, just a friend.

  Doctor : Pretty rough friendship you've got there.

• Carole Werner : We're married thirty seconds and already you look at other women.

  Michael James : I had to look at her, she was talking to me, I looked in the direction the sound was coming from.

• Miss Marks : Oh, Michael, this can't work, I'm 34 and you're 12!

  Michael James : Don't be negative.

• [James is drunk and Carole has taken his car keys] 

  Michael James : Give me the key.

  Carole Werner : No. Take a cab.

  Michael James : I don't wish to take a key, I want my car cabs!

• Michael James : Can you imagine what it feels like to be in close contact every day with the worid's most gorgeous women? And what can I do? I can't say no. And why should I say no? I love it, do you hear? I love every second of it. That's how it's always been with me. A little pleasure, a little pain, but always back to the ladies.

• Michael James : Look, I know you'll think this is crazy, but, er, when the light hits me from a certain direction, I'm... handsome

  [swigs from bottle] 

• Michael James : Pussycat from the sky, I can't resist you.

  Rita : Don't resist. Capitulate.

• Michael James : My job is a lecher's dream.

• Dr. Fritz Fassbender : I think that, with you, sex is a sport, ya?

  Michael James : Oh, yes. I love the the smell of perfume and the thrill of the chase and the moment of conquest.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : I like thighs. Do you like thighs?

• Liz Bien : How'd you like my poems?

  Michael James : I think they're very beautiful and quite moving.

  Liz Bien : Did you like the one about peaceful coexistence, 'Ode To A Pacifist Junkie'?

  Michael James : Yes. I thought it was very sexy.

• Michael James : You must not attack her. You must woo her.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : Woo her?

  Michael James : Woo her.

• Dream Girl #1 : Michael, remember me? You loved me in your office.

  Michael James : Indeed I do.

  Dream Girl #2 : Remember the night in the hospital bed?

  Michael James : Unforgettable.

  Dream Girl #3 : My mother's crypt.

  Michael James : Oh, poor mummy.

  Dream Girl #4 : On top of the Eiffel Tower.

  Michael James : Very chilly.

• Liz Bien : Would you excuse me for a minute? I'm going into the bathroom to take an overdose of sleeping pills.

  Michael James : I like you. You're a nice stable girl.

• Michael James : As a man's life goes down the drain, you are there.

• Dr. Fritz Fassbender : When did all this come to an end?

  Michael James : It didn't come to an end! That's the point.

• Man In Strip Club : [Richard Burton in cameo appearance]  Excuse me, haven't *you* seen *me* somewhere before?

  Michael James : I know the name, but I can't remember the face.

• Michael James : [in a dream]  RIGHT! I want ALL YOU CATS... to SHAPE UP!

  [cracks whip madly] 

• Dr. Fritz Fassbender : I'll see you next Friday, I've got a few phone calls to make.

  Michael James : But I haven't finished. I've only been here fifteen minutes.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : I can't take more than fifteen minutes of your sex life at one time.

• Michael James : Could you tell me about your typical clientele?

  Etienne : My typical clientele?

  Michael James : Typical.

  Etienne : All the people who are here now are typical clientele.

  Michael James : Really?

  Etienne : There is a man cheating on his wife in room Lola Montez. There is a woman cheating on her two husbands in Carlotta. Two lovers of indeterminate sex in Reine Margot. And two men cheating in Don Juan.

  Michael James : Yes. Well, one might say the joint is jumping.

• Michael James : I want to hear your poems.

  Liz Bien : Oh, all right. But behave.

  Michael James : Yes, sure. I - I love erotic poems.

  Liz Bien : Oh, it's not erotic, it's political.

  Michael James : Is it?

  Liz Bien : Mm-hm. Oh, yeah. I wrote this at Hillside Hospital, just after my fourth nervous breakdown. Um! Two, three, four: "Who killed Charlie Parker? Um! You did. You - rat!" I dedicate this next poem...

  Michael James : Yes. Well, it's been an interesting evening.

• Carole Werner : [taking a shower]  Michael?

  Michael James : Hello, pussycat.

  [steps into the shower] 

  Michael James : Pussycat, I love you.

  Carole Werner : Thank you for another pot of flowers. Shall I get dressed? Or is it foreign-movie time?

  Michael James : Foreign-movie time.

• Michael James : Look, a point I've noticed, scientifically, is that stripping is not sexy.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : No, not in the slightest.

  Michael James : Listen, I can speak with a certain authority on this because I've seen this show - a hundred times.

• Michael James : It's different for a girl.

  Carole Werner : It is not! It is not different! And if you can run around, so can I.

• Renée Lefevre : He told me any time I had trouble controlling myself I should blow the whistle.

  Michael James : You have - eh - trouble controlling yourself?

  Renée Lefevre : Only with men. I have an intense need to be loved by many men, many times.

  Michael James : Really? Eh, a little wine? Would you care for?

  Renée Lefevre : Yes.

  Michael James : You'd never know by your placid exterior that underneath that ice-cold facade beats the heart of a savage, lustful, passionate animal.

  [kiss] 

• Michael James : Doctor, I prefer the sickness to the cure.

• Michael James : Liz.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : Liz?

  Michael James : Oh, she's a stripper. She's beautiful. And she's here on a bongo scholarship.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : Oh, why don't you introduce me to her? I could be the man that sees no one touches her for you.

• Renée Lefevre : I have to call someone and tell them I will not be home tonight.

  Michael James : The phone's down by the bed, next to my prayer shawl.

• Michael James : Ah, that's better. Ah, a little gentle steam. Does one the worid of good. Ahh. We must have physical health as well as mental health. Oh, I'm kinky for steam.

• Michael James : Parachuting's a funny recreation for a girl. Now, if you were a fella. I can understand pottery or flower arrangement or needlework or knitting.

  Rita : It helps sublimate my sexual tensions. It's either that or promiscuity.

  Michael James : Ah, la-la-la.

• Michael James : Pussycat? I'm off. See you tomorrow.

  Carole Werner : Have fun. You sure you're not meeting some dolly?

  Michael James : Trust, my darling, trust.

• Renée Lefevre : Who would have ever thought - in an elevator?

  Michael James : It's the safest place in the worid, provided the combined weight of the two people does not exceed 1400 pounds.

• Michael James : Come away with me for the weekend.

  Renée Lefevre : Where?

  Michael James : Chateau Chantelle.

  Renée Lefevre : Oh, how lovely. We could fish and hunt and ride and swim and...

  Michael James : And all in my room.

• Michael James : I want you more than anything in the worid, pussycat. Pussycat.

• Renée Lefevre : Philippe? Oh! Michael!

  Michael James : Oh, it's you! I beg your body. Forgive me!

• Michael James : Life is a strumpet stained with wine. "Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages!"

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : Isn't that Schiller?

  Michael James : Shakespeare.

• Michael James : In Britain, we have a national therapy, we call it cricket. Unlike other sports, it doesn't involve anxieties or pressures. It's leisurely and lyrical. It's the song of willow on leather.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : Is there any sex in it?

  Michael James : Oh, no. This is a game for gentlemen, played by gentlemen.

  Dr. Fritz Fassbender : It's sick, sick.

• Michael James : I'll be back tomorrow. If I'm not back tomorrow, send for the police. If they're not back tomorrow, send my clothes.

• Michael James : I've had a lot of experience fondling, er, handling young women like you. And it's all got to stop.

• Michael James : Ahhh. A little gentle steam does one the world of good. We must have physical health as well as mental health. Ah, I'm kinky for steam!

• Michael James : The worst curse in the worid is to be mediocre.