# The Owl and the Pussycat
**The Owl and the Pussycat** is a 1970 American romantic comedy directed by [Herbert Ross](https://www.edgepedia.org/herbert-ross), written by [Buck Henry](https://www.edgepedia.org/buck-henry), and starring [Barbra Streisand](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbra-streisand) as Doris, a part-time prostitute, and George Segal as Felix, the uptight bookstore clerk and aspiring writer who reports her to the landlord and then finds her moving into his apartment. Produced by Ray Stark for Rastar Productions and released by Columbia Pictures on 3 November 1970, it was adapted from Bill Manhoff's two-character Broadway play and marked Streisand's first film role without singing.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 3 November 1970, New York City; 96 minutes; rated R on release, later edited and re-rated PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Owl-and-the-Pussycat-The) |
| Source | Bill Manhoff's two-character stage play, which opened at the ANTA Playhouse on 18 November 1964 with Alan Alda and Diana Sands[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) |
| Principal cast | Barbra Streisand (Doris), George Segal (Felix), Robert Klein (Barney)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) |
| Filming | Entirely in New York, principal photography from 3 November 1969 into early 1970[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [3](https://www.barbra-archives.info/owl-and-the-pussycat-1970) |
| Music | Original music by Richard Halligan, with two vocals performed by Blood, Sweat and Tears[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) |
| Box office | Domestic gross of $23,681,338 per The Numbers; Variety's 1972 anniversary compilation credited the film with $11,500,000 in rentals[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Owl-and-the-Pussycat-The) • [4](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Variety/Variety-1972-01-05.pdf) |
| Recognition | Golden Globe nomination for Streisand as Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Felix Sherman, a meek bookshop clerk who fancies himself an undiscovered novelist, lives in the same New York apartment building as Doris, a foul-mouthed woman who accepts money from the men who occasionally visit her apartment. Annoyed by her gentlemen callers, Felix informs the landlord, and Doris is evicted; she immediately moves in on Felix, denouncing him as a homosexual informant, and he lets her stay. When he tries to cure her hiccups while wearing a skeleton costume, her screams attract attention and both are thrown out, after which they move in with his friend Barney ([Robert Klein](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-klein)) and drive him out as well. Hostility gradually gives way to mutual fondness.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_owl_and_the_pussycat_1970)
## From stage to screen
A few months before the play's Broadway debut, trade papers reported in September 1964 that Seven Arts Productions had purchased the film rights in association with [Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures) for director Richard Quine. The show ran at the ANTA Playhouse from 18 November 1964 with [Alan Alda](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-alda) and Diana Sands in the leading roles, and Diana Sands earned a 1965 Tony nomination in the role Streisand would later play.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat)
**Long development.** Plans stayed in flux for years. Seven Arts dropped Paramount in October 1965, and Quine remained attached into the spring of 1966 while development stalled. According to [Turner Classic Movies](https://www.edgepedia.org/turner-classic-movies), producer Ray Stark, one of the play's backers, acquired the movie rights for $100,000 and in 1965 announced plans to film it with [Richard Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-burton) and [Elizabeth Taylor](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-taylor).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat) After founding Rastar Productions to make *Funny Girl* (1968) for Columbia, Stark announced in November 1968 that Funny Girl star Barbra Streisand would appear in the film. Bruce Jay Friedman was in talks to write the screenplay, which would expand the cast beyond the play's two characters and shift the setting from San Francisco to New York City.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT)
**Casting and writing.** Herbert Ross, who had worked on the musical sequences in *Funny Girl*, was named director in January 1969. Candidates for Felix included [Oskar Werner](https://www.edgepedia.org/oskar-werner), Michael Caine, Albert Finney, and [David Hemmings](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-hemmings), and Stark also mentioned [Jerry Orbach](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-orbach) before signing George Segal in August 1969, shortly after Segal's Academy Award nomination for *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*. Stark then replaced Friedman with Buck Henry, whose rewrite is the only credited screenplay.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [3](https://www.barbra-archives.info/owl-and-the-pussycat-1970)
## Production
[Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 3 November 1969 in New York City, and the film was shot entirely on Manhattan locations and rented soundstages, with exteriors at 1st Avenue and 59th Street and nearby buildings. The production ran ahead of schedule into early 1970, though a final [Central Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-park) scene was re-shot to add "a touch of spring." Director of photography Harry Stradling shot most of the film but died on 14 February 1970; Andrew Laszlo completed the remaining photography.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [3](https://www.barbra-archives.info/owl-and-the-pussycat-1970) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat)
**Streisand without songs.** The film was a deliberate departure for Streisand, whose first three pictures had been family-oriented musicals. She told a reporter she looked forward to a movie with "no songs, like a normal person." Stark pressed for songs to be added, even commissioning a ballad for a montage of Doris and Felix's estrangement, but Streisand refused, and she does no singing in the film. The soundtrack instead carries Richard Halligan's score with two vocals by Blood, Sweat and Tears, and [Columbia Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-records) released an album of the music plus dialogue excerpts from the film.[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) • [3](https://www.barbra-archives.info/owl-and-the-pussycat-1970)
**Censorship and a cut scene.** Henry's script had Doris telling a carful of young hoods to "F*ck off!"; some theaters refused to book the film with the line intact, and some prints have "Up yours" dubbed over it. A brief nude scene was filmed but cut at Streisand's request before release, and photos from it were later published by *High Society* magazine, which she sued over.[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_owl_and_the_pussycat_1970)
**Marilyn Chambers's debut.** Barney's girlfriend is played by a performer credited as Evelyn Lang, a pseudonym for Marilyn Chambers, then known from Ivory Soap television ads and later famous as the star of *Behind the Green Door* (1972). Buck Henry makes a cameo as a browser in the bookstore.[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat)
## Release and reception
Columbia held a sneak preview for press and paying audiences at the Crest Theatre in Westwood, California on 29 October 1970. The film opened in New York on 3 November at Loew's State 2 and Loew's Ciné, earning a combined first-day gross of $17,071, with regular West Coast screenings from 11 November.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT)
The film was generally not well received by critics, though Streisand's performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Actress in a Leading Role – Musical or Comedy.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT) Pauline Kael's review in *The New Yorker* was an exception in enthusiasm: she called it "a cheering, satisfying romantic comedy," praised the rapport between Streisand and Segal, and judged it "probably the most enjoyable comedy since *M*A*S*H*."[7](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1970/11/14/teamwork) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 80% Tomatometer from 10 reviews and a 66% audience score.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_owl_and_the_pussycat_1970)
Commercially it performed well. The Numbers records a domestic gross of $23,681,338, and Variety's January 1972 anniversary compilation credited Ross, "a comparatively new man on the film scene," with $11,500,000 in rentals for the picture.[2](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Owl-and-the-Pussycat-The) • [4](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Variety/Variety-1972-01-05.pdf) The film's copyright was renewed in 1998 by Columbia Pictures Industries, and it remains in circulation on home video and streaming services.[8](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theowlandthepussycat)
## References
1. [The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23488-THE-OWL-AND-THE-PUSSYCAT)
2. [The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Owl-and-the-Pussycat-The)
3. [Barbra Streisand Archives: Films, The Owl and The Pussycat (1970)](https://www.barbra-archives.info/owl-and-the-pussycat-1970)
4. [Variety, Sixty-Sixth Anniversary Edition, Pictures section, 5 January 1972](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Variety/Variety-1972-01-05.pdf)
5. [The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_owl_and_the_pussycat_1970)
6. [Rob Nixon, "The Owl and the Pussycat," Turner Classic Movies article (2009)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/246915/the-owl-and-the-pussycat)
7. [Pauline Kael, "Teamwork," The New Yorker, 7 November 1970](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1970/11/14/teamwork)
8. [The Owl and the Pussycat, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theowlandthepussycat)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license