Watch Fancast’s Woody Allen Film Festival

Woody Allen is one of the best and certainly most prolific filmmakers working today, and here at Fancast we’ve got four of his earliest movies available to watch for free in their entirety. Check out the Fancast Woody Allen Mini Film Festival right here.

What’s New, Pussycat? [watch the movie]
First up is the 1965 sex comedy that “introduced” Woody Allen, from a script he wrote with the provocative title that became a huge Tom Jones hit. Peter O’Toole stars as fashion editor Michael James, who is so torn between his love of womanizing and his love of his fiancee Carole (Romy Schneider) that he seeks out the help of the lecherous therapist Dr. Fassbender (an outrageous Peter Sellers), who wants nothing more than to have Michael’s life of copious coitus. Meanwhile, Michael’s friend Victor (Allen) is hoping their relationship fails, since he’s actually in love with Carole himself. Can Michael overcome the fact that women like Ursula Andress throw themselves at him and find it in his heart to commit to marriage? When the entire cast goes insane running around a hotel and chasing each other in the wacky climax, you know you’ve got no idea how this will turn out.

Casino Royale [watch the movie]
The story of Casino Royale is a weird one. It’s the name of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, of course, published in 1953 and centering on 007’s brilliance at baccarat being necessary to bring down a Soviet agent known as Le Chiffre. 1967’s Casino Royale, written in part by Woody Allen, became a satirical spoof on the Bond franchise when producer Charles K. Feldman couldn’t get approval to turn it into a legit Bond film once he snagged the rights to the novel. David Niven steps into the role as Sir James Bond, forced out of retirement to become the new M in order to take on the evil Soviet organization SMERSH. In doing so, he decides that every MI6 agent is going to be codenamed James Bond, to fool the enemy. This is why Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) gets to wear the tux and the name, once the real Bond hires Vesper Lynd (Ursula Andress, spoofing her own role in Dr. No), to hire him for his baccarat skills. It seems they’re desperately needed to take on SMERSH agent Le Chiffre, played by none other than Orson Welles. Woody plays the role of Bond’s nephew, who is also the nefarious Dr. Noah, the leader of SMERSH, whose ultimate plan is to kill every man taller than 4′6″ so that he might become the most desirable man on the planet.

Bananas [watch the movie]
Woody is in the director’s chair this time for what’s been considered one of the Top 100 comedies of all time. He stars as Fielding Mellish, a fair-to-middling low-rent schlub who, in order to impress the social activist (Louise Lasser) he’s in love with, gets quixotic and joins a band of revolutionaries in San Marcos, and he eventually and inadvertently winds up as their Presidente after they overthrow the government. His eventual return to the United States and subsequent exposure as a fraud results in a wacky treason trial with heavy Marx Brothers influences. It’s a gag a minute with this one. When asked why he called this film “Bananas,” Allen replied “because there are no bananas in it.”

A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy [watch the movie]
Set in the early 1900s, Woody settles into his general style as an eccentric inventor named Andrew who is married to Mary Steenburgen’s Adrian. They are a seemingly loving couple with mysterious sexual issues. They’re hosting a wedding party at their country home for her pompous philosophy professor cousin Leopold (Jose Ferrer) and his fiancee Ariel (Mia Farrow), who has a past with Andrew. Also visiting for the weekend are his womanizing doctor friend Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his horny ditzy nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Over the course of the weekend, there is much ado about sexual congress in Allen’s inimitable style.