sol- While he is mostly remembered nowadays for directing two black-and-white Academy Award winning dramas during the early 1970s, Peter Bogdanovich also helmed two of the funniest movies ever made. One of those is 'Noises Off...' with Michael Caine; this is the other one. 'What's Up, Doc?' is hardly a flawless motion picture and not all the jokes work (an extended chase scenes runs a little too long; Kenneth Mars is a tad too over-the-top). The gags that work though are simply sensational and the film has several wonderfully kooky moments, like several guests at a reception all meeting under the table - which causes one of the waiters to question just what wine they have been serving at that table! In essence, 'What's Up, Doc?' is Bogdanovich's valentine to the screwball comedies of Howard Hawks - particularly 'Bringing Up Baby' - with Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand doing well playing very similar characters to those inhabited by Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the Hawks film. Not often cited as an actress with range, Streisand is never less than totally impressive rambling coherent dialogue left, right and centre whilst always feeling like the spontaneous free-spirit that her character is meant to be. Golden Globe nominated Madeline Kahn arguably has the best performance here though as O'Neal's overbearing wife to-be. Funny as the film is throughout, Bogdanovich saves his very best gag for last as Streisand recites the tagline from O'Neal's 'Love Story' to him, leading to a reaction that needs to be seen for itself.

lasttimeisaw Peter Bogdanovich's tremendously successful slapstick comedy is a hearty homage to the screwball genre booming from the 30s, Howard Hawks' BRINGING UP BABY (1938) in particular. A San Francisco-based romp spawned by four identical plaid overnight bags in one hotel.The main plot-line tells of an adventurous, tomboyish young woman Judy Maxwell (Straisand), pops out from nowhere, but wherever she goes, accidents breed. So when she sets her eyes on a staid but attractive blond musicologist Howard Bannister (O'Neal) from Iowa Conservatory of Music, nothing can stop her from wilfully hogging him as the apple of her eye. Howard is in town for obtaining a grant for his study, which concerns with igneous rocks, with his ill-paired bossy fiancée Eunice Burns (Kahn in her rip-roaring screen debut with her scene-stealing bouffant hairdo), passively endures Judy's wanton intrusion, and occasionally tries to retort but to his constant dismay, of little avail. However, Judy really is a humdinger, with her little help, Howard is "this" close to procure the grant and vanquishes his rival, the holier-than-thou continental scholar Hugh Simon (the hysterical farceur Kenneth Mars, hilariously indulges in his snobbery mannerism and foreign accents).The bags-swapping caper, operated by bit players, is unbeknownst to our protagonists, one of the bag contains top-secret papers and attracts a government agent in pursuit, another one is the valuable jewellery collection from a wealthy hotel patron, which incites larceny from two hotel employees. The other two bags belong to Judy and Howard respectively, one is her personal items and the other is stuffed with his precious rocks. With a brisk and whole-heartedly comical pace, the implausible cat-and-mouse game reaches its apex in the spanking 11-minutes car-chasing stunt wonderfully cashes in on the special terrain of San Francisco's sloping roads, a Chinese dragon costume and a gigantic plate-glass, appended with an uproarious skit in court where adds some padding to Judy's back-story.Ryan O'Neal does a fine job in acting dumb but desirable in his deadpan antics, and Barbra Streisand, feels over-exerts herself to ooze credibility in a superfluously conceived character, but retains her charisma with irresistible strains from Cole Porter, including the theme song YOU'RE THE TOP. Madeline Kahn is a god-send bonanza to the silver screen as a virtuoso comedienne, who is spunkily deprived of self-consciousness and pretence to lampoon a larger-than-life laughing-stock, after all, the film serves as a raucous harbinger of her, O'Neal and Bogdanovich's next consummate collaboration in PAPER MOON (1973).

sandnair87 In 1972, director Peter Bogdanovich had the smarts and - let's face it - balls to attempt to make his own version of an old-school full-blown farce, specifically a remake of Howard Hawks' Bringing up Baby. Now, matching up to Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn was always going to be a tough ask, but Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand gave it the ol' college try, resulting in the criminally entertaining What's Up, Doc?A timid professor Dr. Howard Bannister (O'Neal) comes to San Francisco for a musicologists' convention with his prissy fiancée Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn) to get some much-needed grant money. Here he bumps into an eccentric, disaster-prone "daffy dame" Judy Maxwell (Streisand) whose antics slowly but surely throw his carefully ordered life into upheaval. Judy is an inveterate flirt who won't take "no" for an answer but Howard unavoidably finds himself gravitating to Judy's gravitational center. For the plot to crackle with necessary screw-balling mania, a beautifully disordered case of mistaken identity involving identical red plaid overnight cases - one containing Howard's precious igneous rocks, one Judy's lingerie, another full of valuable gems and the final one carrying top-secret government documents - adds to his woes.All through its 94 minute run-time, Peter Bogdanovich is busy paying homage to all his favorite flavors of humor, efficiently packing them into the brief runtime, hurtling from buffoonery and slapstick, to impersonations and word-play, and lets his leading lady have the one song to smooch up a romantic moment. One of the biggest surprises about 'What's Up, Doc?' is how wonderful Streisand and O'Neal are at comedy and at witty banter - and how much chemistry they have. Barbra Streisand has never been sexier than she is in this movie. She succeeds in scaling down her superstar personality to fit the dimensions of farce, giving us a character which is surprisingly appealing. Ryan O'Neal is even better in an equally tough assignment. He is charming as the unworldly professor, who finds himself lost in all the mayhem. With Bogdanovich directing with a lovely lightness of touch, both of them together manage to work up a kooky charm more befitting of the hippie-era of the early '70s. Also notable among the supporting cast is Miss Kahn, who in her utterly brilliant debut outing, just about walks off with the movie as O'Neal's impossibly square fiancée.If you miss the screwball classics of the early 30s, you owe it to yourself to watch this one. 'What's Up, Doc?' is sinfully enjoyable!

SmileysWorld I'm not sure what took me so long,but I finally gave this film a long overdue viewing.This film is drop dead hysterically funny and imagine this;not one ounce of vulgarity or profanity.It is a welcome modern era throwback to the old days of Hollywood where slapstick and one liners ruled.There is great chemistry in the cast,the comedy is perfectly timed,and though I am not normally a fan of Barbra Streisand,she looks great here.This film gets high marks from me and gets a long overdue placement amongst my favorite comedy films in cinema history.I highly recommend you see it,but don't blink! You are bound to miss a laugh or two.