What's Up, Doc? - A Movie Review

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"What's Up, Doc?" is a romantic screwball comedy which was released in 1972. It was written by Peter Bogdanovich, Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton. The screenplay is loosely based on the novel "A Glimpse of Tiger" by Herman Raucher. The movie was directed by Peter Bogdanovich. It did extremely well at the box office with a budget of $4 million, the box office take was $66 million. The movie won a Writers Guild of America 1973 "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen". CAST Barbra Streisand - Judy Maxwell Ryan O'Neal - Howard Bannister Madeline Kahn - Eunice Burns Kenneth Mars - Hugh Simon Austin Pendleton - Frederick Larrabee Michael Murphy - Mr. Smith Philip Roth - Mr. Jones Sorrell Booke - Harry Stefan Gierasch - Fritz Mabel Albertson - Mrs. Van Hoskins Liam Dunn - Judge Maxwell John Hillerman - Hotel Manager Kaltenborn George Morfogen - Rudy the Head Waiter Graham Jarvis - Bailiff Randy Quaid - Professor Hosquith M. Emmet Walsh - Arresting Officer Sylvester Stallone - Hotel Guest (uncredited) The location is San Francisco. The story revolves around four identical plaid suitcases and the people that own them. Bag #1 - belongs to Mr. Smith and contains top-secret government papers. He may have them illegally and may want to expose them to the public. Mr. Jones may be from the government and is determined to recover the documents. Bag #2 - belongs to Dr. Howard Bannister and contains Igneous Tambala rocks that are said to have musical qualities. Bannister is a musicologist from the Iowa Conservatory of Music. He is accompanied by his uptight, overbearing fiancee, Eunice Burns. Howard tries to be patient with her. They have come to San Francisco to try and obtain a grant from Frederick Larrabee. Howard has a theory that ancient man may have used rocks to make music.. Howard's rival for the grant is the non-ethical Hugh Simon who is from Yugoslavia but seems to be doing work in Western Europe. Bag #3 - belongs to Judy Maxwell and is filled with clothing and a dictionary. Everywhere Judy goes, chaos follows from car crashes to hotel room fires. She never finished college but amassed a large amount of knowledge from the courses she took from the various institutions from which she was expelled. Bag #4 - belongs to Mrs. Van Hoskins who uses it to store her vast amount of valuable jewels. What a madcap movie this is! I don't know if this movie would work today; but it's extremely funny. O'Neal plays the part of the submissive and confused fiance very well. He can stand in the middle of chaos and just accept it as part of his life. O'Neal and Streisand play off each other both comedically and romantically. This is a movie that the whole family can enjoy. I recommend that you watch this movie at least once. This movie is Rated G. Photo Credit: Wkimedia Commons (Barbra Streisand)