Is' was, Doc?

... and this is definitely one of those films. The movie opens with a fantastic rendition of Cole Porter's "You're the Top" sung by Barbra Streisand and then proceeds to tell the story of four identical plaid overnight bags that get mixed up: one bag contains rocks belonging to professor Ryan O'Neal (the "doc" of the title), one bag contains Barbra Streisand's clothes and underwear, one bag contains top secret documents and one bag contains a wealthy woman's jewels. Instrumental versions of various Cole Porter songs are heard throughout the movie.

Barbra looks beautiful and sings "As Time Goes By" about halfway through the movie. At one point she's hanging from a hotel ledge wearing only a towel! Madeline Kahn is hilarious as Ryan's O'Neal's fiancé. The movie seems to be an homage to screwball comedies from the 1930s and the actors do a good job with the fast-paced dialogue.

The car chase through San Francisco near the end of the movie is a lot of fun . There's a pane of glass that some men are trying to cross the street with that you just know is going to get broken as all the cars go by, but what actually causes it to break was quite unexpected.

This film really does make the equivalent Carry On movies extremely juvenile. Very rarely, if at all does this film delve into lavatorial/innuendo humour. All of its humour is based on slapstick and a terrific script full of one-liners that you never tire of viewing. They could have made a sequel, but then the humour would have soured in the same way that the Naked Gun or Airplane films did. All the characterisations are spot on, everyone except Striesand is portrayed as being bumbling unsubtle fools including the CIA and Russian spys. It's basically a change to see the Americans not taking themselves seriously for once. Kenneth Mars is very amusing as O'Neal's opponent for the music grant. Of particular note is the car chase in San Francisco in an exaggerated Bullitt style. Granted, it is very dated - it's 1972 and chequered flares and velvet is much in evidence, but this adds to the film's charm. It is one of the few films that I was sad to see ending...

I think this film is the funniest movie I have ever seen. No matter how many times I see it, I always find surprisingly fresh and completely hilarious. Barbra Streisand's performance is the centerpiece of the whole film. She simply glows with warmth, sexiness, and humor. There isn't a moment when we don't find her completely believable. Ryan O'Neal adds a great physical presence and is gloriously restrained. The film also contains some great supporting turns from Ken Mars, Liam Dunn, and especially Madeline Kahn, who nearly steals the movie in her film debut.

On a scale of 10, WHAT'S UP, DOC? receives a perfect 10!

This film is very funny and stays so even after repeated viewings. The plot is silly, but it doesn't matter - the film is not about plot, so much as its about how this oddball bunch of characters interact - and the situations and dialog carry the film along effortlessly. Streisand and O'Neil are wonderful - surprisingly so. A much underseen and underappreciated film.

What's Up Doc is one of six movies I use to offset ANY bad mood. I have seen it countless times and still can't keep the suitcases straight.

This film is full of visual humor and one liners; Madeline Kahn screaming and taking on all comers while dragging the doorkeeper across the ballroom floor; the hotel crook using his "charm" to drop Mrs. Van Hoskins in her tracks; Eunice hiding in the bathroom because snakes "live in deathly fear of tile"; the promise of Howard conducting an avalanche in A Flat.

My only regret about this movie is that it began endless failed efforts by television and movie makers to replicate the chase through San Francisco. No one has. That sequence is the best example of humor, timing, backdrop, and action, of the chase genre. It has never been equalled by either serious or comedic directors.

Little mentioned in these reviews are Kenneth Mars and Austin Pendelton, two fantastic character actors who are the emeralds surrounding the diamonds of Streisand and O'Neal in the glorious setting of this jewel.

Thank goodness no one in What's Up Doc knows the meaning of the word "propriety!".