On s'fait la valise, docteur?

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!".

In an age when screwball comedies had largely disappeared from the screen, Peter Bogdonovich directed Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal in what is still one of the funniest comedies of the 1970's. The film was a tribute to all the classic screwball comedy elements (including a pie fight and a hilarious car chase). There's nothing here to offend, so its suitable for the entire family, but its by no means juvenile comedy. The story begins with the title card "Once upon a time there was this red suitcase..."; actually there are four of them and that's the gist of the story. Stuffy college professor Howard Bannister (O'Neal) and his uptight fiance Eunice Burns (hilariously played by Madeline Khan, in her film debut) come to San Francisco for a musicologists convention (Howard is carrying one of the suitcases). Once there, Bannister meets Judy Maxwell (Streisand) a college drop-out who meets Howard in the hotel giftshop (and also has a suitcase just like Howard's). Also in the hotel is a wealthy woman (with another of the red suitcases, her's filled with diamonds) and a man running from the government (with documents in another red suitcase). Get the idea; yes the bags get mixed up and produces some hilarious situations along the way. The entire cast blends so well with one another and this is one of those little gem movies that everyone deserves to see at least once. Look for Sorrell Booke (who would later gain fame as Boss Hogg on "The Dukes Of Hazzard") as the hotel security guard.

Great 70s comedy stars Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal in a remake of the classic BRINGING UP BABY with bits of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT and CASABLANCA thrown in. Fun all the way in this updated story that has O'Neal playing a doofus professor up for a grant and Streisand as the madcap college dropout who plagues him. Madeline Kahn is hilarious as Eunice Burns.

A great team---and backed by Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton, Michael Murphy, Sorrell Booke, Mabel Albertson, Graham Jarvis, John Hillerman, Randy Quaid, and especially Liam Dunn as the judge, in one of the best comedy performances ever. Great chase scenes thru San Francisco. The court room scene is hilarious.

Others in the cast include Garahm Jarvis, M. Emmet Walsh, Eleanor Zee, Philip Roth, Stefan Gierasch, Stan Ross, and Kevin O'Neal.

Streisand sings "You're the Top" over the opening credits and "As Time Goes By" from atop a piano. Funny film has perfect timing all the way, thanks to direction from Peter Bogdanovich. A must see.

A friend of mine recently recommended this film to me. I am not a big Barbra Streisand fan so it took me about 20 minutes to get into this film. Once I was in, I was hooked! So rarely do I laugh out loud at comedies from this time period. I especially liked the hotel detective using his "charm" to delay Mrs. Van Hoskins. Kenneth Mars and Liam Dunn were hilarious, too. If physical comedy is not your bag, you may not like What's Up, Doc? But this is definitely one of my favorite comedies...even better than the old comedies to which it is supposed to be an homage. I'm glad someone listed many of the funny quotes from the film in Message Boards. I want to buy this DVD!

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.