Movie review What’s up Doc?
Peter Bogdanovich gem of a comedy
Under rated screwball comedy starring Ryan O Neal and Barbra Streisand
Ryan O’Neal portrays Howard Bannister, a nerdy, incompetent musicology professor who is visiting San Francisco for a research grant. In the story, Barbra Streisand plays a frenzied romantic lead who causes mayhem when four identical plaid suitcases containing jewels, rocks, and top-secret documents get mixed up.
A crazy, ridiculous chase involving jewels and official documents ensues after Howard (O’Neal)’s suitcase full of prehistoric musical rocks is mistaken for three other identical bags.
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The erratic, free-spirited Judy Maxwell (Streisand) follows Howard, who is accompanied by his controlling fiancée, Eunice Burns.
The film pays homage to screwball comedies from the 1930s, such as Bringing Up Baby, and ends with a crazy car-and-pedestrian chase across San Francisco.
Songs in the movie
Ryan O’Neal and Barbra Streisand (playing Judy Maxwell) sing a cover of the Cole Porter hit song “You’re the Top.” in the movie, which has a variety of standards on the soundtrack, she also sings “As Time Goes By.”
It is a zany movie and an under rated gem of a comedy. What’s Up, Doc? was a success, and became the third highest-grossing film of 1972. It won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) 1973 “Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen” award for Buck Henry, David Newman, and Robert Benton.
I give it 8 out of 10 for people who like slightly off beat comedies with good music thrown in:)
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