Starring: Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn
Release Date: Mar. 9, 1972 (USA)
Running Time: 94 min
Genres: Comedy, Family, Romance
Commentary What's Up, Doc? is a hilarious comedy starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal. Judy Maxwell, Barbra's character, is reminiscent of Bugs Bunny and Howard Bannister, Ryan's role, is similar to Elmer Fudd. The movie involves lots of twists and turns, including a burning hotel room and a wild chase through the streets of San Francisco. Besides the humor, I enjoy the scenes of San Francisco, which is where I grew up. My parents even saw them filming this movie in downtown San Francisco by their office building, shortly after moving there.
Plot Summary The plot involves four identical plaid suit bags which coincidentally end up at the same hotel at the same time.
One belongs to Howard Bannister (Ryan O'Neal), a rather absent-minded "musicologist" trying to win an award for a research grant regarding his theory of the musical properties of igneous rocks.
Another belongs to Judy Maxwell, a young college student who gets expelled repeatedly but ends up accumulating a tremendous amount of knowledge and whom trouble seems to always follow.
A third belongs to Mrs. Van Hoskins, a rich old woman with an expensive jewelry collection which she keeps in her bag.
The fourth belongs to the mysterious "Mr. Smith", a spy with a collection of top-secret government papers. The equally mysterious "Mr. Jones", a detective, follows him.
All these characters end up staying on the same floor of the Bristol Hotel in downtown San Francisco, just a few rooms away from each other. Once their bags get mixed up mass confusion occurs, resulting in a big chase through the hilly SF streets, causing lots of damage. In the end, aided by Judy, Howard gets his resarch money and Howard and Judy end up falling in love and boarding a plane together.
Music This is by far my favorite movie with Barbra Streisand. She's a riot as Judy Maxwell, and it's hard for me to believe that she's the same actress I've seen flop in so many other movies! Barbra is best known for her singing in any case, and she does sing a couple songs in this movie, including "You're the Top" at the beginning and at the end along with Ryan, as well as "As Time Goes By" in the middle of the movie while lying on top of a piano. As always, her singing is superb.
Movie Clips
Here's a hilarious scene in which Judy hangs from the balcony and the hotel room catches on fire.
Home
Title: What's Up, Doc? 
