What's Up, Doc? is a screwball comedy from 1972, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn (in her first full-length film role). It was intended to pay homage to comparable motion pictures of the 1930s, such as Bringing Up Baby, as well as the Bugs Bunny cartoons—which, like this film, were made by Warner Bros. Pictures. Image File history File links Whats_Up_Doc_Poster. ... Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (born July 30, 1939) is an American film director and writer, born in Kingston, New York. ... Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (born July 30, 1939) is an American film director and writer, born in Kingston, New York. ... Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (born July 30, 1939) is an American film director and writer, born in Kingston, New York. ... Buck Henry Zuckerman (born December 9, 1930 in New York, New York) is an American actor, writer and director, best known for his work in television, film, comedy, and satire. ... David Newman (1937-2003) was an American filmmaker. ... Robert Benton (born September 29, 1932 in Waxahachie, Texas) is an American screenwriter and film director. ... Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn) is an Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, liberal political activist, film producer and director. ... Patrick Ryan ONeal (born April 20, 1941) is an Oscar-nominated American actor. ... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ... Warner Bros. ... March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (69th in leap years). ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The screwball comedy has proven to be one of the most elusive of the film genres. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (born July 30, 1939) is an American film director and writer, born in Kingston, New York. ... Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn) is an Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, liberal political activist, film producer and director. ... Patrick Ryan ONeal (born April 20, 1941) is an Oscar-nominated American actor. ... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ... Bringing up Baby is a 1938 screwball comedy which tells the story of a scientist who winds up in various predicaments with a woman who has a unique sense of logic and a leopard named Baby. ... Bugs Bunny is a fictional animated rabbit who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Warner Bros. ... Warner Bros. ...

The film was a huge hit in theaters, and became the third-highest grossing film of 1972.

Background of the Production

The film came about as the result of a disastrous, aborted effort to film an adaptation of the black comedy novel A Glimpse of Tiger by Herman Raucher, which was supposed to have starred Elliott Gould and Kim Darby in a story about an insane con man named Luther who befriends a runaway 19-year-old girl. Gould was cast as the con man, with Darby as the girl. Production went on for a week before Gould and a group of his friends showed up on the set one day under the influence of LSD and threatened both the director and Darby. Gould then disappeared; it would later be discovered he had been hiding in a nearby hotel. The set was shut down, and it quickly became public knowledge that Warner Bros. was planning to file a breach of contract suit against Gould once police found him. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A Glimpse of Tiger is a 1971 novel by Herman Raucher. ... Herman Raucher Herman Raucher (born April 13, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American author who has written several novels and screenplays, among them the popular Summer of 42 and The Great Santini. ... Elliot Gould on the cover page of TIME magazine. ... Kim Darby (born Deborah Zerby on July 8, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actor who has starred in many films and appeared on many TV shows. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short, (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ... Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly called LSD, LSD-25, or acid. ... Warner Bros. ...

In an effort to save Gould (from whom she became divorced in 1971), Barbra Streisand made a deal to the studio: If the studio agreed not to take legal action against Gould, she would take his place in the film. (Due to the secretive nature of Streisand's talks with Warner Bros., accounts differ about what the payment terms would be. Some sources claim that Streisand agreed to only work for scale, while others say that she agreed to do it for free.) Streisand met with Raucher, and the two began working on altering the role of the Luther for a woman. Shortly thereafter, Peter Bogdanovich was brought on to direct. He decided that he didn't like the script, and began to make changes to it steadily, until it eventually became What's up, Doc?. These alterations effectively severed Raucher from the production, causing all credit for his work up to that point to be stricken. 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... The Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) is the labor union representing over 120,000 film actors in the United States. ...

Synopsis

The story, which takes place in San Francisco, centers on four identical plaid overnight bags and the people who own them. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

• One of the bags belongs to Howard Bannister, Ph.D. (played by O'Neal), and is filled with igneous rocks that have certain musical properties. Howard, a musicologist, and his fiancée, Eunice Burns (Kahn), have come to San Francisco in the hope of winning a grant funded by Frederick Larrabee (Austin Pendleton). His rival for the grant is the dubiously-accented Hugh Simon (Kenneth Mars).

• The second bag belongs to Judy Maxwell (Streisand), and is filled with her clothes. No matter where Judy goes, trouble happens, from car crashes to spontaneous combustion of hotel rooms. She never finished college, but nevertheless has amassed a considerable amount of knowledge from all of the courses she took at the many institutions of higher learning from which she was expelled.

• The third bag belongs to Mrs. Van Hoskins (Mabel Albertson), a wealthy woman who is using it to store her jewels.

• The fourth and last overnight bag belongs to the mysterious "Mr. Smith" (Michael Murphy) and contains top-secret government papers. The equally mysterious "Mr. Jones" (Philip Roth) is trying to get hold of them.

Howard, Eunice, Judy, Ms. Van Hoskins, and Mr. Smith all happen to check into the Hotel Bristol at the same time, whereupon Judy begins pursuing Howard, two hotel employees (Sorrell Booke and Stefan Gierasch) attempt to rob Mrs. Van Hoskins, and Mr. Jones attempts to rob Mr. Smith. Over the course of the evening, the four parties mistakenly take one another's suitcases, setting up a madcap chase around the city the following morning—through Chinatown, down Lombard Street, etc. All the protagonists finally end up in court, under the gavel of a world-weary and curmudgeoned judge (Liam Dunn) who turns out to be Judy's estranged father. Patrick Ryan ONeal (born April 20, 1941) is an Oscar-nominated American actor. ... Igneous rocks are formed when molten rock (magma) cools and solidifies, with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. ... Musicology is reasoned discourse concerning music (Greek: μουσικη = music and λογος = word or reason). In other words: the whole body of systematized knowledge about music which results from the application of a scientific method of investigation or research, or of philosophical speculation and rational systematization to the facts, the processes and the... Madeline Kahn (September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999) was an Academy Award-nominated Jewish American actress of movie, television, and theater distinguished by an unusual gift for comedy. ... Austin Pendleton (born on 27 March 1940 in Warren, Ohio, USA) is an American movie, television and stage actor. ... Kenneth Mars (born April 14, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois) is a television, movie and voice actor, perhaps best known for his roles in several Mel Brooks films and for playing King Triton in Disneys The Little Mermaid. ... Barbra Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn) is an Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, liberal political activist, film producer and director. ... Older sister of actor Jack Albertson (qv); best known as Darrin Stephens interfering mother on the TV show Bewitched; she died of Alzheimers disease. ... For other people of the same name, see Michael Murphy Michael Murphy (born May 5, 1938) is an American character actor. ... Sorrell Booke, portryaing the character that made him famous, Boss Hogg. Sorrell Booke (January 4, 1930 – February 11, 1994 in Buffalo, New York) was a Jewish-American actor best known for his role as the heavyset, corrupt politician Jefferson Davis Boss Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard. ... Stefan Gierasch (5 February 1926) is a American television and film actor. ... An intersection of Chinatown in San Francisco. ... Lombard Streets famed twists Lombard Street in San Francisco, California is an east-west thoroughfare that runs from The Presidio, through the Cow Hollow neighborhood (through which Lombard Street is at its busiest and widest and is co-signed as U.S. Highway 101 for the 12 blocks between... Liam Dunn (1916-1976) was an American actor. ...

Trivia

• Was number 61 on the list of 100 greatest comedies published by the American Film Institute.
• The San Francisco Hilton was the shooting location for the "Bristol Hotel".
• The director did not get permission from the city to drive cars down the concrete steps in Alta Plaza Park in San Francisco; these were badly damaged during filming and still show the scars today.
• The final scene in the film makes fun of "Love means never having to say you're sorry," a famous line from Love Story, a highly successful tear-jerker in which O'Neal had starred two years earlier. Howard reacts to the line when Judy says it by replying, deadpan, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
• At the end of the car chase, almost everyone ends up floundering in San Francisco Bay—except O'Neal and Streisand, comfortably afloat in their Volkswagen Beetle. This was a play on Volkswagen print and TV ads from a few years prior that championed the Beetle's remarkable (and real) ability to float on water.
• Part of the movie was filmed in Paramus, New Jersey.
• The famous "plate glass" scene was filmed at Balboa and 23rd Avenue in the Richmond District.
• The final scene on board the airplane shows Streisand looking out the righthand window showing the Marina District and the (now demolished) Embarcadero Freeway. An airplane having just taken off from SFO would not have been flying over the city in that direction.
• The film won the Writers Guild of America 1973 "Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" award for writers Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton.
• Randy Quaid appears in a small role, intentionally miscast as a professor.
• Ryan O'Neal's mannerisms, from the very first shot of him staring vacantly into space, are modelled on those of Harold Lloyd.
• Although What's Up, Doc? is not a musical, there is some singing and other musical interest.
  • The song "You're The Top" from the musical Anything Goes is sung for the opening and closing credits by Streisand and by Streisand and O'Neal, respectively. The same Cole Porter musical supplied at least two other tunes played as background music: "Anything Goes" and "I Get A Kick Out Of You," heard during the first hotel-lobby scene.
  • About two-thirds of the way into the film, Howard accompanies Judy at the piano as she sings the beginning of "As Time Goes By" (made famous in the film Casablanca). The scene includes Streisand imitating Humphrey Bogart with the line, "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world....she has to walk into mine! Play it Sam!"
  • Musical jokes abound. Over-the-top Muzac-styled elevator music featuring Cole Porter's songs are used throughout the hotel scenes. In the chase scene, a Chinese marching band is inexplicably playing the Mexican tune "La Cucaracha" on German glockenspiels.
  • The Bugs Bunny number—derived from his characteristic tagline—that gives the movie its title, appears as well, with the original animation, in the last scene. "Please Don't Think about Me When I'm Gone", an old Tin Pan Alley hit which had appeared in Looney Toons cartoon One Froggy Evening, can be heard instrumentally during the opening scene in the airport.

The 100 funniest American films. ... Entrance of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hilton Hotel viewed from Wilshire Boulvard Hilton is a brand of the Hilton Hotels Corporation, based in Beverly Hills, California. ... The sidewalk on Fillmore Street, looking north from Bush Street. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Love means never having to say youre sorry is a line from the 1970 movie Love Story starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan ONeal. ... Love Story is a 1970 romance motion picture drama based on the 1970 best-seller, written by Erich Segal, and directed by Arthur Hiller. ... Deadpan is a form of comedic delivery in which something humorous is said or done by a person, while not exhibiting a change in emotion or facial expression. ... This article is about the original Volkswagen Beetle. ... Geary Boulevard, looking eastward from 36th Avenue The Richmond District is a neighborhood in the northwest corner of San Francisco, California. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Section of the Embarcadero Freeway in front of the Ferry Building during demolition The Embarcadero Freeway was a freeway in San Francisco. ... SFO can refer to: San Francisco International Airport Serious Fraud Office This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries in the United States. ... Buck Henry Zuckerman (born December 9, 1930 in New York, New York) is an American actor, writer and director, best known for his work in television, film, comedy, and satire. ... There have been a number of prominent figures named David Newman, including: David Newman, American composer David Newman, American Visual Artist David Newman, Canadian politician This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Robert Benton (born September 29, 1932 in Waxahachie, Texas) is an American screenwriter and film director. ... Randall Rudy Randy Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated actor and former comedian. ... Harold Clayton Lloyd (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American film actor and director, most famous for his silent comedies. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Youre the Top is a Cole Porter song from the 1934 musical Anything Goes. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theatre combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... For the song by Guns N Roses, see Anything Goes (song) Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. ... Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter from Indiana. ... I Get a Kick Out of You is a song by Cole Porter, originally featured in Anything Goes (1934). ... As Time Goes By is a song written by Herman Hupfeld for the 1931 Broadway musical Everybodys Welcome. ... Casablanca is a 1943 romantic film set during World War II in the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca. ... Humphrey DeForest Bogart (December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957) was an iconic American actor of legendary fame who retained his legacy after death. ... A number in music is a self-contained piece that is combined with other such pieces in a performance. ... Tin Pan Alley was the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. ... Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers cartoon series that preceded the Merrie Melodies series, and is both WBs first animated theatrical series and the second longest continuous animated series in any medium. ... Michigan J. Frog One Froggy Evening is an approximately seven-minute long Technicolor animated short film written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones. ...

External links

• What's Up, Doc at the Internet Movie Database