What's Up, Doc?

What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 American romantic screwball comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn. It was intended to pay homage to comedy films of the 1930s, especially Bringing Up Baby, and Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons.
==Plot==
Dr. Howard Bannister, a musicologist from the Iowa Conservatory of Music in Ames, Iowa, has travelled to San Francisco to compete for a research grant offered by Frederick Larrabee. Howard is accompanied by his tightly wound, overbearing fiancée Eunice Burns. As the two check into the Hotel Bristol, Howard runs into the charming trouble-magnet Judy Maxwell in the hotel's drugstore. She never finished college, but nevertheless has amassed a considerable amount of knowledge from all of the academic institutions from which she was expelled. She begins to pursue Howard and lodges herself in the hotel without paying.
Howard has brought with him a plaid overnight bag containing igneous "tambula" rocks that have certain musical properties, unaware that three other parties are staying on the same floor of the Bristol with identical bags. The mysterious "Mr. Smith" has illegally obtained a bag containing top-secret government papers, which government agent "Mr. Jones" is on a mission to recover. Wealthy socialite Mrs. Van Hoskins has a bag containing her sizable collection of valuable jewels that hotel employees Harry and Fritz attempt to steal. Judy's bag is filled with her clothing and a large dictionary. Over the course of the evening, the four parties unwittingly take one another's bags.
Judy, masquerading as Eunice at the musicologists' banquet, uses her humor, wit, and academic knowledge to charm everyone except Howard's Croatian competitor, Hugh Simon. Unable to overcome Judy's pretense—and realizing Larrabee's infatuation with her might win him the grant—Howard denies knowing the real Eunice when she hysterically tries to enter the banquet. Judy later intrudes into Howard's hotel room. His struggle to hide her presence from Eunice while the thieves attempt to recover the jewels lead to a fire and the destruction of the room. Ultimately, Howard ends up with the jewels, Judy with the documents, Mr. Smith with Judy's clothes, and the thieves with the rocks.
The following day, everyone makes their way to a reception in Larrabee's upscale Victorian home, where a fight breaks out involving guns, furnishings, and thrown pies. Howard and Judy take all four bags and flee through San Francisco, first on a delivery bike, and then in a decorated Volkswagen Beetle stolen from a wedding party, pursued by Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones and the jewel thieves, who also have taken Eunice, Larrabee and Simon hostage. They go through Chinatown disrupting a parade, down Lombard Street, through a panel of glass, through wet cement, and eventually into San Francisco Bay at the ferry landing, after causing several collisions.
Everyone ends up in a courtroom, where Judge Maxwell, already on the brink of a nervous breakdown, tries to clear up the matter but only succeeds in finding his daughter Judy as the cause of all the trouble. Later, after the bags have been returned to their rightful owners, Howard and Judy find themselves at the airport again. "Mr. Smith" is pursuing "Mr. Jones", who is now back in possession of the government papers, while the thieves plan their escape from the country. Mrs. Van Hoskins pays for the considerable damage and splits the remaining $50 of the reward she had offered among those who helped retrieve her jewels. Eunice appears with Larrabee and Simon, who won the grant. However, he is exposed by Judy as a plagiarist, thus getting Howard the grant after all. Eunice leaves Howard for Larrabee.
Howard boards a plane back to Iowa alone, only to find Judy in the seat behind him. He declares his love for her and apologizes for what he said earlier. Judy responds, "Love means never having to say you're sorry", to which Howard replies, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." As the two kiss, a scene from the Looney Tunes cartoon What's Up, Doc? is screened on the plane, Porky Pig then ends with his traditional: "That's all folks!".
==Cast==
*Barbra Streisand as Judy Maxwell
*Ryan O'Neal as Howard Bannister
*Madeline Kahn as Eunice Burns
*Kenneth Mars as Hugh Simon
*Austin Pendleton as Frederick Larrabee
*Michael Murphy as Mr. Smith
*Philip Roth as Mr. Jones
*Sorrell Booke as Harry
*Stefan Gierasch as Fritz
*Mabel Albertson as Mrs. Van Hoskins
*Liam Dunn as Judge Maxwell
*John Hillerman as Hotel Manager Kaltenborn
*George Morfogen as Rudy, Head Waiter
*Graham Jarvis as Bailiff
*Randy Quaid as Professor Hosquith
*M. Emmet Walsh as Arresting Officer
==Reception==
===Critical response===
The film currently has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews with the consensus: "Barbra Streisand was never more likable than in this energetic, often hilarious screwball farce from director Peter Bogdanovich."
Category:1972 films
Category:American films
Category:English-language films
Category:American romantic films
Category:American romantic comedy films
Category:Romantic films
Category:Romantic comedy films
Category:Screwball Comedy films
Category:1970s romantic comedy films
Category:1970s American films
Category:1970s films
Category:Warner Bros. films
Category:Films directed by Peter Bogdanovich