What's Up, Doc?

"A screwball comedy. Remember them?"

1972 1h 34m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 480

ComedyCrimeRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.

“A screwball comedy. Remember them?”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Barbra Streisand
Judy Maxwell
Ryan O'Neal
Howard Bannister
Madeline Kahn
Eunice Burns
Kenneth Mars
Hugh Simon
Austin Pendleton
Frederick Larrabee
Michael Murphy
Mr. Smith
Philip Roth
Mr. Jones
Sorrell Booke
Harry

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Writers: Buck Henry, Robert Benton, David Newman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $66M — a 16.5× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, shot by László Kovács. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Verna Fields shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal and Madeline Kahn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A screwball comedy. Remember them?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0069495 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Bogdanovich directs. László Kovács behind the camera. Verna Fields cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $66M — a 16.5× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
354 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, shot by László Kovács. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Verna Fields shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal and Madeline Kahn carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A screwball comedy. Remember them?".
8IMDB entry: tt0069495 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "hotel", "judge", "chase", "san francisco, california".
10Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: László Kovács
Editing: Verna Fields
Production design: Polly Platt
Makeup / hair: Fred Williams
Stunt coordinator: Paul Baxley
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,000,000
Box office: $66,000,000
Return: 1650% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: What's Up, Doc? (1972)

Also by

Peter Bogdanovich

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-02
★ 7/10
I'm really not a fan of screwball humour, and after the first five minutes of this perfectly choreographed series of synchronised improbabilities, accompanied by a downright irritating characterisation of "Judy" by Barbra Streisand, I fully expected to hate this film. Once it's settled down, though, and Madeline Kahn gets to grips with her equally exasperating persona, I did really start to feel that geeky rock guy "Howard" (Ryan O'Neal) was completely out of his depth as these two women took hold of his life and made every effort to trash it. Right from the start, we know that there's a sub-plot involving a tartan holdall, well four of them, and with some underhand shenanigans going on to obtain one of those that must contain something secret we now have the ingredients for some slapstick chaos that provides one of the best "Wacky Races" style car chases through San Francisco with nobody safe! There's an engaging chemistry between Streisand and O'Neal and it does remind you that before she started obsessing about how people pronounce her surname, she had really good comedy timing to go with her belting voice. Though the denouement isn't exactly a shock, there are plenty of twists and turns en route to keep this entertaining romp quite watchable almost fifty years later and it showcases nicely the skills of O'Neal as a perfect foil, too.

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