Review of What's Up, Doc? (1950) by Skip H — 25 Jun 2007

Owing as much to the acting of its two leads and the direction of Peter Bogdonavich, this film pays a wonderful valentine to the screwball and slapstick comedies of the '30s when Preston Sturges, Leo McCary and Howard Hawks reigned supreme.

Retains elements of "Bringing Up Baby" and "It Happened One Night." O'Neal plays the perfect nerdy professor in the mold established by Cary Grant, while Streisand does kooky almost as well as Carole Lombard.

It's a hoot to see a very young Randy Quaid, but the real icing on the cake is Madeline Kahn in her introductory role. This was only a precursor to her wonderful, quirky roles to follow. Her neurosis is almost as hysterical as her wig.

Trivia notes: Sorrell Booke before he was Boss Hogg (TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard") playing a bumbling house detective; Mabel Albertson (Darrin Stevens' mother on TV's "Bewitched") playing a rich dowager; and Kahn, Kenneth Mars and Liam Dunn, who would all go on to featured status in Mel Brooks? classic films.

Nothing really beats a car chase up and down the steep hills in San Francisco that ends with a drive into the Bay.