WHAT'S UP, DOC?

A classic farce in 3 acts and a coda and it may be the funniest American farce ever filmed. It was Peter Bogdanovich's third film and he made it as a tribute to the screwball comedies of the thirties, (the biggest nod is probably towards "Bringing up Baby"), and it outclasses them all. Bogdanovich knew a good joke when he saw one and the running gags that make up this movie are classics. They may be old jokes but they come up fresh as paint. With so many great one-liners and visual jokes some are bound to fall short but very few of them do. This is a film in which the best jokes have lodged themselves into our collective cinematic conscience.

Streisand showed here that she was a consummate comedienne and she has never been more likable on film while the entire supporting cast are indelibly associated with this film; certainly Kenneth Mars, Austin Pendleton and Liam Dunn have never been better. But the movie is stolen by a great new comedienne we had never seen before called Madeline Khan, (she may be the reason the movie is great). It was her first film and she should have won an Oscar; (she wasn't nominated). Khan never really became a star but she was often the best thing in any film in which she appeared and her early death was a real tragedy. Bogdanovich, himself, may not have sustained the promise of those early years but this and "The Last Picture Show", (and "Targets" and "Paper Moon"), have ensured him his place in the sun.