Films & Events

Jamie’s Pick: What’s Up Doc?

For our Late Night Staff Pick series, we’re bringing classic screwball chaos to the screen with What’s Up, Doc?, the wildly entertaining comedy from director Peter Bogdanovich. Starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal, the film follows a mild-mannered musicologist whose orderly life is turned upside down when he meets a mischievous free spirit in San Francisco—setting off a whirlwind of mistaken identities, swapped luggage, jewel thieves, government agents, and one of the most legendary chase sequences ever filmed.

Released in 1972, the film was a major hit, becoming the third highest-grossing film of the year and earning the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen. A loving homage to the rapid-fire screwball comedies of the 1930s—especially Bringing Up Baby—What’s Up, Doc? has since been recognized as one of the great American comedies, ranking No. 61 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 funniest American films and No. 58 on the Writers Guild of America’s list of the funniest screenplays ever written. With Streisand at her most charming and a pace that never slows down, it remains a joyful, laugh-out-loud tribute to classic Hollywood comedy.

1972. 94 min.

Rated G.