Post by klep on May 25, 2020 9:48:51 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/25: What's Up, Doc?
MAKE 'EM LAUGH WEEK!
Anyone who has listened to Peter Bogdanovich talk knows what a deep love and knowledge of early cinema he has. I remember besides watching Targets for the Movie of the Week back on The Dissolve, one of my first Bogdanovich experiences was listening to his introduction to Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise; hearing him wax poetically about the film and Lubitch's brilliant touch. So it's no surprise to me that what he turned to romantic comedy, he made a film much like the classic screwballs of those earlier times.
What's Up Doc is a zany comedy of errors, involving a combination of skullduggery and innocent misunderstanding. The film has two primary axes. The first is the love triangle between absent-minded hunky professor Howard (Ryan O'Neal), his fiancée Eunice (Madeline Kahn), and serial dropout-cum-con artist Judy (Barbra Streisand). The second revolves around the scrambling of four identical bags with contents that only matter to their owners.
It's the kind of plot where everything could be settled pretty easily by rational people, but of course Howard is too addle-brained to effectively protest Judy's horning in on his life, and Bogdanovich mostly creates reasonable excuses for people not actually looking in their bags - particularly since for most of the film they don't realize there are identical bags.
Barbra Streisand is the dynamic force which propels the movie forward. 1972 was still early in her film career, but she was already a major celebrity and had an Oscar for Best Actress under her belt for her first feature. And it's easy to see what made audiences love her. Her Judy Maxwell is quick-witted, funny, and highly intelligent and Streisand has perfect delivery of her lines, never leaving a space where Howard could get a word in edgewise. For his part, Ryan O'Neal does a great job of portraying someone too generally befuddled to get a word in edgewise even if he could come up with one to say. And it doesn't hurt that both of them are beautiful people.
Eventually of course the mix-up gets discovered, and everyone converges in an utterly chaotic bit of slapstick, but Bogdanovich isn't ready to let his movie end quite yet. There's still some delightful gags left to come as Howard and Judy slip away with all four bags, leading to a madcap chase through the streets of San Franscisco - including a delightful glass pane gag sequence - and ending up in the bay.
In fact Bogdanovich rarely lets a moment go by without a gag. What's Up, Doc? is chock-full of physical comedy in addition to the witty banter. There's lots of fun to be had with the frequent opening and closing of doors to avoid witnesses, but there's also great little touches like Howard being unable to remove his bowtie or the chaos Judy unwittingly leaves in her wake at the film's beginning.
All's well that ends well in films like these, and such an admirer of those old screwballs as Bogdanovich isn't going to leave his audience without a happy ending. But he does find a way to wrap things up satisfactorily without hand-waving the chaos and property damage. Just not without a few more gags. A good screwball knows never to stop making you laugh until the credits roll.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/1: Eat Drink Man Woman
ROMANCE WEEK!
For romance week we're looking to the work of Ang Lee, this time for his Oscar-nominated Eat Drink Man Woman, about the three daughters of a master chef looking for love. Featuring sumptuous footage of food and challenging traditional Chinese notions of femininity and propriety, this film helped draw the eyes of Hollywood to Ang Lee. Make sure to join us next week for our discussion of Eat Drink Man Woman, available on Prime Video for subscribers and for rent on Vudu.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 5/26: How to Build a Girl
Beanie Feldstein gets into music journalism in this film directed by Coky Giedroyc, and it's the subject of next week's podcast. Come join our discussion of How to Build a Girl on Wednesday, available for rent in the usual places.
MAKE 'EM LAUGH WEEK!
Anyone who has listened to Peter Bogdanovich talk knows what a deep love and knowledge of early cinema he has. I remember besides watching Targets for the Movie of the Week back on The Dissolve, one of my first Bogdanovich experiences was listening to his introduction to Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise; hearing him wax poetically about the film and Lubitch's brilliant touch. So it's no surprise to me that what he turned to romantic comedy, he made a film much like the classic screwballs of those earlier times.
What's Up Doc is a zany comedy of errors, involving a combination of skullduggery and innocent misunderstanding. The film has two primary axes. The first is the love triangle between absent-minded hunky professor Howard (Ryan O'Neal), his fiancée Eunice (Madeline Kahn), and serial dropout-cum-con artist Judy (Barbra Streisand). The second revolves around the scrambling of four identical bags with contents that only matter to their owners.
It's the kind of plot where everything could be settled pretty easily by rational people, but of course Howard is too addle-brained to effectively protest Judy's horning in on his life, and Bogdanovich mostly creates reasonable excuses for people not actually looking in their bags - particularly since for most of the film they don't realize there are identical bags.
Barbra Streisand is the dynamic force which propels the movie forward. 1972 was still early in her film career, but she was already a major celebrity and had an Oscar for Best Actress under her belt for her first feature. And it's easy to see what made audiences love her. Her Judy Maxwell is quick-witted, funny, and highly intelligent and Streisand has perfect delivery of her lines, never leaving a space where Howard could get a word in edgewise. For his part, Ryan O'Neal does a great job of portraying someone too generally befuddled to get a word in edgewise even if he could come up with one to say. And it doesn't hurt that both of them are beautiful people.
Eventually of course the mix-up gets discovered, and everyone converges in an utterly chaotic bit of slapstick, but Bogdanovich isn't ready to let his movie end quite yet. There's still some delightful gags left to come as Howard and Judy slip away with all four bags, leading to a madcap chase through the streets of San Franscisco - including a delightful glass pane gag sequence - and ending up in the bay.
In fact Bogdanovich rarely lets a moment go by without a gag. What's Up, Doc? is chock-full of physical comedy in addition to the witty banter. There's lots of fun to be had with the frequent opening and closing of doors to avoid witnesses, but there's also great little touches like Howard being unable to remove his bowtie or the chaos Judy unwittingly leaves in her wake at the film's beginning.
All's well that ends well in films like these, and such an admirer of those old screwballs as Bogdanovich isn't going to leave his audience without a happy ending. But he does find a way to wrap things up satisfactorily without hand-waving the chaos and property damage. Just not without a few more gags. A good screwball knows never to stop making you laugh until the credits roll.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/1: Eat Drink Man Woman
ROMANCE WEEK!
For romance week we're looking to the work of Ang Lee, this time for his Oscar-nominated Eat Drink Man Woman, about the three daughters of a master chef looking for love. Featuring sumptuous footage of food and challenging traditional Chinese notions of femininity and propriety, this film helped draw the eyes of Hollywood to Ang Lee. Make sure to join us next week for our discussion of Eat Drink Man Woman, available on Prime Video for subscribers and for rent on Vudu.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 5/26: How to Build a Girl
Beanie Feldstein gets into music journalism in this film directed by Coky Giedroyc, and it's the subject of next week's podcast. Come join our discussion of How to Build a Girl on Wednesday, available for rent in the usual places.