What's Up, Doc?

A homage to Hollywood screwball comedy that by and large gets its pace and cartoon/slapstick timings right, this began life with a call from Bogdanovich (hot from the Hawksian Last Picture Show) to screenwriting team Robert Benton and David Newman (even hotter from Bonnie and Clyde): 'I've got a deal with Streisand and O'Neal, and no script. I want to do a remake of Bringing Up Baby, and we can do it just like that'. A remake it's not, but the spirit of Hawks (and of Preston Sturges and Frank Tashlin) survived two rapid drafts from Benton & Newman and a polish from Buck Henry, to infuse the misalliance of absent-minded musicologist O'Neal and all-purpose kook Streisand with about the right amount of madcap frenzy.