I'm Watching What's Up Doc and Am Shaken With Doubt about the Casting of Ryan O'Neal

Don Knotts

I usually loathe Ryan O'Neal, OP, and I couldn't disagree more. He's pitch perfect in DOC--the perfect foil for Barbra AND Madeline Kahn. Bonus points that the two leads were spectacularly attractive together.

Redford would have brought the same uptight WASP realness but without any sense of humor whatsoever. So no.

Redford was glib and had no chemistry with Streisand in The Way We Were. O'Neal would have been better in The Way We Were just by doing a reprise of his performance in Love Story.

Robert Redford never had as hunky of a bod as O’Neal had in his youth. Part of the charm of the character is his nerdiness contrasted with his sexy physique. Thighs you could just bite into!

[quote]Redford would have brought the same uptight WASP realness but without any sense of humor whatsoever

He wasn't bad in Barefoot in the Park.

The fact that Morgan Fairchild wasn't an option in the poll (especially since Morgan Freeman WAS) is bothersome.

Oh, and I absolutely agree with R2. Of course, the REAL star of "What's Up Doc?" is Madeline Kahn.

What OP, no Vivian Vance in the poll?

Madeline Kahn was hysterical. Also great in Young Frankenstein.

Ryan is perfect, his acting and timing is superb. Added bonus, at peak hotness.

I think I was on my knees in the theatre watching that scene in R8, begging for him to pop out of the screen, begging him to pop out of those pajama bottoms. I came in my jeans unassisted and had to wait to dry before I stood up. Quite the impression on me.

I think Ryan and Barbra were at their peak of hotness here. The whole cast is superb.

And Barbra at peak voice.

Ryan was perfectly cast, and gorgeous as well.

He was at peak fuckability at this point!

The living fuck is wrong with you.

He's perfect.

When he fell with his back against the bed, he injured himself permanently.

He had a great natural looking body. Today they'd have some roided out thing play the part.

Today he would have been played by Leslie Odom, Jr.

I would love that, R17.

[...]

A nerd with a Coppertone deep Hawaiian tan.. Real believable!

[...]

To think I used to look like him. I'd get it all the time. Back when there were still NY bred and born cab drivers, one asked asked me if I was Ryan O'Neal and would not accept "no" for an answer. I'm sure for years he told the story about the time he had Ryan O'Neal in his cab. Those were the days...

He's *supposed* to look like a hunk and act like a nerd. It's a reboot of "Bringing Up Baby" with Cary Grant as the scientist. Ryan is perfect for it.

I vote for Lainie Kazan. Second choice, Walter Matthau.

“Shaken with doubt.” Mary!

O'Neal was perfectly cast. It's his most charming performance.

Cursory research (i.e., Google) reveals that "What's Up, Doc?" aired under the ABC Friday Night Movie umbrella on January 23, 1976. I was just about two months away from my 6th birthday, got an eyeful of Ryan O'Neal shirtless/pants down in the bathroom scene, and suddenly felt feelings that I've never stopped feeling in the 45 years that have elapsed since. I remember even cutting off a lock of my hair and spreading it across my own little chest in an attempt to relive the sensation of the earth moving that that scene gave me....

Ryan was perfect. Barbra was perfect. Madeline was perfect. The whole cast was perfect. The movie was perfect. Any questions?

I remember a movie ad in the newspaper the year after What’s Up, Doc. Ryan was bare-chested in the ad and it looked like a good inch of bush over his boxing trunks was on display as well. It appeared over and over again in the paper.

Am I just imagining things, or does anyone else remember this as well.

This movie is up on HBO Max and we watched it last night. Over the years I have probably seem 15-20 times. I never ever get tired of it. It is so perfectly cast and paced. Not a false note anywhere. Ryan is absolutely gorgeous.

Ryan was perfectly cast. The movie was - and continues to be - hilarious. It's a perfect homage to the screwball comedy genre.

I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Ryan was the perfect befuddled professor. He was very good in comedy and had a sense of silliness that Redford would never in a thousand years lower himself to. For those who say Redford was good in Barefoot in the Park, he was the straight man in that role. He was stuffy and stoic while Jane Fonda danced rings around him.

The only other actor from the list who had comedy chops would be Hoffman, but he's not good looking enough to be chased by the female lead.

I could never understand why O'Neal would be considered for a second for The Way We Were. Not handsome enough, and after What's up Doc, audiences would laugh at the scenes with Babs.

In 1973, R29? HA! You have a vivid imagination.

R32 It was probably a shadow paired with the poor black and white newsprint photo quality,

A professor wearing glasses, good looking and hairy, too. What a fantasy. I'm sure it's been done in Playgirl.

He’s perfect in it. Only better in Paper Moon. By a hair.

I guess that movie is a Screwball Comedy

R33 I can believe it. My father brought home the New York daily news and the New York post every night in 1971, 2, 3 and both papers had tons of ads for gay and straight x rated movies and their theatre and show times right after the regular movie ads and listings. They all had racy images on the tiny posters/drawings. I think the early 70s were a very confusing time for the world (and media!)

The casting and the entire movie are both perfect. The three leads are all hitting on every cylinder and the supporting cast is nearly as stellar. It includes the best double take and line reading ever by the fantastic actor playing the judge at the end.

Mr. Larrabee: They broke into my home. Judge Maxwell: That's breaking and entering. Mr. Larrabee: And they brought her with them forcibly. Judge Maxwell: That's kidnapping. Eunice: They tried to molest me. Judge Maxwell: That's... unbelievable.

The front desk clerk is great. (this is the Bristol Madame, not the Crystal....then one of us must be in the wrong place.) He also plays the principal in Carrie. (We're all very sorry, Cassie.)

"Use your charm."

Whenever I enter a dicey, unfamiliar place, I do Eunice’s wary “Hellooooo? He-he- helloooo….”

"I know how you feel. I hate it when my igneous rocks are even touched!"

He wouldn't have time to take off his glasses. I'd be rock hard, ready to burst. I'd be giving whatever tip he wanted.

R38, darling, What's up Doc wasn't an X rated movie. In fact it was one of the few in 1972 that was rated G.

R45 “Reading comprehension” much? As much as I can’t fathom peter bogdanovich approving a poster with Ryan’s pubes, local papers frequently ran ads doctored by the local theaters. Someone - R33 - expressed shock that this could have occurred in the early 70s. I was suggesting that x-rated movie ads ran in the papers, so why not Ryan’s hint of pubes?

R42, everyone in my family does the hesitant “Hellooooo? He-he- helloooo….” too. Funny how we never think why, or that we’ve been doing it for almost 50 years.

I’m slightly disappointed that I’m not seeing much love for Austin Pendleton, Kenneth “I am Hugh” Mars, DL fave Mabel Albertson, and the other sexy nerd in the film, Michael Murphy.

R42 “I’m slightly disappointed that I’m not seeing much love for Austin Pendleton, Kenneth “I am Hugh” Mars, DL fave Mabel Albertson, and the other sexy nerd in the film, Michael Murphy.”

Because the majority of these bitches who profess to love this movie haven’t seen it in at least 25 years and just don’t remember.

This was one of my VERY favorite movies as a kid. I decided to show it to my (extremely religious) nephews and nieces. Even though they were all probably under 15 or so, they all saw it as evil Barbra trying to break up a devoted couple and hated it! I never bothered showing them any other old movies.

Babs is so strong in this film. Madeline is equally strong. Their personalities, the characters they create are both ball-busting towers of strength. And Ryan O'Neal is this pretty wisp of a very weak man. It's a perfectly cast triangle.

R47 I love when they've been kidnapped in the car and Kenneth Mars screams, "We're going to be killed!" His delivery cracks me up.

And that fight in the chic brownstone, so well coordinated!

It just occurred to me that my first (unrequited) love was a ringer for Howard Bannister. Maybe not quite as hunky but soooo nerdy adorable.

R52 Was his name George Glass, Jan?

R47, completely agree that Kenneth Mars and Mabel Albertson are both spectacular and I would also throw in Liam Dunn as Judge Maxwell. I see now that he died at the age of 59 in 1976 only a few years after making this movie.

Not just Mabel Albertson, but Mabel Albertson in hot pants.

Just the sound of her falling, unseen, in the hall is a huge laugh.

And to think old humorless Bab's never thought the film was funny. She she didn't understand the story about the suitcases.

Perfect movie, that has aged well. Mabel Anderson's pratfall is hilarious, and her entire "Hello, Hans" scene is priceless. It goes by in a few moments, but it's witty and the delivery is perfection.

this ad shows of some hair

I also just watched it on HBOMax and it holds up beautifully

R46, newspaper ran ads for x-rated movies, but there were no pubes in the ads. If there were, you must be able to provide a link.

It's strange to me that Streisand was 29 and O'Neal was just 30 when this movies was made in 1971. Fat Peter Bogdanovich was 32 and considered the new 'boy' wonder in Hollywood.

Hollywood released no publicity photos and approved no ads with Ryan O'Neal's pubes hanging out. How could anyone be so stupid and naive and unmoored to reality to even wonder if it could happen? It could not. It did not. There is a platoon of people standing between Ryan O'Neal and the photographer and, eventually, the intended viewers of the photos and ads. It's just absurd to think this stupid thing could be true.

What you saw was undoubtedly the result of a cheaply made and coarsely grained screen made for printing a photographic image in a cheap-assed newspaper like the NY Post or the NY Daily News. No one is suggesting they saw this in the Life Magazine. Or even National Geographic. Just cheaply printed newspapers. And this is what you were seeing, aided by a lot of coursing adolescent hormones and a dream.

“My jewels! My jewels! Baaawww!”

r64, that's my favorite part of the whole movie. Not only is it hilarious she would come running out of the elevator screaming that, and then throw herself on the carpet, beating it with her fist, but she has a brilliant moment when she realizes what she's doing and looks up to see the other guests staring at her.

"Don't you dare strike that brave unbalanced woman!"

I love this season--especially the whole idea of the ancient maid firing off the gun multiple times the second she gets her hands on it.

I have always thought Kenneth Mars plays his part too broadly, though.

Every post on this entire thread is the same person bickering with himself.

No it's not. Yes it is. No it's not. Eat me. No you eat me.

R63, Life Magazine did not print movie ads.

Wrong. All the mainstream magazines ran movie ads

R71 I don’t think he means ads such as local theatre ads with showtimes at the beekman the Sutton the criterion etc. which of course never ran in Life. But Of course Life ran full page “Important Picture” movie ads such as for Ben-Hur and Dr. Zhivago.

For R64 and R65… enjoy!

R73 So great. If I could star in just one movie scene like that, it would be enough for me.

I had a friend who was on the staff of the Harvard Lampoon when we were in college. They have hazing activities for when the underclassmen "comp" for the Lampoon (which is a bit like rushing for a fraternity), and he had one of his male freshman charges who was comping re-enact that very scene at r83 as Mabel Albertson in the Sheraton Commander hotel lobby in Cambridge--to the complete surprise of the employees and the other guests.

That's fantastic, R75.

I'm sure it's been discussed to death already on here, but what do we know about how Mads and Babs got along during the making of the movie?

According to Wikipedia, Mabel Albertson graduated from something called the New England School of Speech and Expression. Love the name, but could find no trace of such a place online. Maybe she made it up, as a joke?

Was she also born in Madagascar and reared in Rangoon?

Very funny R78. Inspired by this thread, I popped in my DVD of the movie this morning. It does indeed hold up beautifully. And I just noticed there is a special feature: scene by scene commentary by Barbra herself. Or I should say, about 12 minutes of commentary for certain scenes, I guess that’s all they could get her to do. So I’ve got that on now in the background. One of the first thing she says is that she can’t follow the story with the suitcases, and I agree with her, I never really can either. She comments that her hair was so straight in those days and that it got curlier with age, I don’t believe that.

R77 That sounds like it could be Curry College...

[quote]Curry College is a private college in Milton, Massachusetts. It was founded as the School of Elocution and Expression by Anna Baright in 1879.

Ah thanks R80. Gee, so many colleges out there.