Fifty years ago to this day, Peter Bogdanovich’s “What’s Up, Doc?” premiered in the United States. The movie serves as an homage to 1930s screwball comedies, and was a love letter to the genre from Bogdanovich, who previously was a film historian. I recently watched it for the first time in memory of Bogdanovich’s passing, and I found it to be one of the funniest films I had seen in a long time.

With hilarious star performances from Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal and introducing Madeline Kahn, “What’s Up, Doc?” is a romantic comedy involving four people who travel to San Francisco, stay on the same hotel floor, and bring the same overnight bag. Naturally, the bags get switched around before the first scene even ends, and a madcap chase ensues through a musicologist’s conference to get the right bags back in the right hands.

“What’s Up, Doc?” can currently be viewed on HBO Max, and also at 10 PM EST when I screen it on Hyperbeam tonight!