Le sport favori de l'homme

Rock Hudson (in a role originally offered Cary Grant) and Paula Prentiss work beautifully together in this battle-of-the-sexes film from the early 60's. It's a shame that the studio didn't team the two up again, as they had a definite chemistry together (not unlike Rock had with Doris Day).

I once met Paula backstage at a play she was appearing in and asked her to sign a lobby card showing the sexy "sleeping bag" scene from this film. She looked at the card, sighed, and said: "That was a fun scene to shoot. Rock was a good kisser!"

I'm not a film critic, just a 56 year old viewer; call me the common man that's not too common. I'll just use words that everyone understands, since I don't know all the others. What this film did for me is it brought back the feel of the late 50s / early 60s, you know, when there used to be a few morals left. Some of you may remember those days. You could see this throughout the whole movie, the way they talked, dressed and acted toward each other. Even the city and the cars and the mailboxes on the corner (remember those?) in the opening scene, everything was bright, clean and wholesome. The atmosphere at Lake Wakapougie(?) was clear and made you wish you were there too. Even in the lodge: No one had tattoos, no men were wearing earrings. Can you imagine that?! No men with long hair? No Mohawks? Is this legal?! No one weighed 350 pounds and looked like a World War 3 surviving shopper in Walmart. Just a nice, easy to follow, fun and relaxing movie complete with great background music that fit it perfectly, sweet and calm. What a contrast to what we have now. If the film were to be made now, Rock would probably have been a drug smuggler and would have had a long bedroom scene with everyone of the stars in the opening scene, complete with as much swearing as they could possibly have stuck in there just to make sure the movie would go over. I mean, they do have to sell movies, right?! Do I exaggerate? What do you think? This is the main reason I like this film so much. It's just a nice, sweet and wholesome film about a guy and girl who accidentally fall in love through a great setup. Yet the people aren't perfect, neither is the film. I haven't found a perfect one yet. The only semi-negatives I could find, were the obvious tie-attached-to-Easy scene, yet it was funny.(I missed how that happened until I backed up and watched it again...if you recall, people in the movies back then couldn't do that) also, there is a time sequence I didn't get. Abigail calls Roger at, I think, 2 in the morning, yet everyone is still up like it's 10PM at night! ... The guys at the bar who also have to be up in 3 hours for the competition, John Screaming Eagle... everybody except Roger. That's another thing I thought was a little strange although it added comedy to the film. John Screaming Eagle is always keeping an eye on Roger's 'happenings'. Even at 2AM? and no one is even yawning, they're raring to go like they all just got up! ha ha. I sure can't do that. Not at 2 in the morning. All in all though, what a great film. and yeah, I saw the other films the were mentioned, like "Bringing Up Baby". I'll take this one over that one, although I liked "Bringing Up Baby" as well. What made a lot of the older films great was great dialog, great direction, great story lines. grate acting and fresh ideas. This has almost entirely been replaced in today's movies with massive swearing, constant drugs, rotten personalities, sex, sex, sex. Yes, today's films are truly designed for today's people. I guess the studios still know what they're doing after all!

Howard Hawks legendary Director fell like most Men for gorgeous Paula Prentiss. Prentiss was an MGM star having made 4 comedies with her co star Jim Hutton. Hawks had a deal with Paramount for this film but that studio did not want Prentiss in the picture so Howard Hawks took the project to Universal and assigned its greatest star Rock Hudson as co star. MGM loaned Prentiss to Universal for this movie. Paula Prentiss was given above the title billing next to Hudson on this film and raised Prentiss to worldwide star.

Rock Hudson who was #1 at Universal and a top male star in Hollywood gives a great performance as a expert on fishing who in actuality knows nothing about fishing. Hudson in his great career was co star to Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Jane Wyman, Jennifer Jones, and most famously Doris Day.

Paula Prentiss when discussing this movie said when she met Hudson she was stunned as she said Hudson was the most handsome man she ever saw. His looks were a distraction per Paula. Paula Prentiss gives a great performance in this film and someone wrote a book "Alternative Oscars" and listed Prentiss as the star who gave the best female performance. Prentiss was not nominated but I feel in reality this gorgeous talented Texas should have been nominated for Supporting Actress for Where The Boys Are and Best Actress for Man's Favorite Sport?

In one of the funniest screwball comedies of the pre-World War II studio era, William Powell has a celebrated experience with a fish while he pretended to be a fishing expert. It was the highlight of Libeled Lady and I'm sure Howard Hawks thought that we could get a whole comedy out of that situation.

In Man's Favorite Sport he succeeds admirably. If the film had been done 20 years earlier, Cary Grant would definitely have been in the lead. The part of Roger Willoughby, who wrote a book on fishing based on hearsay from the various customers he's dealt with at Abercrombie&Fitch, would have been ideal for Cary Grant as it has just the kind of physical comedy that Grant was so adept at.

However Rock Hudson steps into the role admirably and for once he's the pursued and not the pursuer. Pursuing Hudson every step of the way is the kookie Paula Prentiss who seemed to study at the Carol Burnett school of zaniness for this part.

On a bit of advice from public relations expert Prentiss, Hudson's boss at Abercrombie&Fitch, John McGiver, has him enter a fishing tournament. When Hudson confesses he's never fished and hates the slimy things, Prentiss decides to help fake it through.

There are a lot of really great laughs in this film, but the best scene is Hudson trying out this inflatable suit for those who are fishing and fall in the water. He does and the results are hilarious.

Don't miss this film if it is ever broadcast.

Rock Hudson stars as a man posing as a fishing expert who basically passes on information from one customer to another. He has written a best selling book on fishing and no one knows he's a fraud, not even his fiancée. He is shocked to learn his boss has entered him into a fishing contest and doesn't know what to do until Paula Prentiss and Maria Perschy tell him they got him involved and are going to teach him to fish. This is a pretty good comedy but it does have a little too much slapstick in it. There are some scenes that are taken from Bringing Up Baby and Howard Hawks did ask Cary Grant to be in this movie but he said no because he didn't want to be seen on screen with women who a lot younger then he was. The movie is two hours long and goes by pretty quickly.