Le sport favori de l'homme

This movie combines elements of Hawks' screwball comedies of the 30ies and the Doris Day "sex comedies" of the 60ies... turned out to be very funny! The idea of an author of books about fishing with no idea of fishing is good for many funny situations - for he eventually has to learn it,observed by two energetic young ladies. Rock Hudson makes a good figure,but Paula Prentiss and Maria Perschy are even better - they both give incredibly funny,magnificent performances! I liked this movie...

Howard Hawks did of course create the classic _Bringing Up Baby_ and some comparison between _Favorite_ as a 26-year update of the former is inevitable. Hawks did plenty of screwball comedies, but above all, Hawks was a director who made GUY films; _Red River_ may be the ultimate man's man film of all time. And to some extent, this film is about Willoughby's (Hudson's) fraudulent expertise in "manly" activities such as camping, outdoor activities and--most critical to the plot--fishing.

Life is good for Hudson as the expert fisherman who is big man at Abercrombie and Fitch, until brash Abby Page (Prentiss) destroys his serene existence with a publicity stunt of having Hudson enter an annual fishing contest.

After resisting the idea, Hudson is soon forced to confess he's never fished in his life--that his reputation is a hoax. Rather than sensibly abandon the scheme, Prentiss decides she can teach Hudson how to fish in 3 days. This inevitably leads to all sorts of misadventures as Hudson is so inept he can't even swim! Some of the more amusing sequences are Hudson's inflatable waders exploding underwater, having a bear steal his trail-bike, or literally running across the surface of the lake to escape another bear. Some of the gags work better than others; the gags range from leisurely to elaborate, but all in good fun.

The fast-talking overlapping dialog is pure Hawks and (the uncredited) Brackett, and is wonderful.

Hudson has been criticized for not being Cary Grant (how could anyone be?) but he actually develops his own persona, different from both Grant and his own Hudson-Day characterizations. In this film, he is partially browbeaten by Prentiss and her sidekick Perschy, but ultimately, he voluntarily suffers through his ordeals as a matter of penance.

Paula on the other hand is a complete success: perky, beautiful, brash, and unpredictable--she gives a spectacularly energetic performance. This is the sole film is where Prentiss has the script and the screen time to refine her comic persona. While Perschy and Holt exist to create a triangle and fuel the high-jinx, they also define the limits of the Prentiss character; she is neither exotic like Perschy nor sultry like Holt. In comparison, she is pleasantly and very prettily tomboyish, often wearing outdoor sporting wear, and thoroughly competent at all things in which Hudson had professed expertise.

When compared with _Baby_, _Favorite_ perhaps begins with a potentially even richer premise, and is less fanciful, disposing of rich Connecticut dowagers and University endowments. But it never quite builds to the same frenetic pace and lacks the absurdity of the situations Grant finds himself in: remember "Mr. Bone?" Hawks does lift sequences right out of _Baby_ when Hudson shadows Perschy because the back of her dress is open, the "Love impulse in men manifests itself in conflict" from Dr. Lehman is used by Easy, the fish in the pants comes out of _Monkey Business_.

Yet the films are quite different. Grant's character is entirely asocial while Hudson's is the leader of the Hawksian male group. Furthermore, Hepburn is quickly determined to snare Grant, while Prentiss is to the end ambivalent or in self-denial.

I've seen it commented (including by the Voice film critic Molly Haskell) that the film is more satisfying when seen for the second time, and I wholeheartedly agree with this. This review replaces one which was not quite so laudatory. Three times is even better. Familiarity, in the case of this film, breeds endearment.

The sad part is that Paula Prentiss is so lovely and talented to watch in this film, and clearly the critics had huge expectations of her career, yet the next year she would do only three small parts in ensemble casts before withdrawing from films entirely for the next five years. These years, from when she was 26 through 31, were those where she certainly would have become a huge star.

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.

Howard Hawks may not have invented the war between the sexes; but where comedic film-making is concerned, he was the Napoleon of the sub-genre. In such features as "I Was a Male War Bride" and "Man's Favorite Sport", he gave each side in the conflict its turn, always from the male point of view however; and in the process, as Alfred Hitchcock did with staging scenes where something was occurring other than the dialogue's exact subject, he brought a new intensity to developing and ongoing relationships, so vital to the creation of character. In "Man's Favorite Sport", a story about a man who has never fished in his life having to try to win a fishing tournament in order to save his job, he saw a fine opportunity for physical "lazzi" and active scenes; in between the three active scenes of angling and several hilarious misadventures with physical equipment including chairs, inflatable waders and a car-park locale misunderstanding, he also found time to have his writers write some equally memorable dialogue confrontations of many sorts. The cast in this well-liked and well-remembered comedy include veterans John Mcgyver as the boss, Roscoe Karnes and others as grizzled veteran anglers, Pretty Maria Perschy, Charlene Holt and Paula Prentiss as the women in the hero's life, talented Norma Alden as a hip, wisecracking but lovable Indian, and Rock Hudson as Roger Willoughby, the beleaguered junior exec. In the film's storyline, however, Hawks faced one impossibility: Roger Willoughby by never fishing had separated his scheme for making clients happy--by using consultants at various sites and departmental experts to supply information and teaching expertise--from his job, being the man who made the entire scheme work. Strictly speaking, as Paula Prentiss says, Roger is a phony; but this does no alter the workability of the scheme; and the climax--the fishing tournament's outcome, Roger's confessing to his boss and what happens afterward form an exciting, dialogue-rich and memorable conclusion to the side-splitting goings on. The problem Hudson faces--the distinction between theory and practice of the theory--is a bedeviling one in a nation many of whose academic tsars are heavy with inadequate theories and whose practitioners are light on results themselves. I highly recommend this classic for a study of Hawks' techniques as well as for anyone wanting a loud laugh of fifty any time. Add flashy titles, low- key music and crisp, clean sets and a knockout comedy performance by all concerned, especially Paula Prentiss, and this film becomes an instant US classic satire.

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?