Le sport favori de l'homme

Some reviewers have criticized the studio-bound look (Bringing Up Baby wasn't???), flat, high- key photography, the fact Rock Hudson isn't Cary Grant, that much of the comedy is slapstick (which, I guess, means physical and visual), that gags are recycled from older films......I mean, who cares? This is a total delight, probably the best comic roles Prentiss and Hudson ever had, and one of the funniest post World War 2 movies of all. Today, the 6th or 7th time I've seen it, I found when it was over I wanted to go out and buy a DVD of it.

Hawks' films may not have the pictorial qualities that Ford's, Welles', and Hitchcock's had, but when it came to involving you in a group of characters and their silly, yet somehow believable, antics, he had no superiors. It's not surprising it took the French New Wave, with their impatience for tired and predictable dramatic conventions, to finally recognize and rank Hawks at the very highest level of film artists.

I have to admit I had a serious crush on Paula Prentiss during her days as a big star. Gloriously beautiful, sexy, with that great Texas accent Ms. Prentiss was a great sexy comedienne and this is likely her greatest role in Howard Hawks Man's Favorite Sport. Initially to be filmed at Paramount with Prentiss and Cary Grant, Paramount per legend refused to cast Paula Prentiss, so Howard Hawks took the project to Universal and cast Rock Hudson and Ms. Prentiss. Man's Favorite Sport? has top notch Universal production values and both stars play off well against each other. Paula Prentiss in an interview years later said she was speechless when introduced to Mr. Hudson as she claimed he was even better looking in person than he was on screen, and that Hudson's personal appearance was so great it was almost beyond comprehension.

Mr Hudson does well in this film. This is a fine wacky comedy directed by a Master Director Howard Hawks and features Ms. Prentiss' finest performance. Paula Prentiss got and deserved equal star billing over the title with box office champ Rock Hudson. I for one am glad that Howard Hawks stood his ground and insisted on Mr. Prentiss who was loaned to Hawks and Universal Prentiss' from home studio MGM

Viva Paula Prentiss

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!

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...

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.