Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)

It sounds nutty enough from the synopsis, but frankly I'd be surprised if even the most ardent cineastes get much joy out of "Man's Favorite Sport". Old Block plays a phony fishing tackle salesman, more interested in keeping his job than tackling girls. Admittedly when the girls on offer include an inanely empty-headed, accident-prone chatterbox of a brunette (Paula Prentiss), an equally twittery blonde (Maria Perschy) and a stuck-up redhead (Charlene Holt), who can blame Old Block for lack of interest?Fortunately there's a bit more stamina in the support cast led by Norman Alden's acquisitive "Indian". The color is also reasonably attractive. And it must be admitted that three or four scenes, especially two with "Carol", a spectacularly versatile bear, are mildly diverting. But much as we love our furry friend, the finnies and the principal bipeds -- the human cast and mostt particularly Old Block himself, leave us totally cold.

In this remake of "Bringing up Baby", there are glaring mistakes. In that 1938 film, Katherine Hepburn's Susan was free-wheeling, but never rude. And, unlike Cary Grant's strait-laced and confining bride-to-be, Alice, Rock Hudson's sweetheart, Tex, seemed to be a thoughtful person, and totally wronged through no fault of her own. We were given no reason to dislike Tex.At the start, Abigail unsafely tailed Roger's car for no reason given. She stole Roger's parking place, and thoughtlessly walked away. At the lodge, She did not defend him when exiting from his cabin bedroom in the presence of Tex. Is this the kind of woman that I am supposed to favor over Tex?

Despite the title, and the opening of the movie that hints at men going for good looking women, there're very few girls on this movie.In fact the movie is awkward, and tries to be funny, but fails. The woman Rock Hudson gets involved with is rather an inconsiderate individual. This combined with the not so interesting plot and supporting characters, makes this movie a disappointment.The title of the movie hints at a flamboyant playboy going after many women, but the character played by Rock Hudson is nice but rather inept individual, and the women that appeared in the opening scene were lot better looking than Paula Prentiss. Prentiss looked much better in the Stepford Wives.Despite the good title, this movie fails in many details, and is not one of the better movies Rock Hudson starred in, or a good movie from that era.One thing that was interesting is that the streets of San Francisco looks pretty much the way it looks today, and hasn't changed much in 50 years.

Man's Favorite Sport? was intended as Hawks' homage to his own 1938 screwball comedy "Bringing Up Baby" with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, which I unfortunately absolutely didn't enjoy. And Man's Favorite Sport? starts unpromisingly, with Abigail Page (Paula Prentiss) and an unexplained German girl with the somewhat deceptive nickname "Easy" (Maria Perschy) girl-ganging up on Roger Willoughby (Rock Hudson). Fortunately the movie then pulls out all stops and becomes an unabashed showboat for Hollywood's dreamcouple Hudson and Prentiss. I've always liked Prentiss and she really shines here (although she's a bit too brassy for her persona); I hadn't seen much from Rock Hudson so far but I can't really blame women (and quite a few men, apparently) for swooning over him -- oh, he's so boyish, so demure, and yet so manly when the situation calls for it! And he always falls into the water and then needs to get out of his clothes with a frequency that was hitherto more characteristic of tacky Bollywood productions.I have profited from Hudson's performance in learning a lot about what women want. It's certainly more entertaining, and more insightful, than reading books on how to attract women from self-styled wannabe Casanovas.Well, the Hudson-Prentiss romance is the movie's forte, and it builds a tolerably entertaining story around it. It also curiously starts off with some sexy sport images that seem to be a generation ahead, and ends with a black-and-white scene which is designed to look like it was shot a generation or two ago.Harmless fun.