Crappy film

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie has been running on one of my local stations as if it were the only movie they have. I have tried t watch it all the way through and just cannot. It's painful. Hudson phones in his performance. The movie has none of the sparkle of his films with Doris Day, for example. As a matter of fact, this same channel has been running several of Hudson's films of this ilk, including one with Gina Lolabrigida -- again just awful. I always liked the Prentiss sisters as well as Hudson but like many of the films of of this genre starring Jack Lemon, this one was just a snore. I think Hudson works best in comedy when he plays kind of dumb. I didn't get any chemistry between the stars. I simply cannot recommend it.

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!

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.

Only read the first paragraph if you don't want to read about the storyline. As funny as it gets. A screwball comedy with believable characters. Rock Hudson's character writes instructional fishing manuals but has never been fishing and doesn't know a hook from a sinker. Of course the time comes where he is invited to a fishing competition in which his bosses ego and personal reputation is at stake (and Rock's job). So he goes out to the fishing competition with one ridiculous thing happening after another. The big fish jumps into his boat and he wins the competition. The second story going on is this "triple A" chick who is played by Paula Prentiss and it's just as funny as the fishing part. More ridiculous dramas occur between them, Rock loses his fiancé' due to hilarious misunderstandings, falls in love with Paula Prentiss, and a happy ending. It's all a fun,immature fantasy. Rock Hudson played great, friendly, but masculine male roles, Paula Prentiss is hot and endearing and who couldn't fall in love with her? I sure did.