Man's Favorite Sport?

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Rare T The actors are very well casted, which with Howard Hawks’ scenic shots and serene vibe, turns Man’s Favorite Sport into a treat. Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss have chemistry together and are both comical, with his character being the vain and sloppy but good-hearted man, while hers being the reckless but delightful coquette. And this goes on to apply to the rest of the cast. Each character carries a unique personality played meticulously by its respective actor, while the plot expands to reference psychiatry and older cinema in a profound manner and not shallowly just for show. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/25 Full Review harwee h Serviceable but mediocre by all account. Hudson is all the movie star that he is is magnetic on screen but the story is bland. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/13/24 Full Review Ext771 E Awful movie with zero chemistry between Hudson and Prentiss. Hudson has no sense of comedy, and amateurish Prentiss is completely unappealing as both a character and based on her appearance. Woof. Director Hawks was clearly trying to recreate the vibe of "Bringing Up Baby" with Grant and Hepburn, but failed here miserably. Unfunny throughout. Makes you wonder how a movie this bad ever got financed and produced. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/21/24 Full Review Steve D Sometimes amusing but there just isn't enough to it. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/23/23 Full Review Audience Member No llega a los niveles de sus anteriores screenballs, pero Hawks impreme su sello personal en las escenas finales en el rio. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Jon C Amazing study in sexual symbolism Howard Hawks's screwball comedy starring Rock Hudson as a supposed professional expert on sports fishing who actually knows nothing about it, and Paula Prentiss as the woman who helps him get through a fishing contest despite his ignorance, is perhaps the most amazing cinematic study in symbolic sex I can think of, though the symbolism is so naturally integrated into the action that the censors can't touch it. Almost every scene involves a woman or women getting a man (Rock Hudson) into something he can't get out of. It begins with Hudson inserting himself into Prentiss's car and almost not getting out of it, incidentally dropping his ID into the car next to her ID (!), and it turns out she's also gotten him into getting a ticket, which he can't get out of. Then he finds she's gotten him into entering the fishing tournament, which he can't get out of. Later she makes him fall into the lake, which he can't get out of, and then she tells him to inflate the gaiters, which he does but they inflate up too much (!) and he can't get out of them. And she puts his arm into a cast which he can't get out of, so he has to walk around with his arm sticking stiffly up (!) until she finally cuts off the cast (yes, there's a lot of castration imagery too.) And she causes him to sleep on the couch in a sleeping bag, which he subsequently can't get out of, causing him to get in trouble with his fiancee Tex, which he can't get out of. These are only a few of the more memorable scenes of "female traps male," which are all symbolic of male ambivalence towards the sex act: desire to consummate and dread of being consumed. I haven't even mentioned the male sexual imagery associated with fish, but if you watch the film with that in mind, you'll see it everywhere. Just one example is the fishing contest, in which men are judged by the size of their "trophies": "Mine is bigger than yours: I'm the better man!" And there's some fascinating symbolism in the early scenes in the Abercrombie and Fitch offices, where Hudson and the other men are positioned in front of the various antlered hunting trophies on the walls in such a way that they seem to have horns themselves, foreshadowing, I think, the motif of women manipulating men through male "animal impulses." (I probably can't even explain the symbolism of Hudson getting his tie caught in the zipper of another woman's dress and then being led all around by it without getting this review censored.) About now many reading this are saying, This is a joke, right? and are preparing to post mocking replies saying "Yeah, sure, and I suppose all those fishing rods are also sex symbols ..." (Well, yes, actually.) My only defense is to remind everyone that Hawks was one of cinema's supreme geniuses: not even Hitchcock makes his sexual symbolism (which is universally agreed to be there) so natural and unobtrusive. The ultimate test will be to watch the movie again with some of these things in mind: even if you're skeptical now, I bet you won't be able to help feeling there's something to this. Meanwhile, feel free to post your scorn. (And I'm not saying everything in this movie is a sexual symbol. Probably not the credits, for instance ...) So far as I know, available in region 1 DVD only in the old 2003 Universal standard DVD; this really needs to be remastered and put on Blu-Ray. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/07/16 Full Review Read all reviews

Man's Favorite Sport?

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