Man's Favorite Sport (1964)

An admired writer (Rock Hudson) and expert on fishing is a fraud. He's never been fishing in his life, can't swim and hasn't even been on boat. So when a press agent (Paula Prentiss) arranges for him to participate in a fishing tournament, he undergoes a crash course in fishing with her help. Based on the short story THE GIRL WHO ALMOST GOT AWAY by Pat Frank and directed by Howard Hawks. Hawks returns to the screwball territory which he excelled in in such films as BRINGING UP BABY and HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Here, Hudson stands in for Cary Grant and Prentiss doubles for Kate Hepburn and Rosalind Russell. Although the film seems overlong at 2 hours for such a lightweight item, Hawks has some fun revisiting old territory and his his two leads are game for the adventure. Prentiss really was a delicious comedienne and it's a pity her career hit a wall in the 1970s. I dislike fishing myself and seeing fish struggling at the end of a hook isn't my idea of an ideal comedy but if you can get past that, it's quite enjoyable. I could have done without Norman Alden's Indian con man and Maria Perschy's character seems extraneous although she and Hudson get to reenact one of the comic highpoints of Hawks' BRINGING UP BABY. The disposable underscore is by Henry Mancini. With Charlene Holt, John McGiver, Roscoe Karns and Regis Toomey.