Man's Favorite Sport (1964)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Fish Story

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

One of my all-time favorite directors, Howard Hawks, excelled within a regimented Hollywood system, leaving his mark on every film he made, regardless of studio, stars, or genre. Hawks hoped to make this comedy with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and that would have been a classic, but Man's Favorite Sport? still gets by. Rock Hudson stars as a San Francisco Abercrombie & Fitch salesman who has written a best-selling book on fishing, without ever having fished a day in his life. His boss enters him in a competition, and wacky dame Paula Prentiss is on hand to dish out as much trouble as possible. Here Hawks moves a little slower, cribbing some of his own early jokes, but still dead funny.

In 2022, Kino Lorber released a fine Blu-ray edition that includes a new commentary track by filmmaker/historian Michael Schlesinger with guest comments by Paula Prentiss and her husband Richard Benjamin! The disc also includes a trailer for this film and a selection of other trailers.