Hail The Conquering Hero is another winner from Preston Sturges

My favorite Preston Sturges of all time is The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek. I have seen it like 20 times. Well last night I watched his other masterpiece from that same year of 1944, Hail The Conquering Hero, for the first time. And it's just as great. Close to matching Morgan's Creek. All so close. It helps that Sturges brought a lot of the same actors from Morgan to Hero. Such as Eddie Bracken, William Demarest and Franklin Pangborn.

Woodrow doesn't know if he can go through with

the charade now as he arrives in his hometown

Bracken stars as Woodrow Truesmith, as a likable fellow who was discharged from the Marines due to chronic hay fever. He struggles on returning to home because he thinks he is a failure. Well while drowning his sorrows at a bar, he meets up with six Marines, led by Sgt. Heppelfinger (the always dependable William Demarest). After hearing of his story they convinced Woodrow to return home as a Marine with stories of heroic battles and such.

Woodrow getting in deep...

The trouble is once the town hears that he is coming home, they stage a big production with a big homecoming rally and parade. And he also gets to see his one true love Libby (the underrated Ella Raines), who is now engaged to the mayor's son. Woodrow had wrote her letters telling her to move on and not wait for him. But once seeing him, Libby falls in love all over again.

Woodrow getting a nice welcome from his girl Libby on his return home

And the townsfolk rally behind Woodrow, electing him to run for mayor. So things snowball really fast and the situations Woodrow get in are truly hilarious.The dialogue is crisp and fast. Reminds me of His Girl Friday quite a lot. The setting of the small town looks great and the whole cast just sparkles. Bracken is fall down funny and even touching towards the end when the truth finally comes out. Demarest is in his usual great form. And Ella Rains is very good as Libby. She says what's her on mind without hesitation. It shocked me when she said ass a few times in the context of the way she said it. And she wears some of the best dresses of this time period of any film I have seen.

Libby in her cute dress, with Woodrow in a quiet moment

Hail The Conquering Hero is close to being a masterpiece. I loved it immediately from the opening credits.
B+

The beautiful Libby

Here are some choice quotes from this hilarious film:

Sgt. Heppelfinger: These flapjacks might taste better with a little butter on 'em Mrs. T.

         Mrs. Truesmith: Maybe you haven't heard Sgt. but there's a war on.
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Sgt. Heppelfinger: I tell you it'll all blow over. Everything is perfect - except for a couple of details.


Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: They hang people for a couple of details!
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Libby's Aunt: [comforting Libby, who's crying about Woodrow's return] Well, that's the war for you. It's always hard on women. Either they take your men away and never send them back at all; or they send them back unexpectedly just to embarrass you. No consideration at all.
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Libby: [mad at Mayor Noble for criticizing Woodrow] That ass of a father of yours! Going around talking about people he doesn't know anything about.


Forrest Noble: You're still talking about your children's grandfather.


Libby: What are you trying to do? Depress me? If I thought they'd look anything like him...


Forrest Noble: Well, I don't look anything like him.


Libby: I've noticed that. I've pinned my hopes on it

Man's Favorite Sport (1964) is an entertaining comedy

Directed by ace Howard Hawks, Man's Favorite Sport is a wonderful comedy that uses Bringing Up Baby as a template and then manages to create it's own cool story. Rock Hudson is in great form as Roger Willoughby, who has written books on how to be a great fisherman. And he works in the sporting department of Abercrombie and Finch. Trouble is Roger has never fished a day in his life. Which is not really a problem until one Abby Page (a game Paula Prentiss) enters him into a fishing contest. Along with her sidekick Easy (wonderfully played by Maria Perschy) they now have to teach Roger how to fish in 3 days.

Roger meets Abby

The dialogue between these three characters are fast and loose. And very entertaining. Hudson is hilarious as he gets the majority of the laughs. Closely resembling Cary Grant's character of David from Bringing Up Baby, Rock manages to make Roger just as fun to watch. Paula Prentiss is ok as Abby. Sometimes she gets annoying. A few times though she gets off a few good zingers. Particulary when she tries to mimic Roger's girlfriend Tex (Charlene Holt). She nails it then. I actually liked Perschy more as Easy, her sidekick. Who keeps getting into compromising situations with Roger involving zippers. They pull off the classic double walk that Cary and Kate did in Baby when Kate's dressed got ripped and Cary had to walk step by step with her. Well Rock and Maria do the same thing and it's just a good the original version.

Having a good laugh at their current situation

There is also the very cool music score by Henry Mancini which is jazzy and upbeat. Throw in some wonderful supporting characters like Roscoe Karns and Regis Toomey, and you have a pretty good comedy. And the opening credit scenes are pretty amazing too. Definitely pleasing to the male eye.

One of the aforementioned zipper scenes between Roger and Easy,

as Tex walks in

I have to give thanks to my great friend Irene Palfy for stoking my interest in this film as she told me all about it. Thanks Irene.

Roger showing off his newly acquired fishing skills

And to those who have never seen it, please watch it. It makes for a wonderful two hours.
B