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

Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper go for laughs in BALL OF FIRE (1941)

 Babs knows how to gain attention from a room full of men...

The divine Barbara Stanwyck and Coop re-team for this wonderful comedy classic. The two stars previously paired up in Meet John Doe earlier that year for Frank Capra. As good as that film was, I like Ball Of Fire even more. The story casts Coop as Bertram Potts a young professor who along with six other professors are compiling an encyclopedia of human knowledge. Potts is researching American slang. Things are going good until their financial backer, Miss Totten pressures them to hurry up and finish. So Bertram hits the streets to do some solo research and meets saucy nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Stanwyck). O'Shea is at first reluctant to help Potts until  she needs a place to hide out from the police who are looking to question her about her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac (played by Dana Andrews). 

Love hurts...

Soon Sugarpuss is teaching the guys how to conga and all kinds of slang. Of course Bertram ends up falling for her but has do deal with Lilac. Ball Of Fire is one awesome movie. Full of humor and a sizzling performance by Stanwyck. She struts across the screen like she owns it and she does. And Coop is solid as Potts. An enjoyable comedy film. Expertly directed by Howard Hawks.

But everything turns out ok in the end...