I started watching this movie thinking that it was a Stanley Donen movie or something…
… but it’s not — it’s Howard Hawks. And it’s an excruciating watch.
It’s basically Bringing Up Baby done for the 60s, with Rock Hudson as the Cary Grant part.
For the Katharine Hepburn part, we have not one, but two Magic Pixie Nightmare Girls (from Germany, for some reason? financing?).
There’s a lot of odd bits in here…
Hepburn and Grant had wonderful chemistry, so while Grant’s character sometimes wanted to strangle Hepburn’s character over her madcap behaviour, there’s absolutely zilch here. Instead the two women are just insanely (and I mean insanely) annoying, and I wanted to strangle them myself.
Oh, and this embarrassment… He’s Native American, see.
The movie has one thing going for it — Hudson’s not all bad with the physical humour. But even there, Grant did these things so much better.
Many older directors didn’t really do well in the 60s, or at least made a few clunkers. Michael Powell (of & Pressburger fame), for instance, made some real stinkers, and even Hitchcock couldn’t keep up. This movie feels like somebody old wants to make a new, modern comedy, but ends up halfway to a Carry On movie, only without the boobs.
It’s well shot, though.
Wet shirt time!
Yeah, OK, it’s more like two thirds to a Carry On movie.
The plot goes for zany but ends up dumb.
It’s well-liked by imdb.
Yeah.
I dunno; I really really disliked this movie — I was annoyed and I was bored — so I’m going to throw an unfair die. So there:
Man’s Favorite Sport?. Howard Hawks. 1964. ⚀
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