Man's Favorite Sport?

Dismissed by Robin Wood in his monograph on Hawks as 'tired' but championed by the French, Man's Favorite Sport? is in many ways the quintessential Hollywood auteur movie. Seen in isolation from the rest of Hawks' work, it seems to be merely an out-of-time slapstick comedy. Seen in context, it effortlessly demonstrates the auteur's ability to stamp his artistic identity on anything - in this case, the travails of an armchair expert (Hudson) forced to enter a fishing contest and confronted with a typically Hawksian superior woman (Prentiss). A marvellous film.