Adam's Rib (1949)

often billed as a funny battle of the sexes, it really isn't; it's no contest; tracy comes off as asoft-spoken guy who treats his wife pretty well; hepburn on the other hand is frequently strident and rude; he seems devoted to her while she constantly flirts with the neighbor; he treats her respectfully, she revels in humiliating him at home and at work in court; sure, some of the disconnected skits are funny, mainly helped by judy holiday, not hepburn; and his moment of ethical and legal revenge is instantly dismissed by her; overall needed more give and take like other tracy-hepburn movies, and less of the relentless, one-sided pounding where tracy in the end has to pull a girlish trick to win back the woman who treats him as an incompetent fool

Fmovies: "Adam's Rib", directed by George Cukor, and with a screenplay by Ruth Ford and Garson Kanin, was one of the happiest films the two stars did together. Mr. Cukor knew how to direct this couple, and it shows. There are no false moments in a movie.

The rivalry between Adam Bonner and Amanda, his wife, comes to a head as they both get involved in a criminal case. Adam, as an Assistant D.A. is assigned to it. Amanda, as a successful trial lawyer, decides to get involved in it because she believes Doris Attinger acted in a moment of madness.

This film was ahead of its time because Amanda questions the right of a woman to be judged the same way as a man, something the penal system seemed to ignore. Doris Attinger is a woman that has had enough with the philandering husband that appears to have fallen out of love with her. Warren Attinger doesn't care who he hurts, until Doris decides to take the matter into her own hands.

Katherine Hepburn shows an impeccable delivery as Amanda Bonner. She has an inner beauty that shines and make her glow. Ms. Hepburn was at the top of her career just about then and it shows. Spencer Tracy is Ms. Hepburn's match as the D.A. prosecuting the case. Mr. Tracy is delightful to watch in their scenes together. He has such a mischievous presence that endeared him to us in anything he played.

The revelation in this film was Judy Holliday. As Doris, the accused woman, she shows talent beyond imagination. In a way, it is sad to realize this amazing actress didn't live to make it even bigger in the movies. She was a natural and she is a joy to watch in the film. Lucky are we to be able to see her best work preserved for posterity.

In minor roles David Wayne plays Kip Lurie, a Broadway composer. He is an annoying neighbor who admires Amanda, much to Adam's chagrin. Kip has written a song that becomes popular, "Dear Amanda", that is heard throughout the movie. Also, in the cast Jean Hagen, Eve March, and Hope Emerson who are effective in their roles.

Thanks to George Cukor, Ruth Ford and Garson Kanin for bringing this enjoyable comedy to the screen. Above all, thanks to Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn for playing the Bonners.

When I'm in the mood for a classic film, I usually look for something with Spencer Tracy in it. In an era where so many things were over the top and hard to follow, Tracy was a breath of fresh air, so very far ahead of his time. Adam's Rib is one of nine films he made with Katharine Hepburn, and is considered to be the best of the lot, I completely disagree. The film is ahead of it's time in that it's focused on woman's rights and asserts an affirmative defense for a violent crime, but the fact that it was a comedy, making light of a very serious charge, made the film lose credibility, and as a result, the message it was trying to portray does not come across very well at all. Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) has caught her husband cheating and responded by shooting him. It seems an open and shut case for prosecuting attorney, Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy), until his beautiful wife, Amanda (Katharine Hepburn) agrees to defend Mrs. Attinger. Her defense is an affirmative one, claiming that Doris Attinger should be acquitted, because a man arrested under similar circumstance would be. The claim is absolutely ridiculous even for 1949, because if anything, the justice system would have been harder on a man who shot his wife as opposed to her lover. Mrs. Bonner turns the trial into an absolute circus, embarrassing her husband, leading to an internal conflict in their marriage. This should have been where the comedy really came in, these fights between the two should have been hilarious, but they weren't. The couples fights were more serious, intense, and depressing than the trial itself. Everything about this film just seemed to be backwards and ridiculous, in particular Katharine Hepburn, who was so over the top in the courtroom, that it completely nullifies her argument. Here is a woman trying to stand up for woman's rights, by pulling ridiculous stunts and being unprofessional in the courtroom, how is that supposed to show that a woman can be just as good at her job as a man? The bottom line is that this film had a very serious message to spread, but everything was so backwards and misplaced, that it just loses any credibility it had, along with my interest about half way through. If Adam's Rib wasn't about a court case, and I wasn't waiting for the verdict, I probably wouldn't have sat through the whole thing.

Adam's Rib fmovies. For a while it seems that "Adam's Rib" will be hard to take. More precisely: Katharine Hepburn's Amanda is hard to take. Her feminism - when put to the test - amounts to little more than anthem singing; and however sympathetic her client may be, we can see at once that the case for the defence is almost entirely frivolous. Yet George Cukor is standing in the gallery, apparently cheering her on. It's infuriating. It's like watching an Edwardian comedy about suffragettes.

Well, no. The film is a good deal smarter than we had given it credit for being ... oh, very well, smarter than *I* had given it credit for being. Gordon, Kanin and Cukor understand our infuriation; the supposedly shrill dispute in the first half is merely a starting point. Maybe audiences these days AREN'T too sophisticated for this kind of film. Maybe we're too stupid. (Oh, very well, maybe I'M too stupid.) -In any event, this is really a story about Adam and Amanda. Their story becomes deeper as the trial becomes shallower.

Even while it's infuriating us (our infuriation will be used to good effect later, of course) "Adam's Rib" is never less than pleasant to watch. One reason is that Hepburn and Tracy are just so brilliant. The script serves them both well: neither player is denied good lines, and any impression that Hepburn is meant to be just some hothead, or that Tracy is meant to be just some schmuck, is transitory. This is a wonderful script! My only previous exposure to Hepburn and Tracy had been in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", where their partnership was the only thing holding the film together; I wasn't at all prepared for the sheer energy they generate when they set to work on stronger material. Moreover they seem perfectly natural as a married couple.

The music is good, too. There's a catchy original song (not a gratuitous addition ... although it wouldn't matter if it was) by Cole Porter; the rest of the score was written by Miklós Rózsa, in one of his rare lighter moments.

Sometimes in life, we experience the most embarrassing situations. But no matter how embarrassing these situations are, they can't possibly be as whacked-out as what the characters in "Adam's Rib" experience.

It all begins when Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) shoots her husband Warren (Tom Ewell) after she finds him cheating on her. She is promptly arrested for attempted murder. High-priced lawyer Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) is assigned to represent Warren in court. However, Adam's wife Amanda (Katharine Hepburn) finds it despicable that a woman was arrested for punishing her unfaithful husband, and decides to represent Doris in court.

Well, as you can imagine, with husband and wife on opposite sides of the trial, things get a little crazy. It only makes sense that they can't help but maintain their spousal attitudes towards each other while in court (especially under the table). But even Amanda starts to find Adam unpleasant for defending Warren, and she plays a few tricks on him in court, namely with a very muscular woman.

One thing that you have to wonder after seeing a movie this good is: how did Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin come up with such a great story? Well, the point is that they did. It focuses not only on sexism, but also on how the whole trial is affecting their marriage.

Anyway, the point is that in my opinion, "Adam's Rib" should have won Best Picture for 1949. Perfect.

Adam's Rib turned out to be a delightfully cheeky romp with a kicker sense of humour, all acted out with ease by Spencer Tracy & Katherine Hepburn. I love how the film veers from the courtroom right into their marital home and becomes not just about a battle of wills, but a battle of the sexes as well, much fun watching this famous couple go at each other, both at work and at home. The film benefits greatly from the appearance of the lovely Judy Holliday in her breakthrough role, and it amused me greatly to see David Wayne playing a shifty character as I remember him fondly from the Twilight Zone episode Escape Clause in 1959. 8/10