Pat and Mike (1952)

Pat (Kate Hepburn) is a women's sports sensation unless her fiancé is around. Her new shady manager Mike keeps them apart and develops feelings for her.Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon were friends with Hepburn and Tracy, and had the idea of writing a film to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities. She was an avid golfer and tennis player, and indeed performed all the sports footage in the film herself.I continue to maintain that Katharine Hepburn may be the most overrated actress in the history of Hollywood. She has no range, no emotion. But when paired when Spencer Tracy, her films aren't too bad, because he really does a fine job of adding some personality to the screen. This is by no means as good as "The Desk Set", for example, but still a decent combination.

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy spent most of their screen partnerships entwined in battles of the sexes, but "Pat and Mike" finds them at their most harmoniously warm, headlining a romantic comedy without highbrow bite or indirect sexism. While thinly plotted, the film is one of their breeziest pairings, in part to George Cukor's smartly scattered comedic zest and the screenplay's knack for uptown/downtown musings.Hepburn portrays Pat Pemberton, a physical ed instructor who spends her afternoons training athletic collegians. Her days of competing are far from over, though; as the film opens, she is basking in the final few moments before an important golf match. Pat is a dynamic athlete, but she has a minor problem when it comes to performing. Whenever her fiancée, the pompous Collier (William Ching), appears for support, her skills take a downturn, as if he were a bad luck charm. Collier wants Pat to retire from her sports career so she can become a full-time wife, but Pat, independent and smart, knows deep in her heart that she doesn't want to marry him and doesn't want to waste her days cleaning and cooking and kid raising. She has more important things to do than fill general women's roles. After a particularly rough match, thanks to the presence of the smarmy Collier, Pat is down in the dumps, but her athletic prowess is noticed by Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy), a sports promoter who normally supports boxing acts. Right then and there, he deems her the world's top female athlete. But with her tendency to screw up at the worst of times, Mike becomes determined to train Pat until she becomes a wunderkind with the ability to smash cultural norms and sports records. As the two begin to see each other more frequently, however, it seems that mutual attraction is steadily growing, and traffic cones like Mike's other subject, a bird-brained boxer (Aldo Ray), prejudiced mobsters, and a smug Collier, will hardly stand in their way. I suppose "Pat and Mike" works so well because there isn't a moment in its 95 minutes where its stars are hating each other. In the subtly sexist "Woman of the Year", the entire middle half was spent with Hepburn and Tracy hardly attempting to overcome marital woes; in the witty "Adam's Rib", combative battles of words came more regularly than moments of adoration. "Pat and Mike" is a rather thin, simplistic romantic comedy, but without much conflict, it spends more time being likable than it does messing with our heads. It's a wonderful change of pace for its stars.Hepburn trades hardness for an affectionate, slacks not pants wearing performance (boasting her athletic skill along the way), and Tracy's teddy bear, Chicawgo affability is impossible to resist. Supporting performer Ray nearly steals the film as Mike's other client, Davie. A gentle giant of a dope who probably spends his days laughing at "The Three Stooges" while swigging beers, his nights bruising his little brains, Ray is a lovable and goofy supplement to his lively co-stars.With writing team Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon's ear for the distinction between city dwellers and the intellectual middle-class, "Pat and Mike" is unsubstantial but towering in its charisma. It's a joy from start to finish, a comedy showcase for Hepburn and Tracy.

The seventh pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn focuses on the sports world with Hepburn playing Pat Pemberton, an all-around athlete hoping to go professional. To do that, she needs the help of a sports manager, a tough and savvy Irishman, Mike Conovan. Here, Hepburn plays the more delicate character as she is apparently unable to perform at her best when her fiancée (William Ching) is around. This of course leads to the typical pairing of the two leads as well as Pat realizing who she really needs to be with.This was a very mediocre film, barely following a serious plot and stretching it just enough to be able to see some nice footage of Hepburn playing Babe Didrickson at golf as well as playing some indoor tennis. I never knew Hepburn was so athletic, especially at her age of filming this, but she did practically all of these scenes herself and proves that she was a capable athlete as well as actress. And although this wasn't as good a film as Adam's Rib, I liked Tracy a lot more in this role than that one. Here, he was much more likable as well as clever and sarcastic. There is a great scene when he describes to Hepburn how he runs his business and why he is so strict on how he runs the relationship between manager and athlete.The supporting cast is mediocre as well with Ching as the helpless fiancée, Aldo Ray as a dim-witted boxer and Jim Backus as a golf store attendant. The only real reason to watch this at all is to admire the chemistry Tracy and Hepburn shared as well as admire the athletic ability Hepburn had all her life. It isn't their best work, but Tracy is very good and somewhat elevates the material better than it could be if another actor was in that role. This is also a testament to the fine actor Tracy was as his health started to decline after this. If only he could have remained healthy a little longer he could have extended his legacy as one of the best actors America has ever seen.

During a friendship that last many years, Tracy and Hepburn made many movies together and this is a good example of the chemistry that existed between them. In this movie, directed by George Cukor, Hepburn plays an athlete who comes under the management of a small town sports promoter in Mike Conovan, played by Tracy. In the role of Pat Pemberton, Hepburn is a free-spirited woman with spunk and personality. Mike has a number of colorful characters as his clients. One of the gags lands the group in a police station explaining their actions to a puzzled sheriff, played Chuck Conners. The acting is good all round.The golf game between Pat and Babe Zaharias (outstanding golf pro in real life) translates beautifully to the screen with the crowd moving from green to green, golfers teeing off, putting and shooting into the rough. A very good movie, entertaining from start to finish, and a good chance to see Tracy and Hepburn in action.