PAT AND MIKE (1952)

Of the nine films Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy made together, this sports comedy is often ranked amongst the best of their matchups, with Tracy as a roughhewn sports manager and Hepburn as a headstrong college coach who signs with him to go pro in golf and tennis. It was also the second of two films they made with Hepburn’s friend, director George Cukor, and the second film written expressly for them by husband-and-wife team Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon. The story was inspired by Hepburn’s own prowess as a sportswoman and shaped to pit her independent, patrician nature against Tracy’s down-to-earth obstinacy. Cukor directed gracefully, mining golf and tennis for all their visual appeal, and added a sense of authenticity by featuring real-life athletes like Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gussie Moran. The film also helped Aldo Ray’s career by casting him as the good-natured but dim boxer training alongside Hepburn. 

d. George Cukor, 95m, DCP

Courtesy of Warner Brothers Classics.