Adam's Rib
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Movie Reviews of Adam's Rib
Movie Review: Still a great classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I'm a big Tracy fan and enjoyed this movie quite a bit, I didn't find the rapid-fire dialog quite as sharp and witty as most, but it's still a fine movie. If you want to find razor-sharp, fast-moving dialog, try the Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster film, "The Sweet Smell of Success." The hard-hitting, corrosive, and rapid-fire dialog in that movie virtually singes the air, remembered long after the movie has ended, although it's a much more serious movie and not intended to be funny as with this one. But getting back to the present flick, if there was a longer or more charismatic on-screen romance than Tracy and Hepburn, I don't know what it is, and they bring that chemistry once again to the silver screen in this movie. Their rivalry in the murder case becomes the talk of the town as well as in their bedroom, and Tracy is great as the dutiful husband who suffers Hepburns' barbs and diatribes about everything from his job to women's rights with a sort of calm, stoic exasperatedness, although she finally gets his goat and gets a rise out of him on more than one occasion. And Hepburn is equally great in her role also, as the smart, upbeat, and driven defense attorney who champions the accused woman's cause.
The movie deals surprisingly well with many women's rights and equality issues considering this is 1949, and women who think feminism and women's lib was invented in the early to mid-60's would do well to watch this film, which came out almost 15 years earlier. So overall, still a fun classic and well worth your time especially if you're a Tracy or Hepburn fan. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
Movie Review: Few disagree. This Hepburn-Tracy collaboration is the
Summary: 4 Stars
best. Woman of the Year is second. In both they play essentially the same character albeit different names & professions.
By 1949 they were at the top of their game career-wise & in real life playing house. Being married in every way but name made them dynamite. In Adam's Rib the characters didn't have to fall in love they were already in love & married. Hepburn's woman was clearly ahead of her time. Tracy was trying hard to be the modern man. But it's hard. Maybe even harder in 1949. You have two good, smart lawyers with very healthy egos on opposing sides in a big high profile case. One wins the legal war the other wins the moral argument. I enjoy it every time. I'm not sure how much $$$ this movie made but I suspect it did pretty well. A classic, star driven, battle of the sexes, Hollywood comedy.
Props to Tom Ewell who in a small part, is hilarious as the disgusting, cheating husband. He does the prat fall that he perfects later in Seven Year Itch. All great stuff. 41/2 stars.
Movie Review: Battle of the Lawyers
Summary: 4 Stars
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are an immortal film pair. This movie is often called their best.
"Adam's Rib" is the story of two married lawyers Adam (Spencer Tracy) and Amanda (Katharine Hepburn). They read an interesting case in the newspaper-an abadoned wife (Judy Holliday) shoots her husband and his girlfriend (Jean Hagen)-and Amanda immediately tells her opinion. Adam then is ordered to prosecute the woman who shot her husband. Amanda, though, goes out of her way to get to defend the woman. Arguments and comedy ensures.
The plot is excellent. We all know that lawyers can be stubborn about their clients...so why not have two stubborn lawyers that are married get opposite sides in a case? I loved the acting, especially Katharine Hepburn. Her accent is unique, and I mean that in a good way.
This is a great storyline, but there aren't a lot of laughs in here especially for a comedy. That can be tossed aside though for the acting and story.
Movie Review: Illogical
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm a big Hepburn-Tracy fan, but this one lost me from the very beginning with its illogical premise. The idea was to pit Hepburn and Tracy against one another on the topic of gender equality, but it came off as Hepburn having a problem with the world's view of women and taking it out on her caring and though perhaps ambivalent, certainly not sexist husband, Tracy. Tracy never says women aren't equal, but this doesn't stop his wife from going out of her way to take the opposite side of a trial in competition with her husband, turn the courtroom into a circus, and make a laughing stock of the law. The case in question was whether a wife intended to kill her husband (intent to murder) or merely injure (assault) him. What that has to do with gender equality is beyond me, so the rest of the film made pretty much no sense. Perhaps some more perspective on the thoughts of the time would have helped, but it seems that in a case where a woman attacks a man, the woman usually gets away with a lot more than a man would, but Hepburn's opinion was that the woman would be convicted of a worse crime because of her gender.
The film was essentially Hepburn's character going on a rant about women's rights and left me wondering when some sanity would enter the scene. The sanity does come when Hepburn admits she was wrong about the case, but there's no apology, and the ending is a vague make-up for no real reason other than that they love each other and not that they've come to an accord over the subject of gender equality (which again never really fit with the trial or the domestic incivility happening at home).
Movie Review: Average Film, Mediocre DVD!
Summary: 1 Stars
This was billed as a comedy but most of the jokes don't age well at all. They belong in the "may raise a smile here and there" category but you'll rarely find yourself capable of raising even a polite laugh throughout. The only "joke" that I thought was good was when Kip tells Amanda that lawyers should never marry lawyers because it eventually leads to more lawyers. Otherwise, it's just another one of the arguments for equality of the sexes which I found boring and barely entertaining. I you want to find a good film with both Hepburn and Tracy doing an excellent acting job together you'll have to look for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" which ironically happens to be Tracy's last film. As for this film, it doesn't age well and I found myself impatiently waiting for it to end.
To make things worse, this DVD version hasn't been restored and so picture imperfections abound throughout the film where we frequently get an irritating black circle that keeps popping up around the top right hand corner of the screen in addition the the white spots everywhere else. The sound quality is very, very poor as well and coupled with no Special Features worth talking about as well makes this a poor value proposition indeed.
If you are a die-hard Hepburn/Tracy fan and still want to get this farce then I would recommend waiting for a much better restored version to surface. As it is here, I wouldn't recommend this DVD as worthy of being a coaster for your coffee cup.
Not recommended!