Two married lawyers--Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn) and Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy)--find themselves opposing each other in court. She's defending Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) who accidentally shot her husband (Tom Ewell) for cheating on her. He is trying to paint her as a cold-blooded killer. The case starts affecting their marriage badly.
This has won a lot of acclaim as being the first movie that Hepburn and Tracy starred in. It's easy to see why--they worked together brilliantly. They acted as a perfectly married couple believably and their sparring with each other crackled. Also the script is well-written (and Oscar nominated). David Wayne was fun (if a little bit overbearing) as their next door neighbor and Holliday was excellent in her small role. Even better is Hope Emerson who stops the show with her antics in a courtroom. But, other than that, I didn't really like it.
The sexual politics in here are incredibly dated! I do realize that I have to see this movie as a product of its time (1949) and that it was daring back then--but some of it was so blatantly offensive (to women) that I had trouble keeping that in mind. I found the remarks that it was OK to punch a woman down as more than a little troubling. Even worse Tracy and Hepburn spend the second half of the movie screaming at each other nonstop and the courtroom antics go WAY over the top! Also the boring Cole Porter tune "Farewell Amanda" is played again and again and AGAIN till you want to scream! So--mostly because of the sexual politics--I can truthfully only give this a 6. Hepburn and Tracy are fantastic but even their considerable acting gifts can't make one forget the sick sexism in the script.
This has won a lot of acclaim as being the first movie that Hepburn and Tracy starred in. It's easy to see why--they worked together brilliantly. They acted as a perfectly married couple believably and their sparring with each other crackled. Also the script is well-written (and Oscar nominated). David Wayne was fun (if a little bit overbearing) as their next door neighbor and Holliday was excellent in her small role. Even better is Hope Emerson who stops the show with her antics in a courtroom. But, other than that, I didn't really like it.
The sexual politics in here are incredibly dated! I do realize that I have to see this movie as a product of its time (1949) and that it was daring back then--but some of it was so blatantly offensive (to women) that I had trouble keeping that in mind. I found the remarks that it was OK to punch a woman down as more than a little troubling. Even worse Tracy and Hepburn spend the second half of the movie screaming at each other nonstop and the courtroom antics go WAY over the top! Also the boring Cole Porter tune "Farewell Amanda" is played again and again and AGAIN till you want to scream! So--mostly because of the sexual politics--I can truthfully only give this a 6. Hepburn and Tracy are fantastic but even their considerable acting gifts can't make one forget the sick sexism in the script.