First half is good as Spencer Tracy essentially gives us a precursor to "Bad Day At Black Rock", namely a lone honest man arrives in a small town and starts asking a lot of questions, in this case about a recently deceased Lindbergh type hero who obviously is not quite what he seems (ed). Reinforcing this uneasy mood is William Daniels' wonderful noirish cinematography which renders the former hero's place of residence kind of a combination Xanadu and Bates motel.
Second half, however, takes a sharp wrong turn as director George Cukor and his scenarist Donald O Stewart (Bill Gorton to you "Sun Also Rises" fans) proceed to tell the less compelling story. Instead of focusing on Forrest and why he went from patriot to fascist we are offered instead a romance between Spence and Kate and a rather dull, melodramatic romance at that, with no humor, which is, of course, the kiss of death to this particular couple. And instead of a properly chilling denouement in which the threat of "heroes" like Forrest is fully brought out (as it has been during this month's 1/6 hearings in Congress) we get in its place reassuring nostrums from Spence about the wisdom of the average American (you know, like they're exhibiting now in Texas and Florida ) and a rather silly shoot out involving Forrest's smarmy secretary, a most unsatisfying chief villain.
Bottom line: This could be the worst Tracy/Hepburn pairing ever, although it's been awhile since I've seen "Sea Of Grass". C plus.
Second half, however, takes a sharp wrong turn as director George Cukor and his scenarist Donald O Stewart (Bill Gorton to you "Sun Also Rises" fans) proceed to tell the less compelling story. Instead of focusing on Forrest and why he went from patriot to fascist we are offered instead a romance between Spence and Kate and a rather dull, melodramatic romance at that, with no humor, which is, of course, the kiss of death to this particular couple. And instead of a properly chilling denouement in which the threat of "heroes" like Forrest is fully brought out (as it has been during this month's 1/6 hearings in Congress) we get in its place reassuring nostrums from Spence about the wisdom of the average American (you know, like they're exhibiting now in Texas and Florida ) and a rather silly shoot out involving Forrest's smarmy secretary, a most unsatisfying chief villain.
Bottom line: This could be the worst Tracy/Hepburn pairing ever, although it's been awhile since I've seen "Sea Of Grass". C plus.