Adam's Rib (1949)

Excellent but underrated film

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

1st watched 5/14/2014 -- 7 out of 10(Dir-George Cukor): Entertaining and thought provoking comedy from George Cukor with two very likable stars in Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. The story is about a husband and wife lawyer team who pickup opposing sides of a case where a woman catches her husband with another woman and shoots him. The point that Hepburn's character is trying to make is that she was defending the honor of her family and the children, and intends to make the case about treating a woman as an equal to a man. This was made in an era where this had to be controversial, but there is enough light comedy to help make it entertaining and not just a hardline stand on the subject. Tracy's character becomes offended by his wife's court outbursts and temporarily leaves her. Don't fret though -- it's a Hollywood movie so you can guess that they're might possibly be a happy ending. The interesting thing about this movie is that although it's labeled as a comedy it actually does a very good job of displaying the two sides of views for equality for women. In my opinion, that is what puts this movie above other comedies -- yes it's whimsical, but the writing shows men acting like women -- women acting like men -- and even one male character who acts like a woman but seems to still like women from a romantic perspective -- so there is a good mix for the viewer to mull over. The deliberateness in the portrayals towards this subject surprised me and was welcomed. This is kind of a pre-television sitcom-like directed movie on it's look but has a lot more to offer. Give this one a chance -- you will be pleasantly surprised by this classic movie, and it's amazingly still applicable storyline for today's audiences.

"Adam's Rib" tickled many funny bones in its time. But it may not be as funny to people today. The 21st century is well beyond the rudimentary aspects of the battle of the sexes that was starting on a roll after WW II. Still, seeing this movie will give a modern audience an idea of what the big differences were way back when. It's still very amusing and entertaining. If some of the humor isn't as funny today, it has a wonderful theme of romance that is sure to please. Here's an example of some of the funny lines in this film: "Lawyers should never marry lawyers. It's called inbreeding. They just have idiots and more lawyers." This MGM film was a good vehicle for mega-stars Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. It was the third of six pairings the couple had on screen. Off-screen they had a 25-year romance, although Tracy remained married to his wife until his death in 1967. Tracy won two best actor Oscars -- 1938 for "Captains Courageous," and 1939 for "Boys Town." He had seven more Academy Award nominations. He also won a best actor Golden Globe in 1954 for "The Actress," and received three more nominations. In 1969, he won the best actor award from BAFTA, the British version of the Academy Awards, for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." And, he had four other BAFTA nominations in his career.Katherine Hepburn holds the record of most Oscars ever won – 4. All of hers were for Best Actress. She won for "Morning Glory" in 1934, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1968, "The Lion in Winter" in 1969, and "On Golden Pond" in 1982. She earned 8 more Academy Award nominations in her career. She also had 8 Golden Globe nominations but didn't take one home. She won two BAFTA awards, and had 3 more nominations. And, she won one Emmy and had four other nominations. This film also has a very good supporting cast. Judy Holliday is another Oscar winner – for Best Actress in 1950 for "Born Yesterday." Some of the well-known character actors of the period fill other roles. For film buffs, this is a good movie to keep for the big stars alone.

often billed as a funny battle of the sexes, it really isn't; it's no contest; tracy comes off as asoft-spoken guy who treats his wife pretty well; hepburn on the other hand is frequently strident and rude; he seems devoted to her while she constantly flirts with the neighbor; he treats her respectfully, she revels in humiliating him at home and at work in court; sure, some of the disconnected skits are funny, mainly helped by judy holiday, not hepburn; and his moment of ethical and legal revenge is instantly dismissed by her; overall needed more give and take like other tracy-hepburn movies, and less of the relentless, one-sided pounding where tracy in the end has to pull a girlish trick to win back the woman who treats him as an incompetent fool

Adam's Rib 1949 / George Cukor 101 minutes Vault Rating: 8Here's a great little film, perhaps the best of the Spencer Tracy / Katherine Hepburn vehicles of the time that sparkles even today in the first half with brilliant dialogue and clever framing of scenes that make the most of its two stars.If only the film didn't have to go anywhere or prove any point. In its day, the film's message about gender equality must have been quite something, but today it is a little preachy, but still class all the way. This is a film not to be missed.The story finds Adam (Tracy) and A"man"da (Hepburn) as a so-in-love couple of lawyers who wind up on either side of a case where a jilted housewife (Judy Holliday, in the quintessential ditzy blonde role, often copied but never equaled - well except that same year as she won the Oscar for "best actress" for her ditzy blonde in "Born Yesterday.") has finally had enough of her two-timing husband and busts a cap in his ass.Let the court-room hi jinx and pre-1950's battle of the sexes begin! Too bad women today are still battling for equal pay for equal work. Politics aside, this is a charmer with so many facets to recommend it that they're hard to enumerate.To name a few, co-writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin were nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for "best writing, story and screenplay" but somehow lost to the heavyweights behind "Sunset Boulevard." And the film was lovingly and rightly placed on the National Film Registry in 1992. A joyful movie overall, but what really recommends it is the effortless quality of the interplay between Tracy and Hepburn who, frankly, aren't acting. We know in retrospect that the two had a long love affair off screen and it shines through on screen to the utter benefit of the audience.