by Judy Geater
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn made a total of nine films together, but, for my money, Adam’s Rib is the best. It’s a film with just about everything, from a sharp script to a great performances by the central couple as rival lawyers. It was also ahead of its time in its trenchant querying of the sexual double standard, a theme flagged up in the title. And there is a fine supporting cast, headed by Judy Holliday. You can see why this film was such a shot in the arm for the romantic comedy at a time when the genre was starting to struggle. (It is currently at a low ebb again, and we could do with a similarly great new romcom being released now, though I’m not holding my breath.)
I’ve always been fond of films where couples work together, which tends to make for great dialogue as their personal relationship becomes messily entwined with rivalries and tensions in the workplace. Tracy and Hepburn had already made one good film where they are rival journalists, Woman of the Year (1942), though that one is marred by a cringe-making ending. In Adam’s Rib they are married colleagues again, but this time they play lawyers.
The film was inspired by the true story of lawyers William Dwight Whitney and Dorothy Whitney, who represented actor Raymond Massey and his wife Adrienne Allen in their divorce case. The lawyers then went on to divorce each other… and marry their respective clients! However, all that remains of this real-life case in the film is the idea of the married lawyers representing a warring husband and wife. Adam and Amanda Bonner take opposing sides in the courtroom, as they fight it out in the case of a wife (Holliday) who shot and wounded her philandering husband – and tear their own relationship apart along the way. The film has all the fire and energy of the best screwballs and brings to the forefront the battle of the sexes which is at the heart of many such films – between the more conventional hero, determined to uphold the rules, and the more intuitive/irreverent heroine, who questions every convention and regulation in sight. (Hepburn had played several such characters, including the infuriating Susan in Hawks’s Bringing Up Baby.)
Scriptwriters Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, a married couple, drew on their own working relationship for the dialogue between Tracy and Hepburn, but they also had the actors in mind for the roles from the start and tailored the characters to their screen personalities. Tracy’s grumpiness and Hepburn’s upper-crust assurance are central to the roles. The couple’s ease and warmth with one another really make the movie and you can see how much they enjoy a host of quirky moments along the way, from Hepburn’s outrageous stunts in the courtroom to Tracy’s mischievous wielding of a liquorice gun.
George Cukor, who is one of my favourite directors, was known as a “woman’s director” – something he resented – but I’ve seen it argued he was really more of an “actor’s director”, giving his actors, of either sex, the time and space to make a strong impression. He worked with Hepburn on many films, including her first role in A Bill of Divorcement, and the smash hit which put paid to her ‘box office poison’ reputation, The Philadelphia Story.
However, in Adam’s Rib, the actress who noticeably gets the time she needs to put her stamp on the film is Judy Holliday, in her supporting role as downtrodden wife Doris Attinger. Holliday is absolutely riveting in her long opening scene, brilliantly shot by cinematographer George J. Folsey, as she stalks her cheating husband Warren (Tom Ewell) through the street and the subway. She finally stops to check the instruction book for her new gun before attempting to shoot Warren and his mistress (Jean Hagen before Singin’ in the Rain). Then Holliday has two more long scenes, in the prison and the courtroom, where she again gets the time and space to make an impression. According to the imdb, Hepburn generously persuaded Cukor to keep the camera on Holliday most of the time during their shared scenes, only allowing herself a few brief reaction shots, and this certainly paid off. Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn is said to have been opposed to casting Holliday in the film version of her stage hit Born Yesterday because he thought she was too fat… but he had to change his tune after her acclaimed performance in Adam’s Rib. Holliday (despite looking lovely and not at all overweight to me) deliberately plays on the fat, unglamorous image here, sniffling all through that opening scene and also nibbling on snacks – then constantly referring to food in her courtroom scene. ( ‘And after you shot your husband, how did you feel? ‘Hungry.’)
Central to the court case, and the film, are the questions of just how different men and women really are. Amanda claims that society would be far more outraged by the cheating partner if it was an unfaithful wife – and, following on from that, far more forgiving of the gun-toting spouse if it was a husband getting his revenge. Both Holliday and Ewell are glimpsed in startling drag to emphasise the point, and a number of women are called into the witness box to have their say on sexism – including a weightlifter who demonstrates her skill by picking up a surprised Adam. Later, Adam demonstrates how he can cry at will to get his own way. This is a scene I find slightly uncomfortable because it is Tracy letting us see him acting, but it is yet another moment where the traditional sex roles are questioned. (There are some similar moments in Woman of the Year, like the one where Tracy sulks because Hepburn has failed to compliment him on his new hat.)
Adding to this theme of gender is the presence of supporting player David Wayne, cast as the sexually ambiguous Kip, a songwriter who lives in the flat across the hall from Adam and Amanda. This scene-stealing character is said to have been modelled on Cole Porter, and he performs a song at the piano written by Porter for the film, Farewell Amanda. (Porter was originally asked to write a song using the name ‘Madeleine’, which was the original name of the heroine – but it didn’t lend itself to rhymes as well as ‘Amanda’, so the character’s name was changed to fit the song he came up with.) The Hays office apparently warned against Wayne’s character appearing to be gay, but Kip is still defiantly camp in the movie – even though he makes a pass at Amanda in one scene. You wonder how the scriptwriters got away with him saying: “Amanda. I’m on your side, I guess you know that. You’ve got me so convinced, I may even go out and become a woman.”
Something which can’t be ignored while watching this film is the wealth of the Bonners, with their effortlessly expensive lifestyle and the mortgage for their holiday home which they have paid off in just six years. James Harvey’s stimulating book, Romantic Comedy in Hollywood, describes the film as a “gentrification” of romantic comedy, drawing attention to arch little details like their shared nickname, ‘Pinky’. He comments: “But finally there is nothing, they make us feel, that can’t somehow be reduced to the dimensions of that ‘small, perfect kitchen’ and the life of discreet, tasteful affluence that the movie both evokes and enacts. This coziness was precisely the sort of feeling that screwball comedy at its best had seemed to challenge.” I take Harvey’s point here and can see that the film does make the Bonners’ lifestyle seem very appealing – yet, to my mind, it is indeed challenged by the glimpse we have had of the very different and not at all cosy world of the Attingers. I think the hints of cuteness in the Spencer/Tracy relationship may be deliberate, to suggest how removed they are from the lives of the couple they have just been representing.
Following on from this, when I first saw the film, I was disturbed by the moments of comic violence between Adam and Amanda, where she kicks a door into him or he slaps her accidentally on purpose during a massage session. I felt this element was misjudged. Now, however, while still finding these moments disturbing, I realise they are a deliberate echo of/contrast with the sordid violence in the marriage of the Attingers. Warren admits in court to beating Doris up, but in the next breath says he thinks he is a good husband. Sometimes the humour in this film can turn black, despite its sparkling surface – and so the overall effect perhaps isn’t all that cosy after all.
How Adam’s Rib made the Top 100:
Pierre de Plume No. 8
John Greco No. 19
Brandie Ashe No. 20
Mark Smith No. 25
R. D. Finch No. 43
Pat Perry No. 51
Jamie Uhler No. 52
Judy, you certainly don’t seem to have left anything out in your wonderfully thorough post on this film, also my own favorite of the Tracy-Hepburn films. The heady question of gender assumptions in society, the resemblance to screwball comedy in the film’s battle of the sexes subject, Cukor’s work with all the cast but especially the great supporting actors like Holliday, Adam and Amanda’s obvious affluence–you covered it all. I thought you also did a noteworthy job of examining Tracy and Hepburn and the characters they play. I liked the part about “Tracy’s grumpiness and Hepburn’s upper-crust assurance” being written into Adam and Amanda, and the apparentness of their “ease and warmth with one another” even when they’re being adversarial. The film at its heart deals with the very serious issue of gender inequity and isn’t afraid to come right out and talk about it. But the treatment of the subject with a humorous light touch makes this a tremendously entertaining film, Tracy and Hepburn’s finest moment onscreen together.
Thanks so much for your kind comment, R.D. – I just tried to reply but my comment disappeared into the ether, so trying again! I did remember that this was your favourite from your series of postings on all the Hepburn/Tracy films. i do agree tha this is their finest moment together, and that they treat the serious subject with a light touch, which nevertheless does not lose sight of the issue at hand. Thanks again!
As one should see by my #8 rating of this film, I consider Adam’s Rib to be a classic among classics. To me it’s a definitive treatment of the battle of the sexes with all the fine qualities you mention, Judy: a great script, two great lead performances, and a breakthrough supporting turn by Judy Holliday.
A product of its time, this film does provoke a bit of cringing when it comes to the male/female dynamic. But I think this represents where the culture was at in terms of women as chattel — all the more reason to make the film and all the more reason for Hepburn to be outraged by Tracy’s slap on her derriere.
That the Tracy character would sort of “win” the battle in the end — the licorice gun scene — only confirms where gender politics were situated at the time this film was made.
Judy, your analysis is thorough, well-written, and thought-provoking. And I agree that this was the best Tracy/Hepburn pairing of them all.
Pierre, your love of this film certainly comes through in that ranking. I didn’t vote, as my knowledge of comedies is rather patchy (I’m currently trying to catch up with some of the choices in the countdown so far that I haven’t seen!) – but if I had done, then I would have given this a high rating too. I agree that the film does ‘represent where the culture was’ in terms of the male-female dynamic, but, even though Tracy does in some sense ‘win’ with that liquorice gun, as you say, it feels a lot more even-handed than the treatment of the couple in ‘Woman of the Year’, where the dice are loaded against Hepburn. Thanks very much for the kind comment.
Judy, I’m not a fan of Woman of the Year. The fact that it precedes this film by 9 or 10 years really shows, too.
Correction: Adam’s Rib, 1949; Woman of the Year, 1942. But the former really belongs to the 1950s moreso than the 40s.
Great to see Pierre so stoked on this film! I think I miss the boat with the voting! Ah well.
I admit, Sam, that a big reason behind my rating it so highly is the subject of gender relations. The film is great, mind you, but I gave it oomph for sociopolitical reasons.
This is also my favorite Tracy/Hepburn film. An intelligent witty script and of course the wonderful Judy Holiday. The film’s treatment, as Pierre mentions, is a product of its time in butso is every other film. Overall, the film holds up well and should be required viewing for screenwriters who think funny only comes from having unbelievable idiotic characters and fart jokes.
I may not have been clear in my reference, as my point was that Adam’s Rib, while a product of its time, also offered critical commentary on the times it was a part of — much moreso than, say, Woman of the Year.
Pierre, that is an interesting point about ‘Adam’s Rib’ criticising the views of the time, at the same time as being a product of its period, and I think you are right that this is a big difference between it and ‘Woman of the Year’.
John, thank you – I definitely agree that the film holds up well and Judy Holliday is wonderful. As for fart jokes, let’s ban them outright – there is even a farting dog in one brief scene in the new ‘Anna Karenina’, can you believe?
If we’re going to have a Hepburn/Tracy film on this countdown, this would be the one. I do like the film quite a bit and most of the charm for me is in watching the two leads who, even in worse films, are always still fun to watch. Fine job Judy on capturing everything wonderful about this film. I like your examination of Gender roles here and I think it’s central to the Hepburn/Tracy films in fact. Yes they are rom-coms, but they are also “battle of the sexes” films IMO. Hepburn was always a very headstrong and confident female and their films have an edge of conflict to them which I like.
Jon, yes I agree, about that edge of conflict, and they are usually fighting about something real, rather than just a comic misunderstanding which can be smoothed away at the end of the film… whether it is sexism, as here, or different types of political issue highlighted in some of their other films. I do agree they are always good to watch even in one or two weaker films, such as ‘Keeper of the Flame’.
Wonderful post, Judy! A very comprehensive appreciation of a delightful film. I had never realized the story had its roots in an actual couple and court case, Like others on the comments thread, I think this is my favorite Tracy/Hepburn film – the script and direction – and Judy Hollliday – are all wonderful.
Some very interesting points about ADAM’S RIB reviving romantic comedy in its day (I agree with you about the recent state of the rom com, but would tell you that over the past several months, I’ve seen some remarkable improvements, albeit they’re heading the way of bittersweet and complicated rather than screwball) and the way that the cozy affluence of the lead characters’ lives insulates them from the kinds of messier,darker domestic complications of the Attinger’s lives. I’ve not read Harvey’s book, but now I want to seek it out.
Pat, I would definitely recommend Harvey’s book, though I’m not sure when I will ever finish it since it keeps driving me to seek out more and more films that he discusses, a bit like visiting this website. in fact. He is a very stimulating writer even when I find myself disagreeing with him at times. I’m pleased to hear that you think some of the romantic comedies you have seen in the last few months have shown improvements – I was starting to despair for the genre. I will be calling by your blog to look at your latest reviews and work out what I need to see. Thank you very much!
Adding to this theme of gender is the presence of supporting player David Wayne, cast as the sexually ambiguous Kip, a songwriter who lives in the flat across the hall from Adam and Amanda. This scene-stealing character is said to have been modelled on Cole Porter, and he performs a song at the piano written by Porter for the film, Farewell Amanda. (Porter was originally asked to write a song using the name ‘Madeleine’, which was the original name of the heroine – but it didn’t lend itself to rhymes as well as ‘Amanda’, so the character’s name was changed to fit the song he came up with.) The Hays office apparently warned against Wayne’s character appearing to be gay, but Kip is still defiantly camp in the movie – even though he makes a pass at Amanda in one scene. You wonder how the scriptwriters got away with him saying: “Amanda. I’m on your side, I guess you know that. You’ve got me so convinced, I may even go out and become a woman.
Indeed Judy, terrific point! Not only modeled after Porter, but also in a sense after Cukor himself. Your discussion of sex roles and gender in this superlative essay is fascinating and as R.D. mentions above you really have left us all with nothing but crumbs after this all-encompassing thesis on this landmark film. Alas I did not vote for it, though I guess it was just a case of not fitting in a number of films that rightfully belong there. This is absolutely the most celebrated Tracy-Hepburn pairing, a film that evinces a documentary feel, greatly enhancing by the off-screen intimacy of the duo. This makes the interactions eem improvised, when in fact they were not. Purportedly Cukor took Hepburn to the coutroom to show her how it really done as opposed to courtroom scenes in the movies, where even a simple act like the banging of a gavel can be fictitiously employed. I do myself by the way tend to see Cukor as an “actor’s director” rather than a women’s director, and his work with the leads and supporting players Holliday, Ewell, Hagen and Wayne was of the first-rank.
Again, marvelous piece.
Sam, that is very interesting about Cukor taking Hepburn to the courtroom to give an extra edge of realism to those scenes – and also about some moments seeming improvised because the couple are so natural together. Thanks for the over-the-top praise, which is much appreciated, and I’m glad to hear you also see Cukor as an “actor’s director”. I’m trying to see a lot of his films and my admiration is growing all the time.
I like ‘Woman of the Year’ but it doesn’t compare with ‘Adam’s Rib.’ Like Sam, I am not sure why I didn’t vote for it. After reading Judy’s kitchen-sink glowing appraisal I must politely ask for my ballot back! lol.
Frank, I was daunted by the very thought of voting for a field as wide as the greatest comedies and am impressed by the eclectic list that those who did vote came up with. Thank you!
Judy, you capture so well here the abrasiveness of busy lives (and careless lives) and how this shakes up a marriage, with often peculiar streams of comedy. Also the historical, unsettling gender factors of interaction leave this, as you point out, an edgy take on a situation where politeness is easily taken for granted.
Jim, a great comment – ‘the abrasiveness of busy lives’ is just right. The couple really go for each other in the courtroom and it is difficult for them to find the politeness/consideration which has gone by the wayside when they are at home together again.
Wonderful post JUDY!!!!
I am of the same mind in thinking this is the best of the duos teaming as well. They spar better than two seasoned tennis pros. Hepburn, of course, comes up smelling more like a rose as she’d had comedy in her blood for quite a while by this time with things like BRINGIN UP BABY under her sleeve from a few years prior (her greatest comic turn and one of the ten best comedy films ever).
However, in my mind, and I think you are absolutely right, this film is really a showcase for the great and often under-rated Judy Holliday. Her every moment on the screen is a tour-de-force of nervous comic timing and delivery. Funny, how her “victim” is played by Jean Hagen who would channel Holliday herself for her Oscar nominated turn in the immortal SINGIN IN THE RAIN.
Also agreed with you on Cuckor, a true actors director and the wonderfully smart, sometimes smarmy, always lightning fast screenplay by Garson Canin and (future actress) Ruth (ROSEMARY’S BABY) Gordon.
This one missed inclusion on my ballot by about five slots.
Thank you very much, Dennis. I’ve been wondering why Judy Holliday seems to be so underrated, as you say, and I suppose it may be partly because she died young and so there isn’t the body of work that there is for some other actresses. An interesting point about Jean Hagen channelling her for ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ – this hadn’t struck me, but yes!
I take your point that Hepburn had done more comedy than Tracy… he did have one or two comedy hits under his belt such as ‘Libeled Lady’, but that one was many years earlier. Anyway, I do love them together in this and I like your description of them sparring like tennis pros!
The type of thespian that Hepburn was, and also being incredibly well read and part of a family that held the art of conversation as the supreme art-form, Hepburn is a blistering personality in dialoque driven plays and films. Her delivery is lightning paced but secure as her passion was for the words and allowing her emtotions taint every word she spoke. I have seen interviews with her and she was an increidibly fast, precise talker and monologist. She was truly endowed with a sense of security in her own personality and this comes through in every great performance and monologue she ever gave (and I know of few that were less than great). Frankly, I think she ate these kinds of scripts, like ADAM’S RIB and BRINGIN UP BABY, for breakfast. She enveloped everything that came her way.
This is why I think Cate Blanchett’s turn as Kate in THE AVIATOR is a great one as she masters Hepburns voracious consumption of words and dialogue and pontificates an aire of pure intellect in recrerating her on screen. It had to be a daunting task for Blanchett to tackle one of the supreme heavyweights of screen acting and one of the most revered in all of film.
I love it when Tracy slaps the thoroughbred (Hepburn) on her ass, er, I mean flank — Hepburn’s reaction is so pricelessly startled-looking, I’d almost bet that ‘love tap’ was improvised by Tracy.
Fine post, Judy, on a film I cherish, probably the best of the Tracy-Hepburn comedy brawls, though ‘Pat & Mike’ comes close.
(By the way, some film fans hang their hate for ‘Adam’s Rib’ on what they perceive as the portrayal of a ‘self-loathing homosexual’ by David Wayne, especially when he snipes sarcastically at the Bonners’ home movies. They presume gay director Cukor is venting his own self-hatred through the Wayne character. This kind of delving gets too sociopolitical for me, especially in a farce from way back in the 1940s: let’s just call Wayne ‘sexually ambiguous’ and sit back and enjoy the fireworks between Tracy and Hepburn).
By the way, I wonder if the first paragraph makes me a sexist pig?
Again, a terrific post loaded with fascinating backstory.
Mark, I liked ‘Pat and Mike’, but don’t remember it all that well – funnily enough, ‘Woman of the Year’ sticks in my mind far more even though, or maybe because, some sections of it infuriated me. That’s interesting to know about critical reactions to David Wayne’s character – I hadn’t seen him as self-loathing, but I would be interested to read more about this point of view. I think he has a good point in sniping at the home movies, anyway, as they are really very self-satisfied and one of the sections which could be accused of ‘cosiness’ – though it is a lot of fun to see Hepburn and Tracy deliberately acting badly. Thanks very much.
I’d almost bet that ‘love tap’ was improvised by Tracy.
I bet your correct, Mark — and I also suspect you’re great fun in bed!
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL!!!!!! That killed me!
I love Judy Holliday’s confession scene – one of my favourite movie scenes EVER. Thanks for providing so much juicy background info on this movie. Well done!
I agree that Judy Holliday’s confession scene is wonderful. Thanks very much!
It makes sense to me that this is always the one that makes these lists, but my favorite has always been DESK SET. ADAM’S RIB may be the best in a lot of ways but some of the dated pieces leave something of a bad taste in my mouth. Tracy’s character is a little hard to like in this film when he’s making his last stands against women’s liberation and channeling his misogyny against the pianist. A great film, but it can be a little too mean spirited for my tastes.
As someone who rated this film very highly, I must nevertheless say you make a good observation, Blauriche. Cultural context can be a tricky thing to deal with. Desk Set is less biting in that regard. And even though I feel Adam’s Rib has a better script, the latter film features the additional charms of Gig Young and Joan Blondell.
Blauriche, thank you very much for your comment. While ‘Adam’s Rib’ is my favourite, I do also really like ‘Desk Set’ and agree that it doesn’t have the same level of misogyny – both Tracy and Hepburn have very endearing roles in that, and I love the scenes with the early computer. Plus, as Pierre says, Blondell and Young give great support.