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da ([personal profile] da) wrote2008-07-11 11:14 pm
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Film Review: "Pat and Mike"

Earlier this week when I was working on my paper d. got Pat and Mike to keep him company. Well I'm glad he didn't watch it then, because this is a Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy movie I liked more than Adam's Rib.

Kate plays a "girl athlete" and Spencer plays her manager; the inevitable happens, but not quite as you'd expect given the standard formula. There's a handshake, near the end, that had me nearly dying with laughter.

Oh, and there's the scene where Kate shoves Spencer aside in order to very effectively beat up a pair of mobsters. Then we get the reenactment for the police, where she does it again, very prim and upper-crust.

And there's the jealous other guy, and the other jealous guy, who happens to be the very attractive young boxer who Spencer still manages but isn't paying attention to, now that he's got the "girl dynamo." Great chemistry all around, and fairly real characters, if a bit flat.

But I wish they still made movies with as much overall panache.

I should start a collection, top-notch feminist movies from the 50s. This, and Adams Rib, and... hm.