The Film Junkie

I have seen many Tracy-Hepburn movies over the years, and for the most part I have preferred Katharine Hepburn with Cary Grant, that is until I saw this pre-feminist take on equality in America.

It follows the two as married lawyers who take the opposite sides of a case, she defending a scorned wife who shot but did not kill her husband, and he as the Deputy DA.  Judy Holliday is fantastic as the wife who takes revenge.  She represents the kind of women many Americans thought they had to be.  The kind of lady who believes smoking is “unfeminine”.  She completely messes up the shooting of her husband, but fully admits to it thinking she can just return home since he was not killed.

The film quickly becomes a battle between traditional men and the “new woman”.  A marriage that once worked is tested by the fundamental ideas that the two clash on.  However the best part of this film is that, unlike so many ‘equality’ minded films of the time, the “new woman” never backs down.  She never loses her fire to appease her husband, but works to change his mind. 

In this film, Hepburn is a woman to be reckoned with.  Her character raises so many critical ideas that helped to change the world over 20 years later.  I am stunned by how ahead of its time this film was.  Great script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin.

Grade: A