Pat and Mike **** (1952, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray, William Ching) – Classic Movie Review 3853

Husband-and-wife writing team Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon’s screenplay for director George Cukor’s 1952 feminist sports comedy with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn is a quiet winner. It is the seventh of the nine films to star Tracy and Hepburn.

Tracy plays a slightly dodgy sporting promoter / manager named Mike Conovan. Hepburn and Aldo Ray play two of his clients, the brilliant all-round athlete Pat Pemberton, a college physical education teacher, and a jealous dumb boxer called Davie Hucko. Pat gets flustered at the ladies’ golf championship by the looming presence of her domineering, arrogant fiancé (William Ching), who just wants them to get married, and so she enlists Mike’s help.

It may not be in the class of Adam’s Rib, which came from the same team in 1949, but it is amusing anyway and Tracy and Hepburn are engaging. A young Charles Bronson, billed as Buchinski, is in the cast as Henry ‘Hank’ Tasling. When the Sheriff orders Hank to jail, the guard says ‘Let’s go Buchinski’ instead of Hank. Various sports stars of the day pop in to add authenticity and allure.

Also in the cast are William Ching, Sammy White, George Matthews, Chuck Connors (in his film debut), Jim Backus, Carl Switzer, William Self, Phyllis Povah, Frankie Darro, Mae Clarke and Frank Richards.

In real life, Hepburn was a keen and expert golfer and tennis player, which inspired Gordon and Kanin to write the script.

It proved the fourth billed William Ching’s film career highlight and he did not find such an important role in a quality film like this again.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3853

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