Adam's Rib
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Adam's Rib
Plot
Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Adam's Rib is a peerless comedy predicated on the double standard. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner, a husband-and-wife attorney team, both drawn to a case of attempted murder. The defendant (Judy Holliday) had tearfully attempted to shoot her husband (Tom Ewell) and his mistress (Jean Hagen). Adam argues that the case is open and shut, but Amanda points out that, if the defendant were a man, he'd be set free on the basis of "the unwritten law." Thus it is that Adam works on behalf of the prosecution, while Amanda defends the accused woman. The trial turns into a media circus, while the Bonners' home life suffers. Adam's Rib represented the film debuts of New York-based actors Jean Hagen, Tom Ewell, and David Wayne (as Hepburn's erstwhile songwriting suitor), and the return to Hollywood of Judy Holliday after her Born Yesterday triumph. One of the best of the Tracy-Hepburn efforts, it inspired a brief 1973 TV series starring Ken Howard and Blythe Danner. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin's witty and intelligent script (despite many improbabilities, such as the conflict of interest in having a husband and wife contest the same case, and the plausibility-defying circus-like theatrics that Amanda deploys in the courtroom) propels this funny and barbed courtroom comedy. The legal and gender-fueled debates at the center of the film may seem somewhat antiquated today, but the intelligence and wit that inform much of the film's dialogue are still surprisingly fresh. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn share an onscreen ease and familiarity usually reserved for long-married couples. Ironically -- given that the film is about the legal ramifications of a woman's shooting of her philandering husband -- they had become an extramarital item themselves by the time this film was being made. Judy Holliday gives an unexpectedly affecting performance as the woman wronged, while bug-eyed Tom Ewell is solid as her weasel-like philandering husband. However, David Wayne as the lascivious piano composer/neighbor of the feuding legal eagles gives the most impressive supporting performance. His best line? "Lawyers should never marry other lawyers. This is called inbreeding, from which comes idiot children and more lawyers." Technically, the film is very conventional. Outside of the opening sequences, in which George Cukor's camera roams the busy streets of rush hour New York, the film has a stage-like feel, with static shots of the battling spouses dominating the proceedings. Perhaps Cukor didn't want to distract us from the real star of the show, the clever and insightful Kanin/Gordon script. ~ Dan Jardine, RoviCast
- Spencer Tracy - Adam Bonner
- Katharine Hepburn - Amanda Bonner
- Judy Holliday - Doris Attinger
- Tom Ewell - Warren Attinger
- David Wayne - Kip Lurie
Credit
William Ferrari - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer, George Cukor - Director, George Boemler - Editor, Miklos Rozsa - Composer (Music Score), Jack Dawn - Makeup, George Folsey - Cinematographer, Lawrence Weingarten - Producer, Henry W. Grace - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Arnold A. Gillespie - Special Effects, Douglas Shearer - Sound/Sound Designer, Ruth Gordon - Screenwriter, Garson Kanin - Screenwriter| Adam's Rib (1923 Film), Adam's Apples (2005 Film) | |
| Adam's Wall (2008 Film), Adam's Woman (1970 Film) |
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Adam's Rib
For other uses, see Adam's Rib (disambiguation).
| Adam's Rib | |
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 theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | George Cukor |
| Produced by | Lawrence Weingarten |
| Written by | Ruth Gordon Garson Kanin |
| Starring | Spencer Tracy Katharine Hepburn |
| Music by | Miklós Rózsa Cole Porter |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
| Editing by | George Boemler |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.75 million (US)[1] |
Adam's Rib is a 1949 American film written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin and directed by George Cukor. It stars Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn as married lawyers who come to oppose each other in court. Judy Holliday co-stars in her first substantial film role. The music was composed by Miklós Rózsa, except for the song "Farewell, Amanda", which was written by Cole Porter.
The film was well-received upon its release and is considered a classic romantic comedy.
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Plot
Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) follows her husband (Tom Ewell) with a gun one day and sees that he is having an affair with another woman (Jean Hagen). In her rage, she fires at the couple multiple times. One of the bullets hits her husband in the arm.
The following morning, married lawyers, Adam and Amanda Bonner (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) read about the incident in the newspaper. The two argue over the case; Amanda sympathizes with the girl, particularly noting the double standard that exists for men and women regarding adultery, while Adam thinks she is guilty of attempted murder. When Adam arrives at work, he finds that he has been assigned the case (on the side of the prosecution). When Amanda hears this, she seeks out Doris and, to Adam's dismay, becomes her defense lawyer.
Amanda bases her case on the belief that women and men are equal, and that Doris had been forced into the situation through her husband's poor treatment. Adam feels she is showing a disregard for the law as there should never be an excuse for such behavior. Tension increasingly builds at home as the couple battle each other in court. The situation comes to a head when Amanda humiliates Adam during the trial, having her female witness pick him up, and Adam later storms out of their house. When the verdict for the trial comes in, Amanda's plea to the jury to "judge this case as you would if the sexes were reversed" proves successful, and Doris is found not guilty.
That night, Adam sees Amanda and their neighbor Kip (David Wayne), who has shown a clear interest in Amanda, together through the window. He breaks into the apartment, pointing a gun at the pair. Amanda is horrified, and says to Adam "You've no right to do this, nobody does!", which satisfies Adam as he feels he has proven his point about the injustice of Amanda's line of defense. He then puts the gun in his mouth, to which Amanda and Kip scream, but Adam merely bites down on it—the gun was made of liquorice. Amanda is furious with this prank, and a three-way fight ensues.
The couple is reluctantly reunited for a meeting with their accountant, where they talk about their relationship in the past tense. They soon become sad when talking about the farm they own, and realize how they love each other. They go to the farm, where Adam announces that he has been selected as the Republican nominee for County Court Judge. Amanda jokes about running for the role as the Democratic candidate.
Cast
- Spencer Tracy as Adam Bonner
- Katharine Hepburn as Amanda Bonner
- Judy Holliday as Doris Attinger
- Tom Ewell as Warren Francis Attinger
- David Wayne as Kip Lurie
- Jean Hagen as Beryl Caighn
- Hope Emerson as Olympia La Pere
- Eve March as Grace
- Clarence Kolb as Judge Reiser
- Polly Moran as Mrs. McGrath
- Will Wright as Judge Marcasson
- Madge Blake as Mrs. Bonner, Adam's Mother
- Marvin Kaplan as court stenographer (uncredited)
Production
The film was written specifically as a Tracy-Hepburn vehicle (their sixth film together) by friends of the couple, Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon. The pair, who were married to each other, got their inspiration for the story from the real life case of William and Dorothy Whitney, who were married lawyers who ended up divorcing and marrying their respective clients in a case. Kanin saw great potential in the idea of married lawyers as adversaries, and the plot for Adam's Rib was developed. The original title for the film was Man and Wife, but the MGM front office quickly vetoed it as dangerously indiscreet.[2]
Hepburn and Kanin encouraged Judy Holliday to play the role of Doris in the movie, which was used by Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn as a screen test for the chance to re-create on film her Broadway success in Kanin's play Born Yesterday. Receiving positive notices for Adam's Rib, Holliday was cast in the 1950 film version of Born Yesterday, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
It has been noted that in several scenes of the film, there are unusually long takes, where the camera does not move for minutes at a time. Most of these scenes happen when the principal characters are arguing.[3]
Awards and honors
Ruth Gordon (later of Rosemary's Baby and Harold and Maude fame) and Garson Kanin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1950.
In the decades since the film's release, it has attracted the esteem of many critics. In 1992, Adam's Rib was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4]
American Film Institute Lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - Nominated[5]
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - #22
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - Nominated[6]
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated[7]
- AFI's 10 Top 10 - #7 Romantic Comedy [8] (Also Nominated Courtroom Drama[9])
AFI has also honored the film's stars, naming Katharine Hepburn the greatest American screen legend among females, and Spencer Tracy #9 among males.
TV adaptation
Main article: Adam's Rib (TV series)
Adam's Rib was adapted as a television sitcom in 1973, with Ken Howard and Blythe Danner. The series was canceled after 13 episodes.
Notes
- ^ 'Variety Film Grosses for 1950', Film Data for 1950 accessed 8 May 2012
- ^ Kanin, Garson (1971). Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir. New York: Viking. pp. 154–155. ISBN 0-670-72293-6.
- ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 163. ISBN Not Given.
- ^ "National Film Registry". Library of Congress, accessed October 28, 2011.
- ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees
- ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees
- ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Ballot
- ^ "AFI's 10 Top 10". American Film Institute. 2008-06-17. http://www.afi.com/10top10/romanticcomedy.html. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
- ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
External links
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