Pat and Mike
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Pat and Mike
Plot
Pat (Katharine Hepburn), a college phys-ed instructor, enters into professional competition as a golf and tennis player. Mike (Spencer Tracy), a likeable but unscrupulous sports promoter, first attempts to bribe Pat to lose, but later becomes her manager. Pat performs brilliantly until her insufferable fiance Collier West (William Ching) shows up; West always manages to make Pat so nervous that she can't win to save her life. At long last, West walks out, having found Pat in a compromising situation with Mike. Though she'd previously kept her distance from Mike, Pat suddenly realizes that she's fallen in love with him and--after a few crooked gamblers are disposed of--Pat and Mike become partners on a permanent basis. Pat & Mike reunited Tracy and Hepburn with their favorite director, George Cukor, and their favorite scenarists, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Watch for real-life golf and tennis champs Gussie Moran, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Don Budge, Alice Marble, Frank Parker, Betty Hicks, Helen Dettweilerand Beverly Hanson as "themselves" -- and also keep an eye out for ex-ballplayer Chuck Connors, making his acting debut as a highway patrolman. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviReview
This frothy Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn vehicle makes perhaps the best use ever of the actress' athletic prowess. It also makes pretty great use of the offscreen couple's well-known onscreen chemistry, resulting in a delightful sports comedy that puts the emphasis on the laughs while also rendering the scenes of Hepburn putting and volleying enjoyable -- even to those who abhor athletics. With her brittle East Coast persona, it's hard to stomach Hepburn as a California outdoorswoman, but if you can forget verisimilitude (hey, maybe she's a transplant), then the picture's a lightweight winner. From the hilarious early scene where a flustered Hepburn tells off a matronly golf aficionado by spitting out insults and strutting her stuff on the driving range to the extended sequence where she transforms Tracy into a damsel in distress, Pat and Mike is full of first-rate humor that plays off the actors' images while also injecting some novelty into the formula. A by-the-books subplot involving gangsters at least drives the plot and provides some laughs; but Aldo Ray's character, a dim-witted boxer, was a dried-up joke even in 1952. Still, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin provide a remarkably economical script that fits celebrity cameos, sports footage, slowly dawning romance, and feminist dignity into a short (by today's standards) 95 minutes. Director George Cukor impressively fuses romantic comedy briskness with sports journalism and slapstick, even veering off into a memorable scene that plays like a bad acid trip on the tennis court. Adam's Rib may be regarded as the zenith of the Hepburn/Tracy union, but Pat and Mike ranks up there, too. ~ Brian J. Dillard, RoviCast
- Spencer Tracy - Mike Conovan
- Katharine Hepburn - Pat Pemberton
- Aldo Ray - Davie Hucko
- Jim Backus - Charles Barry
- William Ching - Collier Weld
- Sammy White - Barney Grau
Credit
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Urie McCleary - Art Director, Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer, George Cukor - Director, George Boemler - Editor, David Raksin - Composer (Music Score), William J. Tuttle - Makeup, William H. Daniels - Cinematographer, Lawrence Weingarten - Producer, Hugh Hunt - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Warren Newcombe - Special Effects, Douglas Shearer - Sound/Sound Designer, Ruth Gordon - Screenwriter, Garson Kanin - Screenwriter| Pat Travers: Hooked on Music (Film), Pat Travers: Boom Boom - Live at the Diamond Toronto 1990 (1990 Film) | |
| Pat the Bunny: Playdates (2007 Film), Patagonia (2010 Film) |
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Pat and Mike
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Pat and Mike
| Pat and Mike | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | George Cukor |
| Produced by | Lawrence Weingarten |
| Written by | Ruth Gordon Garson Kanin |
| Starring |
Spencer Tracy Jim Backus Sammy White Charles Bronson |
| Music by | David Raksin |
| Cinematography | William H. Daniels |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | June 13, 1952 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.1 million (US)[1] |
Pat and Mike is a 1952 comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. The movie was directed by George Cukor, who also directed The Philadelphia Story and Adam's Rib.
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Contents
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Plot
Pat Pemberton (Hepburn) is a brilliant athlete, except when her domineering fiancé is around. The ladies golf championship is in her reach until she gets flustered by his presence at the final holes. He wants them to get married and forget the whole thing, but she cannot give up on herself that easily. She enlists the help of Mike Conovan (Tracy), a slightly shady sports promoter. Together they face mobsters, a jealous boxer (Aldo Ray), and a growing mutual attraction.
Production and Filming
Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon were close friends of Hepburn and Tracy, and had the idea of writing a film to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities. She was an avid golfer and tennis player, and indeed performed all the sports footage in the film herself.
Pat and Mike was filmed on location around Los Angeles with many golfing scenes taking place at the Riviera Country Club. Additional scenes were filmed at Occidental College. Many notable athletes played cameo roles or play themselves in the film, including golfers Babe Zaharias, Betty Hicks, and Helen Dettweiler, and tennis champions Don Budge, Gussie Moran and Alice Marble. Other notables in the cast include Charles Bronson (credited as Charles Buchinsky), Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Jim Backus, and, in his film debut, Chuck Connors of "The Rifleman."
Music
The score for the film was composed and conducted by David Raksin, with orchestrations by Robert Franklyn and Ruby Raksin.[2] Of his music, Raksin said "My music was sly and a mite jazzy, and despite the fact that everyone seemed to like it, so did I."[3]
The complete score was issued on cd in 2009, on Film Score Monthly records.
References
- ^ 'Variety Film Grosses of 1952', Film Data of 1952 accessed 11 May 1952
- ^ Bettencourt, Scott (2009) (CD online notes). David Raksin at MGM (1950-1957). David Raksin. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.: Film Score Monthly. Vol. 12, No. 2. http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/pat_and_mike.html.
- ^ Bradford, Marilee (2009) (CD liner notes). David Raksin at MGM (1950-1957). David Raksin. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.: Film Score Monthly. pp. 18. Vol. 12, No. 2.
External links
- Pat and Mike at the Internet Movie Database
- Pat and Mike at AllRovi
- Pat and Mike at the TCM Movie Database
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