Pat and Mike
By Kit Macdonald
Written by the legendary husband-and-wife team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, George Cukor's comedy Pat and Mike blends sport, gender politics and screwball charm into a delightfully witty romantic comedy that has stood the test of time since its release in 1952. Katharine Hepburn plays Pat Pemberton, a talented athlete excelling in tennis and golf, and Spencer Tracy is Mike Conovan, a tough sports promoter with a soft heart. The Hepburn-Tracy chemistry was at its most playful and natural here.
The many sport sequences – a perennially difficult thing for filmmakers to render convincingly on screen – are lent much authenticity by Hepburn's very real athleticism, and cameos from real sports stars such as golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias and tennis champion Don Budge do a lot for the cause too. A light-hearted and surprisingly progressive entry in the Tracy-Hepburn canon.