Mademoiselle Gagne-Tout

During a friendship that last many years, Tracy and Hepburn made many movies together and this is a good example of the chemistry that existed between them. In this movie, directed by George Cukor, Hepburn plays an athlete who comes under the management of a small town sports promoter in Mike Conovan, played by Tracy. In the role of Pat Pemberton, Hepburn is a free-spirited woman with spunk and personality. Mike has a number of colorful characters as his clients. One of the gags lands the group in a police station explaining their actions to a puzzled sheriff, played Chuck Conners. The acting is good all round.

The golf game between Pat and Babe Zaharias (outstanding golf pro in real life) translates beautifully to the screen with the crowd moving from green to green, golfers teeing off, putting and shooting into the rough. A very good movie, entertaining from start to finish, and a good chance to see Tracy and Hepburn in action.

Pat and Mike must have been a pleasure for Katharine Hepburn to make because she got to show off her athletic ability which was considerable. Had she not decided to pursue a thespian career, Hepburn could have gone into either tennis or golf, she was good at both or any of the other sports named which she actually played. Later on as she entered the ranks of senior citizens, health problems curtailed her athleticism.

But she's having a whale of a good time her and playing with some of the best women athletes of the 20th century.

Hepburn's a college professor who's leading a rather dull life with a rather dull bore of a sweetheart in William Ching, who in a subtle way, belittles her.

In a rather unorthodox way she meets Spencer Tracy, a sports agent who very narrowly treads the line between the legal and the illegal. She makes a believer out of him that you actually can make decent money legally.

The usual Tracy/Hepburn charm is running on all cylinders. Pat and Mike ranks in the upper division of their screen teamings. I'd say that this was more her film than his though.

A lot of familiar faces are in the cast. Look for Charles Bronson playing a hood and Chuck Connors playing a small town sheriff. Both of them make themselves noticed here which led to long careers for the two of them.

In this disappointing follow-up to the excellent "Adam's Rib," Hepburn plays a multi-sport athlete who is managed and promoted by Tracy. There are two funny scenes: one involving a tennis match and another where Hepburn slugs a couple of goons to protect Tracy. The other ninety percent of this supposed comedy is devoid of laughs and there is little plot. Cukor can't overcome the witless script by Gordon and Kanin. In fact he makes matters worse by inserting extended sport sequences, particularly golf, that are neither funny nor exciting. The film provides early roles for Bronson, Backus, and Connors, as well as the opportunity to see various famed tennis and golf stars.

According to film lore, writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin were inspired to write PAT AND MIKE when they realized that Katherine Hepburn was a near-professional-level golfer and tennis player. The result is a sprightly tale of a college physical education teacher named Pat (Hepburn) who turns pro with the help of a slightly shady promoter manager named Mike (Tracy.)

As always, Tracy and Hepburn make for an engaging pair, and the supporting cast is crammed with memorable faces, including Jim Backus, Chuck Conners, a very young Charles Bronson, and even Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer--and every one plays with the same charming touch. The sports scenes also gives sports fans a glimpse at such legendary athletes as Babe Didrikson Zaharias. But the real interest here is the script itself: in an era noted for sexism, PAT AND MIKE is flatly feminist, and the story finds Hepburn first rebelling against fiancé William Ching's "little woman" mentality and then straightening out Spenser Tracy on the same point--and in one of the film's most memorable scenes, Hepburn effectively shoves Tracy aside to beat up two men who threaten him!

Given the nature of its story, PAT AND MIKE spends quite a lot of time on the golf course and the tennis courts, and those who have little interest in sports may not find it to their taste; that said, in spite of its many charms, the film isn't really in the same league with Tracy and Hepburn's ADAM'S RIB. Still, fans of the screen team will enjoy it quite a bit, and even purely casual viewers will have a good time.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The seventh pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn focuses on the sports world with Hepburn playing Pat Pemberton, an all-around athlete hoping to go professional. To do that, she needs the help of a sports manager, a tough and savvy Irishman, Mike Conovan. Here, Hepburn plays the more delicate character as she is apparently unable to perform at her best when her fiancée (William Ching) is around. This of course leads to the typical pairing of the two leads as well as Pat realizing who she really needs to be with.

This was a very mediocre film, barely following a serious plot and stretching it just enough to be able to see some nice footage of Hepburn playing Babe Didrickson at golf as well as playing some indoor tennis. I never knew Hepburn was so athletic, especially at her age of filming this, but she did practically all of these scenes herself and proves that she was a capable athlete as well as actress. And although this wasn't as good a film as Adam's Rib, I liked Tracy a lot more in this role than that one. Here, he was much more likable as well as clever and sarcastic. There is a great scene when he describes to Hepburn how he runs his business and why he is so strict on how he runs the relationship between manager and athlete.

The supporting cast is mediocre as well with Ching as the helpless fiancée, Aldo Ray as a dim-witted boxer and Jim Backus as a golf store attendant. The only real reason to watch this at all is to admire the chemistry Tracy and Hepburn shared as well as admire the athletic ability Hepburn had all her life. It isn't their best work, but Tracy is very good and somewhat elevates the material better than it could be if another actor was in that role. This is also a testament to the fine actor Tracy was as his health started to decline after this. If only he could have remained healthy a little longer he could have extended his legacy as one of the best actors America has ever seen.