hyped garbage

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

In their seventh on screen pairing, Katharine Hepburn and her real-life sweetie-pie Spencer Tracy join forces in the sports romance Pat and Mike. Kate's the athletic pro, a master at golf, tennis, and self-defense, and Spence is a rough-around-the-edges manager. This is reportedly Kate's favorite of the movies she made with Spence, and for her fans, it's great fun to watch her in her famous masculinity. The woman who dared to wear trousers in the 1930s is in her prime swinging her golf club, prancing around in her tennis clothes, talking about boxing with Aldo Ray.The famous line from Pat and Mike is when Spencer Tracy looks at Katharine Hepburn and says to his friend, "Not much meat on her, but what's there is choice." It's right after he supposes she hasn't been properly "handled" and she answers, "That's right. Not even by myself." Although the implications in that line are explicit, the script gets away with the innuendo by referring to Kate's athletic career and Spence's offer to be her manager and "handle" her career.There are some pretty fun moments in this one, even though my favorite of Kate and Spence is Adam's Rib, so it's definitely worth a watch if you're a fan of them. Also, if you like sports movies, you might want to pick this one up since there weren't too many sports films made back in the classic era.

I'm not really a sports fan and watching it on TV, especially golf is just a bit of a no-no. Therefore, that side of things wasn't going to keep me hooked.What does, of course is the famous Hepburn/Tracy coupling and every scene that they're in has that rare chemistry these days - of people on the same wavelength, actually liking each other. The fact that that is underestimating it, to say the least would not surprise the viewer who didn't know at the time and delight further those who did.Neither one is my favourite actor, by quite a long way but together there's an easy, natural charm that makes a story - almost any story tick along like a Swiss watch. It's quite daft in places, possibly adding to its charm and is largely forgettable, though the premise of a female tennis and golf pro needing a shot in the arm by a cynical coach is now no longer new, it must have seemed fresh exactly 60 years ago.It's great also to see Charles Bronson in his first feature, though he's listed as Charles Buchinski. There's also Hepburn's distracting and pest of a fiancée, played by William Ching and a rather stupid boxer that Tracy has on his books, played by Aldo Ray.This isn't the greatest pairing of the couple ever made but a good one and I watched this DVD as part of the Tracy & Hepburn Collection, the others in it being Keeper of the Flame, Woman of the Year and Adam's Rib.

Widow golfer, college coach and all-around smarty pants Katharine Hepburn (as Patricia "Pat" Pemberton) is engaged to administrator William Ching (as Collier Weld) until sports agent Spencer Tracy (as Mike Conovan) admires her swing. She's "frazzled" by her fiancé, but Ms. Hepburn is confident and successful under Mr. Tracy's tutelage. This results in Hepburn messing up golf and tennis shots when Mr. Ching is watching. You might want to bet on romance blooming between Tracy and Hepburn...The film is full of familiar faces. You may recognize a caddy, bartender, busboy and policeman - half of them fighting in an amusing scene with Tracy, Hepburn and Charles Bronson...Featured supporting actor Aldo Ray (as David "Davie" Hucko) makes a memorable impression as Tracy's slow-witted boxer. Sammy White and George Matthews are good in smaller roles. The comedy situation is slight, and some of it is as exciting as watching golf - but at least Hepburn is playing. Director George Cukor with writers Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, the winning team from "Adam's Rib" (1949), knew how to score with Tracy and Hepburn. There may be fewer points here, but it's still a win.****** Pat and Mike (6/13/52) George Cukor ~ Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Aldo Ray, William Ching

There's no doubt that Tracy and Hepburn are the best male/female film duo of all time. They had chemistry like Doritos and an Ice cold glass of Milk. This film I must say wasn't even close to their best offerings.Right off the bat, within the first 5 minutes, we go from her fiancé' wants her to throw a golf match so the other couple will finance a wing to a school or sumthin. Immediately after this we get her involved in a golf tournament and she wants to prove herself. Hepburn is so manic throughout this film it starts to get irritating after a while. I mean she's so confident about her sporting skills but when her fiancé' shows up she's a mess. How bout telling him to buzz off? By the time this film was made Hepburn was well into her 40's, she was no spring chicken so for me or anyone to believe she was winning one tennis match after another lacks a bit of credibility.Obviously the studios knew this would be a winner because of the success of their earlier films but this one, your better off with State of the Union or Woman of the Year or even Desk Set. This one was just, for lack of a better word,....flat.