Other Titles • Pat and Mike (1952) • Pat und Mike (1952)
Synopses for Pat and Mike (1952)
1.
Kate plays Pat Pemberton, a college physical education teacher who excels at just about every sport there is. She's also a great athletic competitor, except when her overbearing, worrywart fiancé, Collier Weld, is around. (As Weld, William Ching does an admirable job in a thankless role.) All Pat has to do is see Collier's face on the sidelines and her golf swing loses its power; her tennis game goes haywire. It takes crooked sports manager Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy, of course) to recognize Pat's outstanding talent. He takes her on as his most important client and handles her with the same loving care that he gives to his favorite racehorse. Naturally, Pat and Mike's relationship is destined to overstep its professional boundaries. The mutual attraction grows from the moment they meet. Watching Pat walk away, Mike comments to his partner, "Not much meat on her, but what's there is 'cherce'."
The film carries a powerful feminist message, especially considering that it was made in the early 1950s: Pat is undone by Collier, who would rather have her stick to being "the little woman" and forget about succeeding. But with Mike in her corner, Pat can have a great career. Her union with him is a true partnership; everything is, as he says, "Five-oh, five-oh." In the end, he's secure enough to be comfortable as "the man behind the woman." The film features terrific comic performances by Aldo Ray as a bone-headed boxer, a young Charles Bronson (before he changed his name from Buchinski) as a small-time gangster, and Our Gang's Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as a high-strung bus boy. --Laura Mirsky
2.
One of the most engaging George Cukor comedies, this was the director’s eighth and last film with Katharine Hepburn. With exceptionally witty dialogue (the Kanin/Gordon script got an Academy Award nomination), PAT AND MIKE was tailor made for its two stars, presenting a picture of sexual politics far ahead of its time. The film tells the story of the unlikely professional and romantic relationship between a classy female golfer and a street smart sports promoter. Pat Pemberton (Katharine Hepburn) is a physical education teacher who, entering a golf tournament, is approached by Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy), a sports promoter and manager. Impressed by her game, he convinces her to sign a pro contract to compete in various sporting competitions. Now it is Mike’s task to get Pat into professional shape. Hepburn did all of her own golfing in the finished film. Appearing in the movie as themselves were some of the most celebrated sportswomen of the era, including golfer Babe Didriksen Zaharias and tennis star "Gorgeous" Gussie Moran.
3.
The sun will sneak by a rooster before sports promoter Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy) lets opportunity pass him by. So the first time he sees genteel Pat Pemberton (Katharine Hepburn) swing a five-iron, he decides to ink her to a pro contract. "Not much meat on her," Mike later says, "but what's there is cherce."
For this chercest of romantic comedies, George Cukor directs, Ruth Gordon and Garon Kanin provide the Oscar-nominated screenplay and a deft cat plays various Damon Runyonesque types, including Aldo Ray as a dim-bulb palooka and Charles (Bronson) Buchinski as a tough guy who finds Pat tougher. Sports stars of the day (Like Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gussie Moran) add to the Jocks-and-Jills fun. Let the games begin!
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