Review of Adam's Rib (1949) by Devon B — 27 Feb 2009
Two married lawyers each represent a side in a domestic abuse case in this pre-feminist "battle of the sexes" movie. A woman follows her two-timing husband and blindly fires at him and his mistress, wounding the husband.
Lawyer Adam feels it's a cut-and-dried murder case, and he intends to uphold the law. Lawyer Amanda feels it's a double standard, that a man acting out of passion and shooting at a wife and her lover wouldn't get an attempted murder rap.
It's a sign of a well-written movie that both sides of the argument are so well-thought out. The husband and wife are upscale intellectuals, a 50/50 marriage, but the trial slowly begins to corrode their marriage.
It doesn't help when songwriter, across-the-hall neighbor Kip is pretty blatently throwing himself at Amanda. He evens writes a song about her that becomes an overnight hit, much to Adam's chagrin.
The interaction between Tracy and Hepburn is at times, brilliant. Watching Tracy slowly burn as Hepburn's enraged idealism prevents him from getting a word in edgewise is one of the movie's best moments.
The courtroom aspect is not so out of line as to be unbelievable, (even for the 1940s), and the proto-feminist message is surprisingly realistic (especially for the 1940s). "Adam's Rib" is a genuine classic, and probably the best of the Tracy-Hepburn movies.
This review of Adam's Rib (1949) was written by Devon B on 27 Feb 2009.
Adam's Rib has generally received very positive reviews.
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