Posted: Mon., Dec. 31, 1951, 11:00pm PT

Pat and Mike

By Variety Staff

M-G-M. Director George Cukor; Producer Lawrence Weingarten; Screenplay Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin; Camera William Daniels; Editor George Boemler; Music David Raksin; Art Director Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary

Spencer Tracy Katharine Hepburn Aldo Ray William Ching Sammy White George Mathews

The smooth-working team of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn spark the fun in Pat and Mike. Hepburn is quite believable as a femme athlete taken under the wing of promoter Tracy. Actress, as a college athletic instructor engaged to eager-beaver prof William Ching, enters an amateur golf tournament to prove to herself and to Ching that she is good. Deed attracts the attention of Tracy, who quick-talks her into signing a pro contract for a number of sports.

Film settles down to a series of laugh sequences of training, exhibitions and cross-country tours in which Hepburn proves to be a star.

Tracy is given some choice lines in the script and makes much of them in an easy, throwaway style that lifts the comedy punch.

1952: Nomination: BestStory & Screenplay

(B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1952. Running time: 94 MIN.