His Girl Friday, Adam's Rib, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The War of the Roses

Quadruple The Battle of the Sexes!

Elemen paling penting dalam sebuah film adalah konflik. Dan tidak ada konflik yang lebih natural daripada konflik antara pria dan wanita -- sebelum Dr. John Gray menulis buku larisnya yang berjudul “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” penulis lagu George Gershwin dan Ira Gershwin sudah menuangkan konflik tersebut dalam lirik lagunya yang kira-2 seperti ini:

“You say either, I say eyether,
 you say neither, I say nyther;
 You like potayto, I like potahto,
 you like tomayto, I like tomahto;”

membuat The Battle of the Sexes tema yang sering diangkat menjadi film. Campuran antara satire dan komedi, ditandai dengan script yang ketat dan dialog yang tajam, empat film berikut ini dijamin membangkitkan tawa, sekaligus self-criticism, kepada penonton.

1) His Girl Friday (1940)

Mengetahui bekas istrinya, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), akan menikah lagi dan meninggalkan kariernya sebagai reporter jagoan, Walter Burns (Cary Grant) -- yang masih mencintainya -- dengan segala cara berusaha menyabotase rencana tersebut dengan mengiming-2i dia untuk melakukan reportase terakhir tentang berita besar eksekusi Earl Williams (John Qualen).

Dengan dialog yang tajam, tetapi lucu, dan super cepat (subtitle sebaiknya di-“on”-kan!), His Girl Friday adalah screwball comedy dengan kecepatan tinggi. Karakter-2nya nampak karikaturis, namun demikian memang itulah yang diinginkan penulis cerita film ini. Di bawah arahan Howard Hawk, seluruh cast menyadari hal tersebut dan menampilkan akting yang hard, brittle, strained to the breaking point, bahkan lebih dari titik zenith tersebut -- mereka seakan-2 menunggu kamera berhenti merekam sehingga mereka bisa jatuh pingsan ke lantai karena kecapekan.

Film klasik yang tetap “menggigit” walaupun sudah lebih dari 70 tahun sejak release perdananya.

2) Adam's Rib (1949)

Seorang istri membuntuti suaminya dan menemukan dia menyeleweng dengan wanita lain. Dalam keadaan emosional sang istri menembakkan pistolnya ke arah mereka -- salah satu dari pelurunya mengenai bahu suaminya. Sang istri ditangkap dan dijatuhi tuduhan usaha pembunuhan. Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy), asisten jaksa wilayah, memperoleh tugas menjadi jaksa penuntut dalam kasus tersebut. Mendengar suaminya menjadi jaksa penuntut, Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn), seorang advokat, yang bersimpati pada sang istri, mendatangi sang istri dan menawarkan jasanya sebagai pembela. Dimulai dari ruang pengadilan, perseteruan antara Adam dan “rusuknya” ini  merembet masuk ke dalam rumah tangga mereka. Di jaman dimana keseteraan hak dan tanggung-jawab antara pria dan wanita masih belum lazim, sementara Adam bersikap prosedural dan “textbookish”, Amanda menggunakan metode unconventional untuk membangkitkan simpati juri (semuanya pria) dengan mengajak mereka membayangkan seandainya situasinya terbalik.

Dengan judul yang catchy dan bermakna ganda ini, sebagian penonton mungkin menemukan plot ini rada irritating, terutama karena berhubungan dengan tema women's lib -- ketika film keluar pada tahun 1949, tema ini terasa berlebihan; sekarang, terasa ketinggalan jaman. Tetapi faktanya, peristiwa seperti dalam plot ini memang terjadi pada jamannya, dan untuk sebagian tempat di dunia masih terjadi sampai sekarang.

Dikenang sebagai salah satu dari  film-2 Tracy-Hepburn yang paling memorable, script film ini menerima nominasi Oscar untuk Script Terbaik.

3) Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Empat dasawarsa kemudian jaman berubah, emansipasi menjadi norma standard dalam masyarakat modern. Namun demikian, sebagian prejudice -- terutama reverse-prejudice -- terhadap masing-2 gender masih bertahan. Didukung pemilihan casting yang tepat, pada titik lemah inilah penulis cerita film ini berhasil dengan cerdik memperdaya penonton.

Penipu kelas kakap, Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine), melakukan operasinya di pantai wisata “Beaumont-sur-Mer” di French Riviera. Namun demikian, Lawrence mempunyai etika yang tinggi: dia tidak pernah menipu wanita baik-2; mangsanya hanya wanita yang kaya-raya, manja, dan korup -- misalnya, IMHO, wanita seperti Paris Hilton :-) Karena dia adalah pria yang berbudaya, metode penipuannya halus dan sopan. Caine memainkan perannya dengan smooth dan meyakinkan -- membuat penonton langsung bersimpati dengannya :-) Suatu hari, datang penipu kelas teri/kampungan, Freddy Benson (Steve Martin), ke tempat yang sama untuk mencari mangsa. Walaupun kelasnya berbeda, Lawrence merasa terancam dengan kehadiran Freddy. Tidak berhasil mengusir Freddy, mereka akhirnya mengadakan kontes untuk menentukan siapa yang boleh tinggal di tempat tersebut. Kontesnya adalah mengeruk $50,000 dari Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly), yang konon menurut bellboy hotel adalah pewaris perusahaan multi-nasional sabun dan pasta gigi Colgate di AS. Siapa yang duluan mengeruk $50,000, dia yang menang -- yang kalah harus pergi dari tempat tersebut. And the contest begins.

Dipenuhi dengan situation comedy dengan timing yang pas dan slapstick comedy, Caine dan Martin menampilkan chemistry yang luar biasa dinamisnya sebagai duet -- membuat penonton terpusat perhatiannya kepada mereka, sampai-2 tidak terpikir yang lainnya :-) Kocak dari awal sampai akhir, Michael Caine menerima nominasi Golden Globe untuk Aktor Terbaik - Comedy/Musical (dikalahkan oleh Tom Hanks dalam Big (1988) -- tahun yang bagus untuk film-2 drama komedi).

4) The War of the Roses (1989)

Termasuk salah satu dari screen couples yang paling memorable, Danny DeVito mengemban tanggung-jawab yang besar sebagai sutradara film ini, mempertemukan kembali untuk ketiga dan terakhir kalinya Michael Douglas dan Kathleen Turner, setelah sukses besar mereka dalam Romancing the Stone (1984) dan The Jewel of the Nile (1985). Chemistry positif/cinta antara mereka berdua dalam dua film tersebut tertransformasi dengan sangat baik menjadi chemistry negatif/benci dalam black comedy tentang perceraian ini -- membuat penonton langsung percaya dengan situasi mereka.

Oliver Rose (Douglas) dan Barbara Rose (Turner) adalah pasangan suami-istri dengan dua anak. Awalnya perkawinan mereka nampak perfect, dengan Oliver bekerja sebagai pengacara dan Barbara tinggal di rumah mengurus rumah tangga. Dengan berjalannya waktu, Oliver semakin menanjak kariernya, sedang Barbara semakin restless (tidak puas) dan mulai menyimpan resentment, bitterness (tidak suka) terhadap Oliver. Suatu hari ketika Oliver terkena serangan jantung, Barbara mula-2 terkejut dan concern, tetapi kemudian merasa relief (lega) terhadap kemungkinan Oliver jatuh mati! :-) Tetapi karena Oliver tidak jadi mati, Barbara akhirnya minta cerai, dan Oliver setuju. Perseteruan merebak ketika Barbara menuntut pembagian harta yang Oliver tidak bersedia memberikannya. Dan perseteruan meningkat terus, terus, dan terus, dan tetap tidak ada yang mau mengalah ... sampai titik darah penghabisan. Akhir yang memorable dari duet Douglas-Turner.

Filmya menerima nominasi Golden Globe untuk Film Terbaik - Comedy/Musical; Michael Douglas dan Kathleen Turner masing-2 menerima nominasi Golden Globe untuk Aktor dan Aktres Terbaik - Comedy/Musical.

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The Philadelphia Story

Resensi Film: The Philadelphia Story (9.0/10)

Tahun Keluar: 1940
Negara Asal: USA
Sutradara: George Cukor
Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart

Plot: Ketika reporter majalah gosip muncul sehari sebelum hari perkawinan (kedua)-nya, Tracy Samantha Lord terpaksa menjalani "crash course" tentang masa lalu dengan bekas suaminya, ketidakharmonisan hubungan dengan ayahnya, dan ... menemukan siapa dirinya, the truth about herself! (IMDb)

Adaptasi dari teater Broadway dengan judul yang sama karya Philip Barry, film ini adalah film yang menjadi inspirasi bagi film musical High Society (1956). Sebelum membicarakan film remake yang merupakan sukses komersial tersebut, penulis ingin menampilkan beberapa point menarik dari film aslinya yang membuatnya pantas terpilih masuk dalam klasifikasi "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" dalam United States National Film Registry pada tahun 1995.

Siapa lagi yang paling cocok membawakan film dengan pesan sosial dan feminis yang penting pada jamannya selain Katharine Hepburn?! Bahkan seandainya Hepburn tidak akting-pun, dia dapat membawakan perannya dengan menyakinkan, karena Tracy Samantha Lord sedikit banyak cocok dengan kepribadiannya. Apa inti cerita dalam film ini? Ada dua tema pokok yang mendasari ceritanya. Pertama, ada era dimana moral sangat dijunjung tinggi, dan pada saat yang sama standard ganda - dalam kasus ini, antara pria dan wanita - juga tumbuh subur. Bukankah ini sesuatu yang universal, sesuatu yang kita kenal?! Dikotomi ini menimbulkan potensi konflik yang hebat. Melihat dari kacamata modern (apakah kita sudah modern?), terasa janggal melihat Tracy Samantha perlu/harus membela diri -- menjelaskan mengapa dia tidak menyukai ayahnya yang berselingkuh dengan wanita lain. Lebih janggal lagi melihat ibunya -- yang notabene adalah pihak yang disakiti atau dirugikan, memohon kepada Tracy untuk tidak bersikap terlalu keras terhadap ayahnya, seakan-2 memaklumi tindakan philandering suaminya, dan to a certain extent ... menyalahkan dirinya sendiri (:-() Dan yang paling janggal adalah melihat ayahnya yang bersikap apologetic terhadap perselingkuhan tersebut -- menjelaskannya sebagai tindakan normal seorang pria yang menolak menjadi tua (quote dari dialog dalam film: "A reluctance to grow old."). Menyaksikan adegan ini, penulis setuju: ya, memang betul, ada era dimana moral sangat dijunjung tinggi, tetapi bigotry juga tumbuh subur. Tidak salah kalau Tracy "going nuts" gara-2 ini ... :-) Dan Hepburn membawakan perannya dengan meyakinkan, flawless: tajam, sarkastik, tetapi sesuai dengan jamannya. Tema kedua yang berjalan paralel mendasari cerita dalam film ini adalah prejudice. Walaupun Tracy adalah heroine dalam film ini, dia bukan heroine yang tanpa kelemahan, karena dia terlalu cepat menghakimi orang (prejudice) -- sebagai wanita yang pandai dan independen, dia sering terlalu cepat "melangkah". Sebanyak apapun dukungan penonton untuk Tracy, dia terlalu cepat menghakimi ayahnya (yang philanderer), bekas suaminya (yang alkoholik), dan reporter majalah gosip (yang berasal dari kelas sosial lebih rendah). Tetapi Tracy tidak sendirian dalam hal ini, karena sang reporter (James Stewart) dan fotografer-nya (Ruth Hussey) juga mempunyai prejudice terhadap orang kaya: "Oh, orang kaya itu modelnya pasti seperti bla, bla, bla ..." :-) Dari sini muncul satu tema suplemen yang menambah kekompleksan ceritanya, yaitu tentang kelas-2 sosial, bagaimana satu kelas sosial memandang kelas sosial yang lain, apakah orang yang "naik kelas" kemudian berubah menjadi seperti orang dari kelas tujuan atau tetap seperti orang dari kelas asalnya. Di sinilah letak keindahan cerita dari Philip Barry dan keunggulan script dari Donald Ogden Stewart ini: kompleks, riel, dan tajam. Walaupun menerima first billing, Cary Grant kurang bersinar dalam perannya sebagai bekas suami Tracy, C.K. Dexter Haven, kecuali dengan namanya yang nyentrik tersebut. Walaupun Grant memperoleh bagiannya dalam dialog yang tajam dan sarkastik, pembawaannya terkesan straightforward. Dan mungkin efek yang tidak disangka, justru Stewart sebagai reporter, Macaulay Connor, dan Hussey sebagai fotografer, Elizabeth Imbrie, yang berhasil bersinar dan mencuri sebagian perhatian penonton dari Hepburn. Stewart berhasil mencuri tempat Grant tersebut, dan sekaligus mencuri Oscar untuk Aktor Terbaik, dengan pembawaannya yang komik dan Hussey berhasil menyabet nominasi Oscar untuk Aktres Pendukung Terbaik dengan pembawaannya yang pragmatis. Sutradara George Cukor (24 tahun kemudian mengarahkan film dengan kekompleksan psyche yang sama, My Fair Lady), sangat teliti dalam menempatkan kamera pada saat-2 yang tepat untuk menangkap ekspresi wajah karakter-2nya, meng-accentuate point-2 penting dalam scriptnya.

Walaupun situasi sosial sudah sangat berubah dari ketika film ini dibuat, The Philadelphia Story tetap merupakan timeless comedy dan kita tetap dapat menarik banyak pelajaran dari film ini.

* 9.0/10

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Adam's Rib

Resensi Film: Adam's Rib (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1949

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: George Cukor

Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday

Plot: Sepasang suami istri pengacara bekerja saling berlawanan dalam kasus di pengadilan dimana seorang ibu rumah tangga diadili setelah menembak suaminya yang menyeleweng (IMDb).

Katharine Hepburn adalah wanita yang lebih maju dari jamannya, dalam kehidupan profesionalnya, dan dalam kehidupan pribadinya. Pada jamannya, tidak ada wanita seprofesinya yang menyuarakan kesetaraan wanita selantang dirinya. Script film ini ditulis secara khusus oleh teman-2 dekat Tracy dan Hepburn, Ruth Gordon dan Garson Kanin, untuk mereka. Tidak mengherankan, castingnya sangat pas dengan karakterisasi yang ada dalam ceritanya. Film ini mempunyai dua segitiga cinta: Holliday-Ewell-Hagen dan Tracy-Hepburn-Wayne. Sayangnya, semua anggota dalam segitiga pertama terkesan tidak simpatik, single-dimensional. Beruntungnya, segitiga kedua jauh lebih menarik, dengan Hepburn secara tidak sadar menanggapi Wayne, dan penonton secara emosional mulai berpihak pada Tracy untuk menyingkirkan pemain piano tersebut. Drama komedi ini mencerminkan perjuangan wanita untuk mencapai kesetaraan, salah satunya dengan menghapus double standard dalam kasus penyelewengan seksual (kalau suami nyeleweng, salah istrinya; kalau istri nyeleweng, salah istrinya). Sebagian penonton menemukan plot ini rada irritating, terutama karena berhubungan dengan isyu women's lib -- ketika film dikeluarkan pada tahun 1949, isyunya terasa berlebihan; sekarang, terasa ketinggalan jaman. Tetapi faktanya, peristiwa seperti itu terjadi pada jamannya, dan untuk sebagian tempat di dunia ini ... masih terus terjadi sampai sekarang! Di akhir film, ditampilkan point terakhir dari script Gordon dan Kanin ini, yaitu bahwa perbedaan antara pria dan wanita sesungguhnya hanya sedikit saja.

Cerita (***1/2)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

Adam's Rib dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

Bringing Up Baby

Resensi Film: Bringing Up Baby (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1938

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Howard Hawks

Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant

Plot: Seorang paleontologist yang culun dikejar cewek yang punya banyak akal untuk menjebak dirinya masuk ke dalam perangkapnya (IMDb).

Ada film-2 yang lebih maju dari jamannya, Bringing Up Baby adalah satu di antaranya. Ketika film ini keluar pada tahun 1938, film ini gagal di box-office (tidak berhasil meraup jumlah penjualan tiket yang diharapkan): topik tentang wanita yang mengetahui apa yang dia inginkan dan berusaha mewujudkan keinginannya itu terasa bertentangan dengan tradisi yang ada saat itu. Sutradara Howard Hawks dipecat dari studio RKO dan Katharine Hepburn dinobatkan sebagai "racun box-office" -- bersama dengan Joan Crawford, Fred Astaire, dan Marlene Dietrich -- oleh jaringan bioskop di Amerika. Tetapi dengan berjalannya waktu, dengan berubahnya tradisi, penonton sedikit demi sedikit dapat memahami topik yang ada dalam film ini. Film komedi romantis ini dibintangi oleh dua bintang legendaris: Katharine Hepburn, yang dengan sangat mulus memainkan perannya sebagai Susan Vance, wanita yang mengetahui apa yang dia inginkan dan mempunyai segudang trik untuk menjebak mangsanya masuk ke dalam perangkapnya; dan Cary Grant, yang dengan sangat kocak memainkan perannya sebagai Dr. David Huxley, paleontologist yang culun yang semakin dia berusaha melepaskan diri dari Susan, semakin dia terjebak masuk ke dalam perangkapnya. Hepburn dan Grant mempunyai chemistry yang pas di antara keduanya. Cast pendukung, termasuk leopard "Baby" yang namanya menjadi bagian dari judul film ini dan anjing George -- anjing aktor yang tampil dalam lusinan film pada tahun 1930-an, masing-2 memberikan penampilan yang mengesankan. Penempatan waktu dari komedi yang ada juga terasa pas. Segala twist dan turn yang ada, walaupun penonton menyadari semua ini akal-2an saja, terasa mengalir secara mulus ... dan segala loose knot yang ada di akhir film berhasil "ditalikan" kembali dengan rapi. Pada tahun 1990, Bringing Up Baby memperoleh tempatnya dalam sejarah perfilman sebagai karya yang "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" (United States National Film Registry).

Cerita (***1/2)

Screenplay (****)

Karakter (***1/2)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

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Little Women

Resensi Film: Little Women (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1933

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: George Cukor

Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Jean Parker, Frances Dee

Plot: Ketika perang sipil berkecamuk, sementara ayahnya pergi bertugas ke medan pertempuran, empat bersaudara Meg, Jo, Beth dan Amy harus tumbuh dewasa tanpa bimbingan ayahnya dan berjuang sendiri mempertahankan hidup (IMDb).

Di bawah arahan sutradara George Cukor, adaptasi dari novel klasik dengan judul yang sama karya Louisa May Alcott ini adalah versi terbaik dari semua film Little Women yang pernah dibuat sampai saat ini (layar lebar/bioskop atau layar kecil/TV). Dengan set, kostum dan cinematography hitam/putih yang menawan, Cukor dengan sangat efektif melestarikan kekayaan isi cerita dan dengan sangat indah menampilkannya melalui akting dari para pemainnya, terutama Katharine Hepburn. Ada humor, ada tragedi, ada tawa, ada tangis, tetapi tidak pernah tergelincir ke dalam heroisme atau sentimentalisme yang berlebihan. Film dimulai dengan ringan dan bergerak mulus menuju akhir dengan ringan pula, tanpa ada usaha-2 yang dipaksakan untuk membuat akhir yang mengesankan. Cerita klasik ini dengan menyejukan mengajarkan bagaimana menemukan kekuatan di tengah penderitaan itu dapat membantu orang membentuk kepribadiannya dan menemukan jati dirinya. What a triumph!

Cerita (***1/2)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***1/2)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

Little Women dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

The Lion in Winter

Movie Review: The Lion in Winter (***1/2 out of 4 stars)

Year of Release: 1968

Country of Origin: UK

Director: Anthony Harvey

Cast: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry, Timothy Dalton, Jane Merrow

Plot outline: England's King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. So, they and his estranged queen variously plot to force him (IMDb).

The story (**** This splendid drama of plots and schemes is crisp, with consistently sharp, quotable dialogue of a kind rarely seen anymore.)

How the story unfolds (*** The story is expressed almost entirely through dialogue rather than cinematography, making it resemble a stage play.)

The characters (****)

The dialogue (****)

The acting (**** The acting is fantastic across the board--Katharine Hepburn won an Oscar for her part. Look, too, for early career-launching performances by Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton.)

Overall rating: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Love Affair

Movie Review: Love Affair

Year of Release: 1994
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Glenn Gordon Caron
Cast: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Katharine Hepburn

Plot outline: After meeting and falling in love, a couple plan a rendezvous three months later. When one of them is injured on the way to the meeting, the other waits without knowing what happened (IMDb).

Love Affair depends on grace and style to make its effect, and that's just as well, because most of the people seeing this movie are going to know how it turns out. If you haven't seen the original Love Affair (1939) with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer, or the remake An Affair to Remember (1957) with Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant, you must have seen Sleepless in Seattle (1993), which was about people who loved the earlier movies. No, there aren't going to be many people in the audience who don't know what's supposed to happen on May 8 on top of the Empire State Building. When Warren Beatty is pacing around up there, indeed, we almost expect him to be part of a crowd, with Boyer, Grant and Tom Hanks, all partners in misery. That's why it's kind of surprising that this second remake works as well as it does. What's interesting about the screenplay is that the movie's key turning point takes place, not between Beatty and Bening, but between Bening and legendary Katharine Hepburn. Sure, Bening likes the guy, but she distrusts him, and it's not until she sees the real Mike through the eyes of his aunt that she can take him seriously as a potential partner. Hepburn's scenes steal, and almost stop, the show. She has been old for a long time (she is in her 80s) but this is the first time she has also looked small and frail. Yet the magnificent spirit is still there, and the romantic fire, and she's right for this eccentric old woman, living alone in unimaginable splendour, and feeling an instant connection with the young woman her nephew has brought home. Part of the magic of the Hepburn scenes is set up by the location and the cinematography. There are scenes in the movie - including Beatty and Bening walking across a vast, lush green meadow - that are so radiant your jaw drops open. It's as if nature itself is a co-conspirator in the romance. Funny thing. This is one of the few Idiot Plots that works. Yes, there is a monumental and tragic misunderstanding between Mike and Terry. Yes, their happiness stands to be destroyed because both of them are pussy-footing around, and not saying what needs to be said. But the movie toys with that, and with us, in delicately written dialogue that allows them to say, and not say, everything that needs to be said, and needs not to be said. (RE)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Summertime

Movie Review: Summertime

Year of Release: 1955
Country of Origin: UK, USA
Director: David Lean
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi

Plot outline: A schoolteacher is surprised to find love on a Venetian vacation (IMDb).

David Lean secured his place in movie history with such grand epics as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, and his earlier, much more modest Brief Encounter. Nestled in between is a gem of a romantic drama, Summertime. The story of how a visit to Venice touches one woman's life, it's an intimate and sensitive portrait which Lean later declared to be his favourite movie, starring his favourite actress. Hepburn plays Jane Hudson, a confident and eager tourist on a long-awaited trip to Venice, who goes in search of a "wonderful, mystical, magical, miracle!" and incessantly captures every moment on camera. But being alone in such a romantic setting soon takes its toll as Jane finds herself surrounded by couples and begins to yearn for some passion of her own. Rossano Brazzi is Renato de Rossi, the smooth antiques dealer who sweeps the nervous Jane off her feet with all the amorous flourishes of your typical Italian lover. Initially shocked by his frank sexuality, Jane soon succumbs to Renato, who over the course of the movie makes her realise that Venice is a real place with real faults and complexities, not just the idealistic setting for her daydreams. Hepburn made a career out of playing vibrant heroines with a vulnerable side and it's her portrayal of Jane's insecurity and loneliness that give the movie its substance. Based on Arthur Laurents' play The Time of the Cuckoo, the movie is thinly plotted to give Hepburn the space to act and Lean - shooting entirely on location for the first time - the space to capture images of Venice. Summertime proved to be a critical and commercial triumph for Lean. Its success enabled Lean to leave British cinema to garner more lucrative projects in Hollywood. The sophisticated visual and contextual foundations for those later epics are evident throughout Summertime in its blend of expansive scenery mixed with subtle and often wordless interactions. Lean would cultivate other exotic stories featuring additional isolated outsiders in his later work, but with Summertime the acclaimed British filmmaker crafted a touching evocation of loneliness and an emotional realism rarely evident in similar melodramas of the period. (LB, GC)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Rooster Cogburn

Movie Review: Rooster Cogburn

Year of Release: 1975
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Stuart Millar
Cast: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn

Plot outline: An aging U.S. Marshal and a minister's daughter join forces to catch a band of outlaws (IMDb).

A major issue with Rooster Cogburn is that the storyline is seriously uninteresting and is almost a stock storyline. Watching Rooster Cogburn and Eula Goodnight go after a bunch of cowboy criminals is not the most exciting idea in the world and it plays at such. There are various stock elements to the story: the shoot outs, the arguments and so on but it also pulls in other elements. The scene where Cogburn and Goodnight float down a river on a raft feels like a slim imitation of a scene out of Hepburn's The African Queen, just one of various scenes which seem to pull from both Wayne and Hepburn's back catalogue of movies. It has to be said that when it comes to the storyline there is little, if nothing, which you could class as original or unique. But the entertainment in Rooster Cogburn is not the storyline but the casting of two strong legendary actors opposite each other. Watching the antagonistic relationship between Cogburn and Goodnight is brilliant because the characters are both strong minded and willed. You get a sense that perhaps there was a semi antagonistic relationship between the stars as well and it shows on screen to great effect. The banter between them is first class as they battle each other over their way of life, from Cogburn's drinking to Miss Goodnight's religious fervour. But there is also the nice softer side to it as well, and you also get a sense that although Wayne and Hepburn may not have always seen eye to eye there was also a respect for each other. The pairing is great and it is what makes the movie. Elsewhere though the performances are not so good and Richard Jordan as Hawk the leader of the dangerous cowboys goes for over the top drama in every single scene. It is one of the least convincing bad guy cowboys I have ever seen and really spoils things. Maybe he realised that he would be over shadowed by Wayne and Hepburn so went for an over the top performance to try and stand out. (AW)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

The African Queen

Movie Review: The African Queen

Year of Release: 1951
Country of Origin: UK, USA
Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn

Plot outline: In Africa during WWI, a gin-swilling riverboat owner is persuaded by a strait-laced missionary to use his boat to attack an enemy warship (IMDb).

One of the most popular of all classic Hollywood movies, The African Queen was also the only movie which paired Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn together as the leads. The top-ranked American Film Institute Actor and Actress, respectively, they proved to have good romantic screen chemistry together as a middle-aged Odd Couple forced together by circumstance, and learning to like it. Although unquestionably a good movie, The African Queen itself is not as impressive as the clever Hollywood formula construction upon which it was based. In retrospect, it was genius to cast Bogart as the salty but kindly sea merchant, and Hepburn as the prim but headstrong missionary. The problem was that their characters were too fluid. Bogart is all too willing to risk his life (and hers, too) on an unlikely mission that had little chance of impacting the war, anyway, which was waged on the battlefields of France. The feel-good story certainly delivers, but relies too strongly on coincidences. The Germans arrive at the village seemingly just after Bogart has left, delivering as an aside the news of the sudden war. Bogart shows up again the day that the failed missionary has died, despite earlier saying that he wouldn't be back for some time. On the day chosen to torpedo the Louisa, there is a terrible storm. But they go ahead with the plans anyway, despite an earlier assurance by Bogart that the Germans would return again and again. There's hardly need to mention the incredible timing of the Louisa hitting the African Queen, after the marriage ceremony but before the execution. Somehow, Bogart and Hepburn are united again but separated from the German crew, with nowhere to go but back to the leech-infested marsh. Then there is the stereotyped depiction of Africans as simple-minded children, of WWI era Germans as bullying oppressors, and of missionaries as clueless fools. Bogart's character rings the most true, but it is his performance that makes it credible. (BK)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Pat and Mike

Movie Review: Pat and Mike

Year of Release: 1952
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray

Plot outline: Romance blooms between a female athlete and her manager (IMDb).

Miss Hepburn always has been an actress whose competence with a line or with a tensile dramatic situation has been well above the margin of surprise. But this is the first time she has shown us - at least, on the motion-picture screen - that she can swing a golf club or tennis racquet as adroitly as she can sling an epigram. As a sensational all-round lady athlete who joins the ranks of the pros in the wild hope of getting away from a peculiarly demoralizing beau, she is given an opportunity to match golf strokes with Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Betty Hicks and to trade forehand drives and backhand volleys with Alice Marble, Don Budge and Gussie Moran. And while she may not come up entirely to her competitors in the way of form, she makes a good enough show of ability to give the illusion of being a first-rate pro. In the role of the tough-guy sports promoter to whom the lady flees and with whom she has a wild adventure vis-a-vis a trio of Damon Runyon thugs, Mr. Tracy, too, makes happy pretense of being a sporting type or, as he realistically puts it, "There's a nice dollar laying around for you and I to pick up." Pat and Mike is a shaky combination of, let us say, Woman of the Year and (if you can imagine without music) the theatrical Guys and Dolls. But, withal, it is a likable fable about a highly coordinated dame who moves in upon and takes over a positive, authoritative guy, with slight overtones of honor triumphing over shadiness and greed. It is smoothly directed by George Cukor and slyly, amusingly played by the whole cast, especially by its due of easy, adroit, experienced stars. Mr. Ray, as a dumb, moody fighter; Sammy White, as a shifty hanger-on; and William Ching, as the stuffed-shirt fiancé, are outstanding in support. George Mathews and Charles Buchinski (Bronson) are also fun as "the kind of types that have been known to act very hot-headed in their day and age." (They are neatly manhandled by Miss Hepburn, using judo, in one scene.) And, as for the real professional athletes and the exhibitions they give, they are credible, colorful and exciting. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Woman of the Year

Movie Review: Woman of the Year

Year of Release: 1942
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn

Plot outline: Rival reporters Sam and Tess fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle (IMDb).

There are many things to recommend this battle of the sexes movie, not the least being the fact its script won best screenplay Oscar in 1943. It is the first (of nine) memorable on-screen collaborations between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, whose appeal lies in their differences. Made in 1942, the movie's working woman theme is a progressive one; sparks fly in all directions as Hepburn's multi-lingual woman of the world Tess (she won't talk to anybody who hasn't signed a non-aggression pact) and Tracy's Sam (he calls her the Calamity Jane of the fast international set) irk and are besotted by one another before trying to work it all out. It is clear from the start that their lives and lifestyles are totally different. He thinks they are going on a date; she thinks he is going to drive her to the airport. Tess' favourite aunt Ellen Witcomb (Fay Bainter) advises her that "success is no fun unless you share it with someone" and the whirlwind marriage (scheduled between engagements) results in a wedding night to remember, in which the marital bedroom is graced by a refugee, his bodyguards, an entourage and family and friends. My favourite scene comes towards the end when Tess tries to win her way back into Sam's heart through his stomach. It is obvious that she has probably never even been in a kitchen before, let alone tried to cook, and the results are hilarious. Sam watches from the doorway as Tess (wearing a fur coat) finds imaginative ways to separate eggs, works out how to light the gas stove and tries to keep an oozing waffle under control. "You don't think I can do all the ordinary things that any idiot can do?" Tess pleads, to which Sam pragmatically states: "Because you're incapable." Tracy and the ever-elegant Hepburn are at their prime in this delectable black and white - filled with witty lines and hilarious situations - movie that gives romantic comedies a good name. (LK)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Stage Door

Movie Review: Stage Door

Year of Release: 1937
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Gregory La Cava
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou

Plot outline: A boarding house full of aspiring actresses and their ambitions, dreams and disappointments (IMDb).

Adapted from the play of the same name by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, Stage Door is the most successful of the genre, largely because of the quality of its cast. While Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers were already stars, the supporting cast included rising actresses Lucille Ball, Eve Arden and Ann Miller. They traded sharp but good-natured insults, but their tough exterior was just a front for facing their career setbacks. The only actress with an unflattering role is Gail Patrick, whose character is a snob and an second-choice mistress. Hepburn, who receives top billing, has the largest part of the ensemble cast. Her role is similar to that in Morning Glory, for which she won her first of four Best Actress Academy Awards back in 1934. She is once again a headstrong, well-educated, star-struck amateur, but this time she is rich as well. Hepburn's monotone reading of her play entrance line, "The calla lillies are in bloom again", was fodder for comics for the rest of her career. It would be a spoiler to reveal how her character becomes a good actress, but I can say that you'll either roll your eyes or cry. The ladies dominate the movie. The few men that are present are generally stereotyped. Adolphe Menjou plays a smug Broadway producer who uses his position to seduce much younger women. Jack Carson, in one of his earliest movies, plays a good-natured but rather slow-witted lumberjack. Samuel S. Hinds is a humorless wheat magnate who predictably doesn't want his daughter in show business. The most rewarding male supporting role is given to Franklin Pangborn, who is a riot as Menjou's obsequious butler. Stage Door received four Academy Award nominations, including the major categories of Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Despite being surrounded by much better known actresses, it was tearjerking Andrea Leeds who landed the remaining nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. (BK)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Love Among the Ruins

Movie Review: Love Among the Ruins

Year of Release: 1975
Country of Origin: UK
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier

Plot outline: An aging actress is being sued for breach of promise by her much-younger ex-fiance. She hires as her lawyer a man who was an ex-lover and is still in love with her (IMDb).

This made-for-television movie brings together the formidable talents of director George Cukor, Katherine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. These old stagers, at Hepburn's suggestion, came together to bring to film a tale set in London's courts and barrister's chambers. Hepburn plays the aged and widowed Jessica Medlicott, who had foolishly promised to marry a young spivvish fortune-hunter Alfred Pratt (Leigh Lawson), a man some 40 years younger than her. It's not totally an unlikely scenario - after all, veteran actress Celeste Holm, aged 91, in 2004 married an opera-singer 40 years her junior. But Alfred Pratt was no opera-singer. He's definitely made of cheaper stuff. And when Jessica comes to her senses and breaks off the relationship, he sues her for 'Breach of Promise'. Enter Olivier. He's hired to defend her, but recognises her instantly as the actress with whom, while he was visiting Canada very many years earlier, he had had an intense affair. He fell in love with her, and though she quickly disappeared from his life, he never fell out of love. But strangely, Jessica doesn't recognise him at all, nor remember anything about their liaison. Or is she just feigning forgetfulness? While he fights her case, he keeps trying to trigger her memory. And when it becomes apparent that the only way he can win her case is to paint her in front of the jury as a pathetic and absurd creature, he's trapped in an agonising dilemma - would the woman he still loves ever forgive him if he takes that course? This is a quite charming period-piece, low on action of course, while very high on dialogue. It captures Hepburn in a less-mannered performance than usual, and Olivier also gives a more natural performance than he often did. This was the first and only time these old friends had acted together - for that reason alone, and for the direct, unsensational direction by George Cukor, this has undeniable historical value. (DNA)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Glass Menagerie

Movie Review: The Glass Menagerie

Year of Release: 1973
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Anthony Harvey
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Sam Waterston, Joanna Miles, Michael Moriarty

Plot outline: A son longs to escape from his stifling home, where his genteel mother worries about the future prospects of his lame, shy sister (IMDb).

Previously filmed in 1950, Tennessee Williams' 1944 Broadway hit The Glass Menagerie was remade for television in 1973. Katharine Hepburn is top-billed as Amanda Wingfield, a faded southern belle who lives on her memories in a Depression-era St. Louis tenement. Sam Waterston narrates the story as Amanda's idealistic son Tom, who'd give anything to escape his mother's fantasy world. Tom's withdrawn, clubfooted sister Laura, who maintains the glass menagerie of the title, is portrayed by Joanna Miles, while Michael Moriarity plays the Gentleman Caller, whose presence disrupts the fragile existence of the Wingfield family unit. The Glass Menagerie represented Katharine Hepburn's TV movie debut, the first of many well-publicized, highly-lauded small screen appearances for the veteran actress. (HE)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Holiday

Movie Review: Holiday

Year of Release: 1938
Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, Edward Everett Horton

Plot outline: A man who has risen from humble beginnings only to be torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family (IMDb).

A remake of the 1930 movie of the same name, Holiday has the added advantage of supercharged star power. Katharine Hepburn and Doris Nolan play Linda and Julia Seton, two daughters of a very well-to-do family. The script is careful to bring the pre-Depression frivolities of the Philip Barry play up-to-date, first by changing the character of Grant's best friend (played in both movies by Edward Everett Horton) from a lazy socialite to a dedicated professor, and by including several lines indicating how out of touch the privileged classes are - and choose to remain with 1930s realities. The only element in which the remake does not improve on the original is in the casting of Hepburn's alcoholic younger brother; charming though Lew Ayres is in the 1938 version, he is still outclassed by Monroe Owsley in the original version. Katharine Hepburn managed to temporarily defray her "box office poison" onus when Holiday proved to be a success; alas, her next movie, Bringing Up Baby (which reteamed her with Grant), was a financial bust, compelling her to return to Broadway - where she made a spectacular comeback in another Philip Barry play, The Philadelphia Story. (HE)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars

Suddenly, Last Summer

Movie Review: Suddenly, Last Summer

Year of Release: 1959
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift

Plot outline: The only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane. Now, Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth (IMDb).

Based on the play of the same title by Tennessee Williams, the point of the story is somewhat missed, because the true nature of the most-talked-of character could not be tagged (he was obviously a homosexual, as well as a sadist of some sort) and the precise and horrible details of his death could not be explained (he was literally eaten by urchins). What should be thoroughly shocking in the flash-back scenes of his death is only confusing and baffling, because I can't really see what's happening, and the girl who is describing the incident is much less vivid and exact than she could be. In structure, as well as in content, the story is a simple mystery, a psychological whodunit - or howdunit, to be exact - how did the man die? The script does not tell how the urchins killed the man, to justify frequent mention that it was "horrid and obscene". It does not tell why they did it, other than to suggest that they were "hungry", which is a feeble explanation and gastronomically far-fetched. And it certainly does not complete an image, made much of by the wealthy widow early along, that vultures swooping down upon young turtles and devouring them reveal the cruel "face of God". The script indulges in sheer verbal melodramatics which only add to the audience confusion and are barely elevated from tedium by some incidental scenes of inmates of a mental institution. Nevertheless, Elizabeth Taylor is rightly roiled as the niece, Katharine Hepburn is craftily mischievous as the wealthy widow, but Montgomery Clift seems racked with pain and indifference as the brain surgeon, Albert Dekker growls and gropes as his dull boss, and Mercedes McCambridge and Gary Raymond do a routine - a vaudeville routine - as the mother and brother of the girl. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars