Adam’s Rib is a bright comedy success, belting over a transfer of sophisticated laughs. Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin have fashioned their amusing screenplay in all directions from the age-aged conflict of the sexes.
Setup has Spencer Tracy as an assistant d.a., married to femme attorney Katharine Hepburn. He believes no woman has the right to take shots at another femme. Hepburn believes a woman has the same right to invole the unwritten law as a man. They do courtroom battle over their theories when Tracy is assigned to prosecute Judy Holliday.
This is the sixth Metro teaming of Tracy and Hepburn, and their approach to marital relations around their own hearth is delightfully saucy. A better realization on type than Holliday’s portrayal of a dumb Brooklyn femme doesn’t seem possible.
1950: Nomination: Best Story & Screenplay