Rating: 
Summary: A comedy that still sparkles with energy and wit...
Review: Probably the best of the Tracy-Hepburn movies, Adam's Rib is very funny and enjoyable. Excellently written, well directed by George Cukor, and (most of all) featuring great chemistry between Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, this is the ultimate "battle of the sexes" movie and a must-see. Basically, Adam's Rib starts out with a wife who shoots at her husband (Judy Holliday, who does an excellent job with her important, if small, role) after finding him with another woman. At the trial, Holliday is represented by Amanda Bonner (Katherine Hepburn) who just happens to be opposed by her own husband (Spencer Tracy) who is the prosecuting attorney. The movie creatively uses the premise of the trial as a springboard for witty, funny conversations between the Bonners' about equality and the double standard (if Holliday had been a man, would she be judged so harshly). Anyhow, Adam's Rib is a fantastic film which discusses many relevant issues and is, contrary to what you might think, really quite modern in its outlook. There may be some points in the film that reflect its age but, overall, the main issue - the ever ongoing battle of the sexes - is still as relevant today as it was 60 years ago. Furthermore, the movie is so witty and well done that it would be a joy to watch even if the content was clearly irrelevant now. It features several scenes that are especially noteworthy - for instance, the scene in which Hepburn humiliates Tracy in court and the resulting scene where Tracy scares Hepburn with the licorice gun. So, overall, this film still sparkles with wit and with the chemistry between its stars...highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: It's a gem
Review: Long acclaimed as one of Hollywood's finest comedies, Adam's Rib is arguably the best of the Tracy/Hepburn offerings. One can appreciate it fifty years after its debut. Any movie should be looked upon as a period piece, but the best ones are able to transcend their own time frames. Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn play husband-and-wife legal beagles, so close personally that they share a nickname, who oppose each other professionally in a routine criminal trial. The circumstances of the case impel them to focus on their personal causes (feminism for her, honor for the law for him), and they quickly become competitors and antagonists in their marriage as well. And this is a comedy? Yes - thanks to inspired scriptwriting, expert direction, and a good fast pace. The supporting cast is exceptional - Judy Holliday (who won an Oscar for her role) as the harrassed defendant, Tom Ewell as her sleazy philandering husband, and David Wayne as the lawyers' very, very weird neighbor. Jean Hagen has a small role as the "other woman" - she later played the obnoxious silent-movie diva in "Singin' in the Rain." Watch - at least once - the apartment/hallway quarrel with the sound turned off. You'll see facets of movie-making brilliance you may not have noticed before. Adam's Rib is one of the few Hollywood films which proves itself, indeed, to be like a finely cut emerald.
Rating: 
Summary: Still a great classic
Review: Although I'm a big Tracy fan and enjoyed this movie quite a bit, I didn't find the rapid-fire dialog quite as sharp and witty as most, but it's still a fine movie. If you want to find razor-sharp, fast-moving dialog, try the Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster film, "The Sweet Smell of Success." The hard-hitting, corrosive, and rapid-fire dialog in that movie virtually singes the air, remembered long after the movie has ended, although it's a much more serious movie and not intended to be funny as with this one. But getting back to the present flick, if there was a longer or more charismatic on-screen romance than Tracy and Hepburn, I don't know what it is, and they bring that chemistry once again to the silver screen in this movie. Their rivalry in the murder case becomes the talk of the town as well as in their bedroom, and Tracy is great as the dutiful husband who suffers Hepburns' barbs and diatribes about everything from his job to women's rights with a sort of calm, stoic exasperatedness, although she finally gets his goat and gets a rise out of him on more than one occasion. And Hepburn is equally great in her role also, as the smart, upbeat, and driven defense attorney who champions the accused woman's cause. The movie deals surprisingly well with many women's rights and equality issues considering this is 1949, and women who think feminism and women's lib was invented in the early to mid-60's would do well to watch this film, which came out almost 15 years earlier. So overall, still a fun classic and well worth your time especially if you're a Tracy or Hepburn fan. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant mid century skirmish in the sexual wars
Review: Two New York lawyers, husband Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) and wife Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn), work out the marital tension and fight the sexual wars in the courtroom on opposite sides of a wife (Judy Holliday) shoots cheating husband (Tom Ewell) case. Adam's masculinity is seemingly challenged and his sense of justice offended by his wife's insistence on showing how smart she is while furthering her feminist agenda at the expense of the law. Will their public confrontation destroy their marriage, or will it ultimately make the bond stronger? This still plays mainly because of the charisma of Hepburn and Tracy and the fine chemistry they create together. The script by Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon is profound and shallow by turns, yet ultimately witty and pleasing. Judy Holliday as the lower middle-class Doris Attinger (on her way to her signature role in Born Yesterday (1950)) and David Wayne, as the song-writing neighbor who adores Amanda, shine in supporting roles. George Cukor's direction is clear, crisp and always focused. In the end we can see that Adam can be as feminine as Amanda can be masculine. The bit where Tracy cries real tears to win her back and then tells her, "We all have our tricks" is classic. It's his clever answer to her outrageous courtroom theatrics. Memorable as it illuminates their contrasting personalities is the early scene where the unsophisticated Doris is interviewed by Yale law school grad Amanda. As a political movie, was Adam's Rib ahead of its time as a vehicle for feminist expression, or was it just another apology for male chauvinism, or was it balanced and fair? I'll give you a hint: the title is ironic. One of the things that made the Tracy/Hepburn romance work so well for so long was the creative balance they maintained in the battle of the sexes. The script by Kanin and Gordon carefully continues that profoundly true equilibrium.
Rating:
Summary: Who Wears the Pants?
Review: Adam's Rib (black and white; running time 101 minutes; not rated) stars two of the greatest Academy Award winning actors of our time, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. This movie was directed by George Cukor in 1949 for Metro Goldwyn Mayer. In a very comical and humorous way, Adam's Rib explores equal rights for women and the question of who wears the pants in a marriage. When a wife is accused of the attempted murder of her unfaithful husband, Assistant District Attorney Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) lands the case. Little does he know that soon his wife, Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn), who is also an attorney, will be defending the accused wife and using equality for women as the main defense. Amanda Bonner wants to know, "What's the difference?". She submits that if the accused had been a man whose wife was being unfaithful, everyone would believe he was attempting to save his marriage, while her client is accused of trying to kill her husband. As the trial progresses, so does the animosity and competitiveness between the attorneys, which in turn causes a strain on their otherwise happy marriage. The sparing between the two attorneys culminates in the hilarious closing arguments of the trial. The accused wife is found not guilty and Amanda Bonner has won her case--or has she? Adam Bonner is able to use his wily ways to get Amanda back which will leave unanswered the question, "Who wears the pants?". This film is rated five stars (*****). This classic romantic comedy will leave you with a smile on your face. The comic interaction between Tracy and Hepburn is engaging and unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: A Hepburn/Tracy classic
Review: This classic 1949 comedy will go far toward explaining what was so charismatic about the on-screen pairing of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. The set-up is perfect for their rapid-fire style of verbal dueling: they play a married team of lawyers on opposing sides of a high-profile case. George Cukor directed this marvelous comedy from Hollywood's so-called Golden Era, and it still pulls at the sensibilities of modern viewers with its sophisticated portrayal of gender politics. Screen pairings (which of course, in this case, represented their affair off-screen, as well) don't get any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: This movie was excellant. The acting was superb and the story was phenomenol. I love the last scene I could not stop laughing. Great movie. One of my favorite Hepburn/Tracy movies.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Hepburn/Tracy Movie
Review: This is my absolute favorite. The court room antics, the chemistry between the two and a clever story line. I can't see how you'd go wrong with this one, fun from start to end.
Rating: 
Summary: Very overrated
Review: I thought the actors were better than the script, and I thought the script was artificial, wooden and deadly dull. It simply was not funny. I didn't even care much for Judy Holliday (the only reason I watched and then kept a copy of this DVD), who, incidentally, did NOT win an Oscar for this flick! Hepburn was one of the kindest human beings in the theater (in the world!) and Tracy has long been a hero of mine, I love them both, but not in this fast-talking turkey. Only two things got my interest. What was Holliday's intention and did she kill Ewell at the start (I guess that's two things right there), and how did they manage the transexual metamorphoses at the end. I really didn't like it. Really.
Rating:
Summary: Battle of sexes never better. Maximum wit on display
Review: The Tracy-Hepburn duo was never better than in this supremely witty, often laugh-out-loud comedy of two lawyers on opposite sides of the courtroom involved in an attempted murder case with the classic love triangle. The triangulators? Tom Ewell, Jean Hagen, and Judy Holiday--all in their first films. The lawyers? Why, Tracy and Hepburn of course--married to each other. Hep, the defense attorney, takes the case to vent her opinions on women's lib--one of the first films to lay it all out in the open on the subject. She defends poor little Judy, the wronged wife. Spence, the ADA, prosecutes to prove that Judy is nowhere near as innocent as she claims. The back and forth here is so sharp you could cut yourself just listening to the lines. And there's the back and forth of courtroom and homefront, too. Hep and Spence go at it in both places and the lines supplied by real life husband-wife team of Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude) and Garson Kanin are deliciously zingy so much of the time you eat em up even as your tongue is bleeding. Just too cool. Amazing that this film has not aged at all. One of the great comedy classics and sure to remain so. If I could give this a sky full of stars, I would. Zingalicious.
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