Pat and Mike

Pat and Mike is a 1952 American romantic comedy film starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The movie was written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, and directed by George Cukor, who also directed The Philadelphia Story (1940) with Hepburn, and Adam's Rib (1949) with Hepburn and Tracy.

Pat and Mike
Theatrical-release poster
Directed byGeorge Cukor
Produced byLawrence Weingarten
Screenplay byRuth Gordon
Garson Kanin
StarringSpencer Tracy
Katharine Hepburn
William Ching
Aldo Ray
Jim Backus
Sammy White
Charles Bronson
Music byDavid Raksin
CinematographyWilliam H. Daniels (as William Daniels)
Edited byGeorge Boemler
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • June 14, 1952 (1952-06-14)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,618,000[1]
Box office$2,696,000[1]

Plot

Pat Pemberton (Katharine Hepburn) is a brilliant athlete who loses her confidence whenever her charming but overbearing fiancé Collier (William Ching) is around. Women's golf and tennis championships are within her reach; however, she gets flustered by his presence at the contests. He wants her to give up her goal and marry him, but Pat does not give up on herself that easily. She enlists the help of Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy), a slightly shady sports promoter. Together they face mobsters, a jealous boxer (Aldo Ray), and a growing mutual attraction.

Cast

Sports Stars

Production

Development

Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon were friends with Hepburn and Tracy, and had the idea of writing a film to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities. She was an avid golfer and tennis player, and indeed performed all the sports footage in the film herself.

Filming

Pat and Mike was filmed partly on location in California. The golfing scenes were filmed at the Riviera Country Club and Ojai Valley Inn. Tennis scenes were filmed at the Cow Palace in Daly City, near San Francisco. The opening scenes were filmed at Occidental College, standing in as fictional Pacific Technical College.

Casting

Many notable athletes appear in cameo roles as themselves in the film, including golfers Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Betty Hicks, and Helen Dettweiler, and tennis champions Don Budge, Gussie Moran and Alice Marble. Other notables in the cast include Charles Bronson (credited as Charles Buchinski) in his second credited movie role, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Jim Backus, and, in his acting debut, former athlete Chuck Connors, later known as the star of The Rifleman television series.

Music

The score for the film was composed and conducted by David Raksin, with orchestrations by Robert Franklyn and Ruby Raksin.[2] Of his music, Raksin said "My music was sly and a mite jazzy, and despite the fact that everyone seemed to like it, so did I."[3]

The complete score was issued on CD in 2009, on Film Score Monthly records.

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $2,050,000 in the US and Canada and $646,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $74,000.[1]

See also

References
  1. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. Bettencourt, Scott (2009). David Raksin. "David Raksin at MGM (1950-1957)". Film Score Monthly (CD online notes). Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. 12 (2).
  3. Bradford, Marilee (2009). David Raksin. "David Raksin at MGM (1950-1957)". Film Score Monthly (CD liner notes). Los Angeles, California. 12 (2): 18.
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