Pat and Mike
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
George Cukor
Spencer Tracy
Katharine Hepburn
Aldo Ray
William Ching
Sammy White
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Widow Pat Pemberton, the women's athletic coach at Pacific Technical College, excels at sports, but becomes unnerved whenever her pompous fiancé, college administrator Collier Weld, is watching. Collier wants Pat to be the golf partner of potential donor Mr. Beminger, in a foursome with himself and Mrs. Beminger, and insists she play her best so that Beminger will win. During the game, Pat becomes so tense under Collier's reproachful gaze that she ruins a number of shots, causing her and Beminger to lose. While Collier tries to calm Beminger, Pat becomes so annoyed by Mrs. Beminger's condescending golf tips that she angrily grabs a club and makes a rapid succession of perfect drives. Golf pro Charles Barry is so impressed by Pat's skill that he asks her to represent the club at the national women's amateur championship. She is hesitant at first, but after an argument with Collier, whom she feels has no confidence in her abilities, agrees. At the end of the first day of the tournament, Pat is only four strokes behind the lead, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and is feeling confident. Pat's performance is admiringly observed by sports agent Mike Conovan, who is determined to manage her. That evening, Mike offers to become her agent, suggesting that it would be better financially if she lost this tournament and gradually built up her reputation. Although Pat turns down the offer, saying it is dishonest, she impresses Mike. The next day, Pat is on the verge of winning but again becomes so unnerved when she sees Collier watching that she loses the tournament on the last putt. Collier and Pat later argue over his bullying, prompting Pat to reconsider Mike's offer. When she travels to Mike's office in New York, he is overjoyed when she says that golf is actually her weakest sport and promises to promote her into "queen of the world." After demonstrating her skills at tennis and target shooting, Pat signs a contract with Mike, who immediately takes charge of her training and insists that she give up liquor, cigarettes, late hours and Collier. In the ensuing months, Pat becomes a national celebrity after winning several tennis tournaments, partnered with such stars as Frank Parker and Don Budge. By the time she arrives in San Francisco, Pat exudes confidence, but when Collier and some of her students come to watch her at the Cow Palace, she sees them laughing and her confidence vanishes. After imagining that the net is huge and her racket tiny, she pictures Collier as the referee and passes out, losing the tournament to Gussie Moran. Later, Collier tries to convince Pat to come home, but Mike angrily accuses him of being the reason why Pat lost and implies that some of Pat's "owners" would not like his interference. Pat then surprises Mike by crying that no one owns her, then sending Collier away. Pat soon joins Mike at his training camp for dim-witted boxer Davie Hucko. As Pat and Mike grow closer, she admits knowing that it is Collier who is causing her to lose, but assumes that it is because she is in love with him. Mike begins to realize his attraction to Pat after looking at a photograph of her and Collier and imagining himself in the picture. The next day, as Mike is giving Pat a leg massage, Collier calls, asking to see her. Feeling Pat's leg muscles go limp, Mike grabs the phone and orders Collier to stay away. He then tells Pat that, while they are equal partners, "five-oh, five-oh," she could never be "five-oh, five-oh" with Collier. The night before the next national women's golf tournament, Mike's "anonymous investors" arrive at the hotel, hoping to convince Pat, who is the odds-on favorite, to throw the match so that they win large sums betting against her. Mike refuses, but after the men leave, a worried Pat offers to lose, saying she wants to share Mike's troubles "five-oh, five-oh." Mike again refuses, then, at dinner, two of the investors come to their table to force Mike outside. Despite Mike's insistence that she not interfere, Pat goes outside and sees the men physically threatening Mike. She sneaks up behind one of men, pulls at his trouser legs and makes him fall, then disables the other man. After receiving applause from other diners, they are all taken to the police station, where Pat and investor Hank Tasling reenact what has happened, trying to convince the police captain that it was just a joke. He finally lets them all go and tells Pat that his money is on her. Outside the station, Mike laments creating a "Mrs. Frankenstein" and says he wants the kind of "five-oh, five-oh" in which a "he is a he" and a "she is a she." Back at the hotel, Collier arrives and tries to grab one of Pat's arms, while Mike takes the other, prompting Pat to run away. Late that night, while Pat is asleep, Mike goes into her room, closes the window and gently covers her with a blanket. He tries to sneak out, but starts to sneeze, thus waking Pat. She is startled, but touched when he explains that he checks on her every night, just to make sure she does not kick off her blankets. As Mike leaves, he is observed by Collier, who assumes the worst and angrily confronts Pat. She then screams for Mike, who rushes back and unsuccessfully tries to overpower Collier. When Pat implies that something has been going on between herself and Mike, Collier hastily leaves. Although surprised by Pat's words, Mike shakes her hand, saying together they can lick the world, with everything "five-oh, five-oh." During the tournament, Pat is in the lead when, on a critical putt, she looks up and sees Collier's disapproving face. Although momentarily shaken, she then looks at Mike's encouraging face and easily makes the shot.
Director
George Cukor
Cast
Spencer Tracy
Katharine Hepburn
Aldo Ray
William Ching
Sammy White
George Mathews
Loring Smith
Phyllis Povah
Charles Buchinski
Frank Richards
Jim Backus
Chuck Connors
Joseph E. Bernard
Owen Mcgiveney
Lou Lubin
Carl Switzer
William Self
Gussie Moran
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Don Budge
Frank Parker
Beverly Hanson
Alice Marble
Betty Hicks
Helen Dettweiler
Jeanne Wardley
Lois Messler
Billy Mclean
Frankie Darro
Paul Brinegar
"tiny" Jimmie Kelly
Gil Patric
Arnold Hedberg
Joseph Bretherton
Mae Clarke
Helen Eby-rock
Elizabeth Holmes
Hank Weaver
Tony Hughes
Kay English
Jerry Schumacher
Sam Pierce
Bill Lewin
A. Cameron Grant
Larry Harmon
Roger Moore
Tom Quinn
John Mckee
Gene Coogan
Frank Sully
Robert Nelson
J. Lewis Smith
Donald Kerr
John Raven
Jack Rogers
Ross Carmichael
Harry Cody
Jack Bonigul
Frank Cusack
Tom Gibson
Kay Deslys
Kathleen O'malley
Virginia Lindblad
Maxine Doviat
Tanya Somova
John Sheehan
John Fell
Spec O'donnell
Frank Pershing
Pat Flaherty
Pinkie Woods
Wilson Wood
Doug Carter
Bobby Walberg
Stanley Briggs
Sam Hearn
Craufurd Kent
Val Ray
William Cartledge
John Close
Fred Coby
Russ Clark
Forbes Murray
Steve Mitchell
John Bishop
Peter Adams
Estelle Etterre
Jo Anne Aehle
Shirley Kimbrell
Margaret Hedin
Paul Raymond
Michael Dugan
Lucy Largay
Barbara Kimball
Elinor Cushingham
Jane Stanton
King Mojave
Tom Ferrendini
Louis Mason
Tom Harmon
Crew
George Boemler
Joe Edmundson
Cedric Gibbons
Arnold Gillespie
Ruth Gordon
Jack Greenwood
Sydney Guilaroff
Hugh Hunt
Garson Kanin
Urie Mccleary
Warren Newcombe
Joe Novak
Orry-kelly
Frank Parker
David Raksin
Conrad Salinger
Douglas Shearer
William Tuttle
Lawrence Weingarten
Edwin B. Willis
Photo Collections
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Writing, Screenplay
Articles
Pat and Mike
Husband and wife screenwriters Kanin and Gordon wrote Pat and Mike specifically for their actor friends, tailoring the script to the streak of devilish humor lurking beneath Tracy's solid, consummately male persona and taking advantage of Hepburn's natural athletic abilities as a superior golfer and one of the best tennis players in Hollywood. In addition to its two charismatic leads, Pat and Mike also featured cameos by a number of sports stars, from L.A. Angels player Chuck Connors, making his film debut, to lady athletes Helen Dettweiler, Betty Hicks, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Alice Marble whose presence at times invests the film with an almost documentary- realism.
Hepburn stars as Pat Pemberton, an accomplished athlete and Phys Ed instructor who excels at tennis, golf, archery and just about every other sport, but whose smothering, controlling fiance, college administrator Collier Weld (William Ching), is undermining her ability to win.
When Pat meets a shady, blue collar New York sports promoter, Mike Conovan, who agrees to manage her professional tennis and golf career, Pat's luck appears to change for the better. This odd couple develops a mutual affection as they travel to each of Pat's tournaments, and nurture a winning streak only jeopardized by the reappearance of Collier with his ability to instantly jinx Pat's game.
The combination of Tracy's gruff, working-class demeanor and Hepburn's ladylike, patrician bearing provides Pat and Mike with some of its best comic moments, as when Mike, watching Pat walk across a golf course green, remarks to his partner in a thick Brooklyn accent, "There's not much meat on 'er, but what there is is cherce." Such earthy humor endeared Pat and Mike to both critics and audiences and undoubtedly helped win Kanin and Gordon an Academy Award nomination. Kanin and Gordon's witty script also took great advantage of the cozy, intimate rapport between Hepburn and Tracy who were an off-screen couple as well, and played upon the apparently mismatched but sizzling chemistry between the two lovers.
Pat and Mike was the seventh film out of nine that Hepburn and Tracy made together and the second film scripted by Kanin and Gordon after Adam's Rib (1949),in which bickering husband and wife lawyers are stuck on opposite ends of a legal dispute. As with Adam's Rib, Pat and Mike is an honest, amusing account of the battle between the sexes, but also a celebration of male-female chemistry made all the more exciting when the romantic leads are also equals, a specialty of the Kanin-Gordon writing style.
Pat and Mike's director George Cukor, considered an "actor's director" who often coaxed unforgettable performances from his stars, also richly exploited the comic potential in Kanin and Gordon's script, whose bracing mix of streetwise cool and tender sentiment mimicked Damon Runyon's storytelling style.
Director: George Cukor
Producer: Lawrence Weingarten
Screenplay: Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
Cinematography: William H. Daniels
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Uri McCleary
Principle Cast: Spencer Tracy (Mike Conovan), Katharine Hepburn (Pat Pemberton), Aldo Ray (David Hucko), William Ching (Collier Weld), Sammy White (Barney Grau), George Mathews (Spec Cauley).
BW-96m. Closed Captioning. Descriptive Video.
by Felicia Feaster
Pat and Mike
TCM Remembers Charles Bronson - Sept. 13th - TCM Remembers Charles Bronson this Saturday, Sept. 13th 2003.
Turner Classic Movies will honor the passing of Hollywood action star Charles Bronson on Saturday, Sept. 13, with a four-film tribute.
After years of playing supporting roles in numerous Western, action and war films, including THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960, 8 p.m.) and THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967, 1:15 a.m.), Bronson finally achieved worldwide stardom as a leading man during the late 1960s and early 1970s. TCM's tribute will also include THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963, 10:15 p.m.), Bronson's second teaming with Steve McQueen and James Coburn, and will conclude with FROM NOON TILL THREE (1976, 4 a.m.), co-starring Jill Ireland. TCM will alter it's prime-time schedule this Saturday, Sept. 13th. The following changes will take place: 8:00 PM - The Magnificent Seven (1960)10:15 PM - The Great Escape (1963)
1:15 AM - The Dirty Dozen (1967)
4:00 AM - From Noon Till Three (1976) Charles Bronson, 1921-2003
Charles Bronson, the tough, stony-faced actor who was one of the most recognizable action heroes in cinema, died on August 30 in Los Angeles from complications from pneumonia. He was 81.
He was born Charles Buchinsky on November 3, 1921 in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, one of fifteen children born to Lithuanian immigrant parents. Although he was the only child to have graduated high school, he worked in the coalmines to support his family until he joined the army to serve as a tail gunner during World War II. He used his money from the G.I. Bill to study art in Philadelphia, but while working as a set designer for a Philadelphia theater troupe, he landed a few small roles in some productions and immediately found acting to be the craft for him.
Bronson took his new career turn seriously, moved to California, and enrolled for acting classes at The Pasadena Playhouse. An instructor there recommended him to director Henry Hathaway for a movie role and the result was his debut in Hathaway's You're in the Navy Now (1951). He secured more bit parts in films like John Sturges' drama The People Against O'Hara (1951), and Joseph Newman's Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952). More substantial roles came in George Cukor's Pat and Mike (1952, where he is beaten up by Katharine Hepburn!); Andre de Toth's classic 3-D thriller House of Wax (1953, as Vincent Price's mute assistant, Igor); and De Toth's fine low-budget noir Crime Wave (1954).
Despite his formidable presence, his leads were confined to a string of B pictures like Gene Fowler's Gang War; and Roger Corman's tight Machine Gun Kelly (both 1958). Following his own television series, Man With a Camera (1958-60), Bronson had his first taste of film stardom when director Sturges casted him as Bernardo, one of the The Magnificent Seven (1960). Bronson displayed a powerful charisma, comfortably holding his own in a high-powered cast that included Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. A few more solid roles followed in Sturges' The Great Escape (1963), and Robert Aldrich's classic war picture The Dirty Dozen (1967), before Bronson made the decision to follow the European trail of other American actors like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. It was there that his hard, taciturn screen personae exploded in full force. In 1968 alone, he had four hit films: Henri Verneuil's Guns for San Sebastian, Buzz Kulik's Villa Rides, Jean Herman's Adieu l'ami which was a smash in France; and the classic Sergio Leone spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West.
These films established Bronson as a huge box-office draw in Europe, and with some more stylish hits like Rene Clement's Rider on the Rain (1969), and Terence Young's Cold Sweat (1971) he soon became one of the most popular film stars in the world. It wasn't easy for Bronson to translate that success back in his homeland. In fact, his first few films on his return stateside: Michael Winners' Chato's Land, and The Mechanic (both 1972), and Richard Fleischer's Mr. Majestyk (1973), were surprisingly routine pictures. It wasn't until he collaborated with Winner again for the controversial Death Wish (1974), an urban revenge thriller about an architect who turns vigilante when his wife and daughter are raped, did he notch his first stateside hit. The next few years would be a fruitful period for Bronson as he rode on a wave of fine films and commercial success: a depression era streetfighter in Walter Hill's terrific, if underrated Hard Times (1975); Frank Gilroy's charming offbeat black comedy From Noon Till Three (1976, the best of many teamings with his second wife, Jill Ireland); Tom Gries tense Breakheart Pass; and Don Siegel's cold-war thriller Telefon (1977).
Sadly, Bronson could not keep up the momentum of good movies, and by the '80s he was starring in a string of forgettable films like Ten to Midnight (1983), The Evil That Men Do (1984), and Murphy's Law (1986, all directed by J. Lee Thompson). A notable exception to all that tripe was John Mackenzie's fine telefilm Act of Vengeance (1986), where he earned critical acclaim in the role of United Mine Workers official Jack Yablonski. Although he more or less fell into semi-retirement in the '90s, his performances in Sean Penn's The Indian Runner (1991); and the title role of Michael Anderson's The Sea Wolf (1993) proved to many that Bronson had the makings of a fine character actor. He was married to actress Jill Ireland from 1968 until her death from breast cancer in 1990. He is survived by his third wife Kim Weeks, six children, and two grandchildren.
by Michael T. Toole
TCM Remembers Charles Bronson - Sept. 13th - TCM Remembers Charles Bronson this Saturday, Sept. 13th 2003.
Quotes
What would happen if I ever dropped you?- Pat Pemberton
I'd go right down the drain.- Mike Conovan
And?- Pat Pemberton
I'd take you right down with me shorty.- Mike Conovan
Not much meat on her, but what's there is cherce.- Mike Conovan
Trivia
Notes
According to various Hollywood Reporter news items, James Arness, Frank Otto and Alan Dinehart, III were cast, but they were not in the released film. Portions of the film were shot on location at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles and in the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Several popular golf and tennis stars portrayed themselves in the film, including Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the most celebrated woman golfer of all time. According to the film's presskit, Frank Parker, who appeared as himself in the film, also acted as a technical advisor and tennis coach to Katharine Hepburn.
According to contemporary and modern sources, Hepburn, an excellent athlete in real life, did all of her own tennis and golf scenes in Pat and Mike. According to biographical sources, Hepburn was a junior golf champion as a child, and press materials noted that Hepburn was once a runner-up in the Connecticut Women's Golf Championship. As noted in some reviews and modern sources, the sports sequences in the film were filmed in a newsreel/documentary style.
Modern sources have commented on the effectiveness of Spencer Tracy's use of a "Bronx" accent in his portrayal of "Mike Conovon." In a scene from the film that is often shown in documentaries about Tracy and Hepburn's careers and offscreen relationship, "Mike" looks at "Pat" and remarks, "Not much meat on her, but what's there is 'cherce.'" Pat and Mike was the seventh of nine co-starring films for Tracy and Hepburn, and the second of two collaborations with writers Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, who also wrote their popular 1949 film Adam's Rib (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1941-50).
Kanin and Gordon received an Academy Award nomination for their story and screenplay. According to a 1973 Daily Variety news item, a television series based on the film was being developed for comedian Buddy Hackett, but the series was never aired.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States July 1984
Released in United States June 1952
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1952
Released in USA on video.
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1952
Released in United States June 1952
Released in United States July 1984 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (50 Hour Sports Movie Marathon) July 5-20, 1984.)