Day #45 - Woman of the Year

I am going to write my review tomorrow but I just wanted to say....I LOVE SPENCER TRACY!!!

IMDB Link

OK I'm back :) So yes, first of all, let's talk about Spencer Tracy. As I said after I watched Adam's Rib, I really expected Tracy to be gruff and cranky - and as in Adam's Rib, I could not have been more wrong. Charming is the best word to describe him - he is just wonderful! He is so natural in his roles and also very funny! Out of all of the movies I've seen so far, I would definitely put him up there with Jimmy Stewart as far as favorites - and I NEVER would have guessed that. I knew so little about him before this challenge - all I knew was about his love affair with Kate, but nothing about HIM. Love, love, love him.

So I read on IMDB that this was the FIRST movie he and Kate Hepburn made together (1942) - and boy can you tell! Their chemistry is AMAZING! They are so into each other - not for ONE second do you think they are acting. It's actually really fun to watch, knowing their story and what they would mean to each other. I had to smile at the screen at times, I was so thoroughly enjoying their interactions.

What I would like to know is this - and I'm posing this question to anyone who might know. I've noticed that Kate Hepburn's roles are typically that of really strong females who don't believe they should play second fiddle to men - and as I know that was the same of her in real life, I wonder.....were these movies written with her in mind? Because people knew she was like this and would therefore play the part well? I would be more inclined to think that female roles were just simply written this way anyway - but in the late 30's/40's/50's, how many writers were telling the story of women like this? I would have thought it were rare....

Woman of the Year won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and Kate Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress but did not win. I also wanted to share this piece of trivia from IMDB:

"As Katharine Hepburn's close friend and frequent director, George Cukor was a natural choice to direct, but for her first film with Spencer Tracy, Hepburn wanted Tracy to be as comfortable as possible, so as a quasi-producer, she hired George Stevens, who had directed her in Alice Adams (1935). As Hepburn said, "I just thought he (Tracy) should have a big, manly man on his team--someone who could talk about baseball." Cukor (who was openly gay and known for his friendships with actresses) would later become a good friend of Tracy and would direct both actors inKeeper of the Flame (1942), Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952)."

I also wanted to share a FANTASTIC quote that I first heard from my Hollywood Encyclopedia/Mother-in-Law :) and also found when researching this movie....(this quote is from Wikipedia) :)

"This is the first of nine films Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were to make together. They met for the first time on this shoot. In the 1993 documentary Katharine Hepburn: All About Me, Hepburn herself says she was wearing high heels at the first meeting with Tracy and producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and said "I'm afraid I'm a bit tall for you, Mr. Tracy". Mankiewicz then responded, "Don't worry, Kate, he'll cut you down to size."

My favorite scene of the movie is the very last one when she is trying to make breakfast for him - not because of her actions but because of his reactions - what great faces! Lemme see if I can find it on YouTube. Yay! For a quick background, let's just say that Kate is trying to prove that she can be a good housewife - and she's not exactly comfortable in the kitchen :)