Directed by George Cuckor, Adam’s Rib (1949), was a vehicle for the powerhouse pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in a classic battle of the sexes. It was the sixth of Tracy and Hepburn’s nine cinematic collaborations.
The plot involves a husband and wife (played by Tracy and Hepburn) who are lawyers on opposite sides of an attempted murder case involving a vengeful wife who shoots her adulterous husband. The courtroom dramatics spill over into the lawyers’ home life with amusing consequences, and an opportunistic neighbor (played by David Wayne) wastes no time in putting the moves on Hepburn when he sees her marriage in turmoil.
The screenplay, written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, was inspired by the real-life experiences of friends who were also lawyers. In 1992, the film was preserved in the United States National Film Registry, recognizing its cultural and historical significance.
