BEFORE: From auto racing to golf - yes, it's a bit of a jump. But it helps if you look at it as going from one classic on-screen (and off-screen) romantic pair to another - from Cruise/Kidman to Tracy/Hepburn. And I've got a mini-theme going, with three films that mix sports and romance.
Linking from "Days of Thunder", Robert Duvall was in "Open Range" with Annette Bening, who was also in "Love Affair" with Katharine Hepburn (last seen in "Desk Set").
THE PLOT: Pat's a brilliant athlete, except when her domineering fiance is around. The lady's golf championship is in her reach until she gets flustered by his presence at the final holes, so she enlists the help of Mike, a slightly shady sports promoter.
AFTER: As with "Desk Set", I expect two things from a Tracy/Hepburn comedy - a healthy dose of feminism, and the ultimate romantic pairing of the two leads. The first is a bit of a given here, as Hepburn does progressive things like entering golf tournaments, and wearing pants. Though her boyfriend forces her to change into a skirt when they play against the college trustees, and also put up with the pompous college trustees.
As for the romantic pairing, it's an echo of my problem with "Desk Set" - they really should make Hepburn's boyfriend more of an obvious bad fit for her. In "Desk Set" her boyfriend never had time for her - hey, lots of guys were busy back then, it's called "working" - and here her boyfriend wants to get married and settle down, which is not an uncommon attitude for the early 1950's. Would he have been a better catch if he DIDN'T want to get married?
The other problem is, she can't seem to win a golf (or tennis) tournament when he's in the audience. How is that his fault? Maybe she's just not good enough to win! Look, there's 30 or 40 people in the tournament, someone's got to come in second, right? Seeing Hepburn choke in the finals is another bit of lazy movie shorthand. Symbolically, something's wrong with her game, because there's something wrong with the relationship, even if she can't quite realize it. No, no, don't bother getting into the mechanics of the game, or what might be wrong with her swing, because that would just bore people.
Really, the main problem with the boyfriend is that he's NOT Spencer Tracy. As with "Desk Set", the pairing is inevitable - it's why this actor and actress were cast in the film. It's what the audience came to the picture show to see, so it's got to happen, as contrived as it seems in retrospect. But on that level, it's no different than "For the Love of the Game", or "Rocky", or a bunch of other sports movies I can't think of right now. The athlete is not complete without the relationship, and the relationship works better when the athlete is performing well. Look at the slump Tiger Woods got into after his affairs were made public and he got divorced.
It's not really the filmmaker's fault that he doesn't truly get inside Hepburn's head, and uses cinematic short-cuts. You have to realize that this film was released in 1952, and women hadn't been playing sports for very long - so, really, that whole process was something of a mystery. A shady boxing promoter, that we understand. Though I have a feeling that more boxing matches have been thrown over the years in movies than ever have been in real life. That's another lazy way filmmakers determined the outcome of a fight, without getting into the mechanics of boxing. I also didn't know that a golf tournament could be rigged like a boxing match - go figure.
Also starring Aldo Ray, Babe Didrikson Zaharias (a major Olympic + golf star, her presence adds some validity to the proceedings, like the real NASCAR drivers last night) with cameos from Jim Backus, Charles Bronson, Chuck Connors, and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (that's a rather odd bunch).
RATING: 3 out of 10 glasses of milk
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