This is a guest post from a fellow blogger who not only loves classic chicks flicks as much as I do, and  her name is Clara too! What a small world. About Clara Fercovic: I  am 24 years old, Chilean (that’s why my English isn’t very good), I love old movies, especially the ones from 1930 – 1970, & writing about them. My site is Via Margutta 51 (Via Margutta 51 is Gregory Peck’s address in Rome in “Roman Holiday” )

I love old movies and Clarabela told me that I could write anything related with “women and movies”. So I thought that it would be a nice idea to introduce you to ten female characters I find very cool. If you’re not that into classic films, I hope I can pique your interest.

10. Delphine & Solange Garnier from Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)

The sisters played by Catherine Deneuve & Francoise Dorléac are cool because they start their mornings this way. Yeah, I completely overlooked my own list rules, but please check this movie. You won’t regret it. Plus the sisters are cool anyway.

Hayley Mills portrayed super cool teen characters in many Disney movies. But I had to pick one and I chose Pollyanna. Pollyanna is cool because even when she lost her parents she is able to turn every negative situation in something positive. At some point a character says she hates Sundays because it means starting a new week and going to church and having an awful breakfast. Pollyanna’s reply? “You could be glad because it will be six whole days before Sunday comes around again, huh?“. She’s able to help people in town just spreading her joie de vivre. And you can apply her positive way of thinking to your own life. That’s cool.

8. Mama from I remember mama (1948)

Irene Dunne played lots of cool characters, but my favorite has to be one of the less fashionable, the mother of a Norwegian immigrant family. The cool thing about Mama is that she can use her humble means and strength to make the life of her family bearable. Nobody mess around with her family, not even the strict nurses at the hospital. She knows about sacrifice, but not about complaint. She never panics, she just tries to solve the situation in a reasonable way. Without drama, with lots of dignity. That’s cool (and you can watch it on Youtube).

7. Princess Ann from Roman Holiday (1954)

 Audrey Hepburn’s Ann is cool because she decides to be herself for one day, defying the rules. She just can’t stand the way she’s treated, like a political puppet, so she decides to escape and explore Rome by her own. Gregory Peck, a reporter looking for a scoop, offers himself to be her guide. Ann is a very mature girl and this experience helps her to see things more clearly and become a real leader.

6. Marie “Slim” Brownie from To Have and Have Not (1944)

This is Lauren Bacall making history with the first character she ever played; falling love with Humphrey Bogart, becoming one of the most iconic Classic Hollywood couples. Marie is not a saint, her life hasn’t been easy and even when she needs to steal money from rich people to survive, she has principles and the strength to defend them. That’s why she decides to face danger and help Boogie in his mission (and well, maybe because she’s attracted to him). She’s secure and knows what she wants. Her good looks and husky voice are great allies too.

5. Amanda Bonner from Adam’s Rib (1949)

Katharine Hepburn played a lot of cool characters, from Jo of Little Women to Ethel Tayer of On Golden Pond. Anyway, Amanda Bonner is a brilliant lawyer that face all the male lawyers in some big city. And that includes her own husband (Spencer Tracy). She’s not only witty, but also has a great sense of humor. In this epic battle of sexes she raises victoriously, but she is able to know when things gave gone too far and just bury the hatchet.

4. Hildy Johnson from His Girl Friday (1940)

Hildy (played by awesome Rosalind Russell) is  an independent reporter, in a time when journalism belonged to men. But she doesn’t give a damn; she does a great job, gets all the sources, has a witty and fast answer to every guy and has no fear. An interview in jail with a guy suspected of murder? Ok, let’s do it. Tackle a bad guy to find the truth and save an innocent man? Here I go. The only problem with Hildy is that she re-falls in love with her double crossing ex boss/husband (-1). But the guy was Cary Grant (+1).

3. Fraulein Maria from The Sound of Music (1965)

Maria is cool because:

2. Mary Kate from The Quiet Man (1952)

This famous character created by John Ford and Maureen O’Hara is a fierce Irish countrywoman that knows her rights and will defend them with tooth and nail. She falls in love with equally cool John Wayne and eventually marries him; but she will fight to recover her own money and furniture from her stubborn brother…even if that means skipping the wedding night and defy ancient social rules. She has pride, even when that eventually means to be dragged across the fields. Plus the “rude” words she whispers to Duke at the end are one of Hollywood’s best kept secrets. Cool.

1. Nora Charles from The Thin Man (1934)

I think this is probably the coolest character ever: she manages to have a marriage that works great. How? With lots of fun, charm, wit, fun, wit, charm, and fun. And love, of course. Her wit gives her patience and allows her to properly read every situation, discarding unfounded jealousy. Plus she’s very brave and helps her hubby to solve crimes. Keep calm and be like Nora Charles, you could say. Even if someone armed shows up in your room, even if your husband invites a lot of crazy people for a drink on New Year’s Eve, etc. Besides, Nora and Nick have some of the best lines ever:

Edna Ferber’s novel comes to life in the film Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. Director George Stevens who also worked with Miss Taylor in A Place in the Sun took the cast to Marfa, Texas to shoot the movie, which also helped show the vastness (and flatness) of the Texas landscape.

Made in 1956, Giant tells the story of Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict Jr., a wealthy Texas rancher, played with the appropriate amount of swagger by Rock Hudson. Bick goes to Maryland to pick up a horse for his ranch and meets the stunningly beautiful Leslie Litton. How could he help but to fall head over heels in love. They marry and Bick brings Leslie back to Texas, where she experiences total culture shock.  It is quite a contrast to go from the beautiful, green rolling hills of Maryland to hot, dusty Reata. Leslie is also not used to the barbecuing whole cows, the oppressive heat and the ill-treatment of Mexicans. The film spans more than 30 years, through the discovery of oil by Jett Rink (James Dean) and how that impact Bick and Leslie’s family.

Elizabeth Taylor shines as high-spirited,  Leslie Benedict. She starts out as an outspoken schoolgirl who insults Bick about Texas history. (Texans are very touchy about the “this used to belong to Mexico thing” ) She goes from the cultured daughter of a Northern horse-breeder to the wife of a macho Texas cattleman who believed that women were like pretty little vases — to be seen, displayed, but not heard. When she wants to join in a conversation with the men about politics she is sent away to ‘sit with the ladies and be good‘.

“This is men’s stuff. You wouldn’t be interested. No don’t you go worrying your pretty little head about this”. –Rock Husdon

You mean my pretty empty head!“–Leslie

After visiting a Mexican family’s home to check on a sick child, she is reprimanded for interfering with ‘those people’.  You can see the fire in Elizabeth’s eyes when Bick tries to tame her. Over their 25 year marriage, Bick tries to tame Leslie, like one of his horses, but he picked the wrong girl!

I love  the scenes with Liz and James. The two of them are very comfortable with each other and it allows you to see more of the inner workings of their characters.  While Jett is in love with Leslie, she enjoys their friendship.

James Dean’s portrayal as the ranch hand turned oilman is so understated and brilliant, it is not hard to understand why he earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Jett Rink. Dean’s performance and the images of him sitting in the back seat of that car are iconic.

Elizabeth Taylor is perfect for the part of Leslie Benedict. Leslie was not a woman who was willing to be defined by her beauty , but a woman who had a mind of her own and was willing to express herself when needed. Elizabeth Taylor lived her life that way in movies like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and The Taming of The Shrew (1967), Elizabeth Taylor embodied the beautiful high-spirited woman who could handle her own business. It didn’t mean that she didn’t need  or want love, but she didn’t need a man to tell her what to do. She was her own woman.  A GIANT of a woman!

Watch GIANT on NetFlix on demand.  This post is part of the LAMB Acting School Series about the films of Elizabeth Taylor.  Each month the LAMB (Large Association of Movie Bloggers) focuses on the careers of a specific actor, director or filmmaker.

See My Other Posts Related To Elizabeth Taylor

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Guest Post on The Lingerie Addict)

Fantasy Movie Casting: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

There have been numerous movie adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s, Jane Eyre.  Charlotte and her sister Emily, who wrote Wuthering Heights were the queens of gothic romantic novels. The most recent adaptation of Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Fukunaga  stars Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are Alright) , Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds, X-Men: First Class)  and a grown-up Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot).

Plain Jane

Mia Wasikowska’s pale skin and square jaw looked as thought she belonged in the period. Something in here eyes and her voice give you a hint of Jane’s  inner strength.

After a sad and lonely childhood, the mousy Jane Eyre takes a job as a governess to the young French ward  of the elusive and moody Edward Rochester.  Having grown up in a household where she was unloved and unwanted, Jane is a young woman who is as plain speaking as she is plain. In a time where it was a woman’s primary vocation to find a husband, being pretty is very important. Jane has no illusions about her looks, so a comfortable and stable governess job is more than she could hope for.

Life in the north of England teaching Adele and living under the friendly and watchful eye of the housekeeper, Miss Fairfax (played by Dame Judi Dench). Things going bump in the night, strange noises and muffles screams don’t even bother her.  The master of Thornfield Hall, Edward Rochester is gone for extended periods of time. The boss being gone for months at a time sounds like the perfect job to me. Everything is going along peacefully until the master comes home suddenly. Then thing change…

The Sexy, Moody, Handsome Mr. Rochester

A tortured man, with a terrible secret, Mr. Rochester is the perfect gothic hero. Unlike some of the actors who portrayed Mr. Rochester, Michael Fastbender is a young, sexy man who looks as though he is longing for love. He will make me look at Magneto in the upcoming X-Men: First Class in a whole new way. Perhaps that is what attracted him to Jane Eyre in the first place. He could tell that Jane could be depended upon when the crazy wife you have locked in the attic stabs you in the middle of the night.

The fact that Rochester kept his crazy wife in his home instead of sending her to some  hell hole asylums or ‘get rid‘ of her in some more permanent way tells you something about the kind of man he is.

When Rochester’s terrible secret is revealed (right in the middle of their wedding), Jane runs away. After a miserable, cold, wet, rocky trek across the English countryside in the rain, Jane finds herself in the home of St. John Rivers a pius young  minister and his sisters. During her time with the Rivers family, Jane manages to get another marriage proposal. (That’s 2, so far) Young Reverend Rivers wants a helpmate for his ministry in India. Not a loving wife.

The memory of  the sexy Mr. Rochester call her back to Thornfield Hall which has been burnt to the ground by the crazy wife. Jane finds Edward, scared and blinded. Even so it is a happy ending.

Have you read Jane Eyre or any of the Brontë’s sisters novels. Which one is your favorite? Do you have a favorite film version of Jane Eyre?

Jane Eyre: Masterpiece Theatre,  Starring Ruth Wilson and  Toby Stephens

Jane Eyre (1944)  Starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine

Jane Eyre (1997) Starring Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds

It’s A Wonderful Life comes on TV every year at this time. Some stations even play it around the clock. It is a holiday classic, but I like It’s A Wonderful Life for the lessons it teaches us. Like most Frank Capra films, the story is about the strength and courage of ordinary people. In fact, the rich and power are usually the bad guys in his films.

In 1946 Frank Capra directed It’s A Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore. It is the story of a man who lives an unassuming life in a small town and thinks that his life doesn’t really matter in the great big scheme of things.

Even though George Bailey spends  his whole life in Bedford Falls helping others, he was a man who had bigger dreams. He had plans to travel, to see the world and have adventures. Instead he  works in the family’s business, a  building and loan company that helps working people to buy a home of their own.

“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

But one Christmas Eve, George’s absent-minded Uncle Billy loses an  $8,000  bank deposit. That’s 1946 dollars, so $8000 was a fortune. Actually, it is still a lot of money. George now faces  jail and the collapse of his company so he goes to Mr. Potter,  the mean old skinflint banker to ask for assistance. But of course that wasn’t going to happen.  He is out of options. With nothing left but a life insurance policy, he thinks everyone  would  off if he were  dead and  he considers suicide.

The  prayers of his loved ones are heard and an angel named Clarence is sent  to help George and  show him what life would be like if he had never been born. George sees his beloved Bedford Falls controlled by Mr.  Potter turned into a town full of sleazy bars and shoddy slums. His wife Mary who he feels could have done better for herself by marrying a rich man  is a mousey, old-maid librarian.  The people who he had been friends with and the lives that he touched all had a much different life than the one he had known.

George realizes what all of us need to remember: we DO make a difference. That each of use touches the lives of those around us in small, sometimes imperceptible ways that ultimately change the world around us.

“Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends.”

At the end of the movie, George goes back to his real life, expecting to be thrown into prison for bank fraud. But he soon learns the true  power of friendship.  All his friends pull together to help him, collecting money and paying off his debt. This part always makes me cry.

The wonderful thing about It’s A Wonderful Life is that it restores your faith in your fellow man. Like most of Frank Capra’s movies, there is an underlying believe that we are basically good people and in good times and bad times we can all pull together.

My friends and fellow FilmGirl Force bloggers would also like to share some of their most beloved holiday movies with you.

Action Flick Chick: Ernest Saves Christmas: Butter, Dunder, and Blixem?

Reel Arty: The Quest for Indie Christmas Movies

Kelley-Vision: Christmas Specials

Filmgurl: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

This month The LAMB (Large Association of Movie Bloggers)  will highlight the performances  and distinguished career of one of my favorite actresses, Katharine Hepburn.

I have written about The Philadelphia Story and my favorite Tracy – Hepburn films in previous blog posts. How can begin any conversation about classic chick flicks or even classic movies without including Katharine  The Great, Katharine Hepburn. Considered on of the greatest actresses of all time, Katharine Hepburn is also my favorite actress and largely responsible for my deep love of movies-especially classic movies. Winner of 4 Best Actress Oscars; with 12 nominations.

Katharine was a woman who loved life by her own rules. Katharine was an unconventional beauty with red hair and an athletic figure in  an age when Hollywood produced buxom blonde beauties. I love Katharine because she taught me some really important life lessons.

Don’t Let Them Change You…Just Be Yourself

Hepburn was a Connecticut Yankee who got her acting start on the Broadway stage. In Hollywood, Kate earned her  first Oscar  in 1933 for her role in Morning Glory. Her unconventional beauty combined with her refusal to be a glamour girl and play the Hollywood Game; by  wearing slacks and not wearing  makeup, in addition to a string a flops labeled Kate ‘box office poison‘ and the Hollywood moguls would touch her.

Handle Your Business!

Katharine didn’t take this laying down. In typical Hepburn fashion, she took matters into her own hands,  bought the rights to the popular Broadway play, The Philadelphia Story and sold them to MGM on the condition that she play the lead role of Tracy Lords. How is that for taking care of business? The Philadelphia Story is one of my all time favorites, with three of my favorite actors doing what they do best. It is a classic romantic comedy, full of witty dialogue.

As one goes through life one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.

How To Win The Battle of The Sexes

One of my favorite movie lines is in The Rainmaker, in which Katharine stars with Burt Lancaster. Kate plays a spinster whose family is anxious for her to find a husband. Her frustrated brother (Lloyd Bridges) tells her “You gotta get a man the way a man gets got!”

Hepburn was a fiercely independent and intelligent woman and that showed on the screen. Perhaps that is why she was able to hold her own with some of Hollywood’s best leading men. Men like Gary Grant in Bringing Up Baby, Holiday and The Philadelphia Story; Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen; Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond; Peter O’Toole in The Lion in Winter and the wonderful films she made with Spencer Tracy. Katharine was not willing to play the games or give up her convictions. Somehow she knew how to strike the perfect bargain in order to follow her dreams and keep her man happy.

More Life Lessons From Katharine Hepburn

How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great

Me : Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn

The Making of the African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind

Born in 1775 in Hampshire, England and daughter of a clergyman, Jane Austen wrote her first story after a failed romance in 1799. The story, ‘First Impressions’ would eventually become one of the most beloved novels of many women, Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen is probably one  of the best-loved women authors of all time. She has been studied and analyzed. But perhaps we know her best by her novels and the movies they inspired. The life of Austen is portrayed in  the movie Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy. In Becoming Jane, Hathaway show us the  young, love-struck Jane Austen in the untold romance that inspired Pride and Prejudice. The handsome Scotsman, James McAvoy plays Tom Lefroy, young penniless law student sparks  a passionate romance with Jane. It is a must see for true Jane Austen fans.

The Austen Novels

From 1811 until her death in 1816, Jane Austen wrote her best known works;  Sense And Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), and , Northanger Abbey and Persuasion which were published posthumously.  Talk a about a string of hits. In five short years, Jane Austen wrote some of the most enduring love stories of all time and became the crowned Queen of Chick Lit.

The Jane Austen Collection: Read the Works of Jane Austen on Your Kindle

The Movies

Jane Austen’s other books have been made into movies as well.  Gwyneth Paltrow starred in Emma with Jeremy Nothham and Toni Collette. Gwyneth seems to have stepped right off the pages of a Jane Austen novel. She is perfect as the meddling, matchmaking young Emma Woodhouse

Ang Lee directs Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet in  Sense & Sensibility , the story about the on again and off again romances of the Dashwood sisters. Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant star as their love interests.

I first watched Frances O’Connor, Jonny Lee Miller in Mansfield Park at a slumber party. I loved the story of  the smart and an independent Fanny Price, who is sent to live with her rich cousins. They are supposed to teach her how to be a proper lady, but she teaches them a thing or two as well.

There is even a mini-series called Lost in Austen, about a real Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice fan who finds herself back in 19th century England, entangled in the lives loves of her favorite characters.  Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper) is bored with  the modern world’s and her boyfriend’s  lack of romance. She longs for the romance she finds in Austen’s novels. But she gets more than she bargained for when she finds herself living in the home of the Bennets, where she ignites new romantic twists and turns and almost ruins the love the story between Darcy and Lizzie.

Pride and Prejudice

The love story between the arrogant and proud Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and the high-spirited Miss Elizabeth (Lizzie )Bennett. Not only a classic love story, study of the social and moral values of her day. Jane Austen’s story of two passionate people who has touched the hearts of women for more than two hundred years. Can yo believe that? How many times have we read the book and loved it? How many times have we watched the movie?

There are several versions of Pride and Prejudice. Greer Garson and Laurance Olivier stared in the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice. Keira Knightly, Matthew MacFadyen, Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland starred in a recent 2005 movie version of Pride & Prejudice.  There is even a Bollywood re-make called Bride and Prejudice, which I really like. However, if you really want to get the full sense of Jane Austen’s book, you should see the five-hour BBC version of Miss Austen’s most-famous work. In this lavash mini-series, Colin Firth plays Darcy and Jennifer Ehle plays the role of Lizzie.

Win the Pride and Prejudice DVD

Emmy Award winning miniseries on two digitally restored DVDs.  Color-enhanced and completely digitally restored from hi-def source materials for the first time on DVD and backed with bonus features: Lasting Impressions, An Impromptu Walkabout with Adrian Lukis and Lucy Briers; Turning Point; Uncovering the Technical Restoration Process.

You could  win a copy of the 2-DVD BBC miniseries,Pride and Prejudice. Leave a comment and tell me your favorite Jane Austen movie. What is it you love about the movies and stories by Jane Austen. The deadline is June 12, 2010. A random comment will be chosen from comments left on this post. The winner will be chosen on June 14, 2010.

Trying to narrow down all the chick flicks about mothers and daughters was not that easy. I have a few favorites and for some reason they all seem to be tearjerkers. Perhaps you have some favorites of your own.

Stella Dallas

Stella Dallas is a classic chick flick about the sacrifices a mother makes for her daughter. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the working class girl with big plans, Stella Martin. Stella works at the factory of Stephen Dallas (John Boles) and eventually catches his eye. Stephen didn’t know what hit him and before he knew it, Stephen married Stella. Soon they have a daughter, Laurel. Stella is not a bad person. It’s just that she and the high-born Mr. Dallas as from two entirely different worlds.

Those kinds of things may not matter in 2010, in our age of political correctness and ‘we are all equal‘. But in 1937, class was a very real thing. Not only did Stella come from the lower class, but she didn’t have any–class, that is.  Stella was the kind of girl who drank beer out of the bottle, told bawdy jokes, laughed loudly had not taste in fashion and had inappropriate friends. Stella is what we would call tacky or gauche.  Despite Stephen’s efforts to educate on proper manners, she was just plain old Stell. ”Perfect” Stephen could take and they divorced.

Where does that leave Laurel Dallas? With her mother in a small house on the wrong side of the tracks. I guess they didn’t have alimony and child support in those days. Stella and Laurel have a wonderful relationship. Stella tries hard to provide best things  for Laurel, but she can’t afford the expensive best things that Stephan can provide. By now, Stephen has remarried (one of his own this time) and Laurel is a beautiful young woman with the upper class sensibilities of her father. Each time Laurel returns home from visiting her father, she is full of stories about the parties, tennis, and the joys of living with the upper crust. By now  How can Stella compete with that? What hurts more is Laurel’s admiration for the new Mrs. Dallas, Helen. ‘Helen does her hair this way…Helen and her sons always do things this way or that….Helen is so refined and elegant

Laurel loves her mother, and she is aware of the affect her admiration of her step-mother has on Stella. Laurel stops telling her mother about the details of her visits with Stephen and Helen, as well as about Dick, the wealthy young man who is attracted to her.  Stella wants to show Laurel how much she loved her, so Stella books them into an exclusive resort to show Laurel the kind of ‘high class times’ she experiences at her father’s home.

Enter Stella in her tacky best, complete with feather boas, costume jewelry, bleached blonde hair, tons of make-up and cheap perfume. She quickly becomes the laughing-stock of the resort. When Laurel overhears some snooty people making comments about her mother, she pretends to be sick and makes Stella take her home early, hoping to spare her mother any embarrassment. But on the train ride home, Stella too overhears what people were saying about her and how it will affect Laurel’s changes of  marrying her wealth beau. Here comes the part about a mother’s love and sacrifice.

When Stella realizes that she is standing in the way of Laurel’s happiness, she goes to Helen asking her to ‘take’ Laurel. To help Laurel in a way that Stella could not. I have told you too much already and I don’t want to spoil the incredible flood of tears that you will experience at the end of this movie. However, Stella makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure her daughter’s happiness.

What would you have done? Did Stella make the right choice?
What are your favorite Mother’s Day movies?

Adam’s Rib

Two attorneys, a husband and a wife. He is a regular guy and she is an independent modern woman, especially for 1949. They take on opposing sides of a case of attempted murder when a woman tries to shot her philandering husband and his girlfriend. The is the premise of Adam’s Rib, one of the best of the Tracy-Hepburn films.

Directed by George Cukor,  Adam’s Rib was written by husband and wife team Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon.  The plot revolves around Adam and Amanda Bonner,  a married couple who unwittingly take on the same case. Doris Attinger, wonderfully played by Judy Holliday fires a gun at her husband (Tom Ewell)  when she catches him with another woman. Adam, the prosecuting attorney sees it as a straight forward case of attempted murder and Amanda sees it as a way to advance woman’s rights. (keep in mind this is 1949, there were not that many woman’s rights). Their opposing arguments spill over from the courtroom into the bedroom and result in some pretty funny scenes. It is full of all the  wit and barbs you would expect in a hilarious battle of the sexes.

Woman of the Year 1942

Tracy and Hepburn first appear together in George Stevens’ Woman of the Year. It is part of Hollywood legend that when they were first introduced by Joseph Mankiewicz, Katharine a tall woman anyway)  was wearing high heels, said:  “I’m afraid I’m too tall for you, Mr. Tracy.” Mankiewicz replied, “Don’t worry, he’ll soon cut you down to size.” That is an indication how their relationship would be.

In Woman of the Year, Tracy and Hepburn play rival journalists Tess Harding and Sam Craig. They work on the same newspaper and it is definitely NOT love at first sight, but they soon fall in love (on and off-screen). After the wedding, Tess’ busy lifestyle and  feminist activities put a strain on the marriage. And when she is elected as “the woman of the year” Sam feels  neglected and probably a bit jealous.

That is a pretty modern situation for a married couple in 1942. Watching them work through their problems is  wonderfully hilarious. Especially when Tess tries to prove she can be a ‘real wife’ by making him breakfast. You’ve got to see it!

But what makes this and all their movies so special is the dynamic chemistry between Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Even though they seemed to be opposites, they were made for each other.  I think the appeal of their movies was is to  Katharine’s independent spirit  which perfectly complements Spencer’s blue-collar demeanor and   easy-going attitude.  They made a total of 9 movies together and their final film was Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, for which Hepburn won her second  Academy Award for Best Actress.

In modern Chick Flicks, like The Ugly Truth there is a battle of the sexes where ultimately the man gets his way and the woman gets her man, but in the films of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, the battle of the sexes often ended in a draw (or at least a truce). They were a very modern couple for their time. She was the tough, independent woman and he knew just how to handle her: by giving her the freedom she needed to be herself and she gave him the respect he need to fell good about himself. I think it worked beautifully. Don’t you?

The Classic Chick Flick Couple: Tracy-Hepburn Films

Keeper of the Flame (1942)

Woman of the Year (1942)

State of the Union (1948)

Adam’s Rib (1949)

Pat and Mike (1952)

Desk Set (1957)

The Sea of Grass (1947)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection

State of the Union (1948