Written by
Ruth Gordon and
Garson Kanin, Adam's Rib is a peerless comedy predicated on the double standard.
Spencer Tracy and
Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner, a husband-and-wife attorney team, both drawn to a case of attempted murder. The defendant (
Judy Holliday) had tearfully attempted to shoot her husband (
Tom Ewell) and his mistress (
Jean Hagen). Adam argues that the case is open and shut, but Amanda points out that, if the defendant were a man, he'd be set free on the basis of "the unwritten law." Thus it is that Adam works on behalf of the prosecution, while Amanda defends the accused woman. The trial turns into a media circus, while the Bonners' home life suffers. Adam's Rib represented the film debuts of New York-based actors
Jean Hagen,
Tom Ewell, and
David Wayne (as Hepburn's erstwhile songwriting suitor), and the return to Hollywood of
Judy Holliday after her
Born Yesterday triumph. One of the best of the Tracy-Hepburn efforts, it inspired a brief 1973 TV series starring
Ken Howard and
Blythe Danner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide