Patricia “Pat” Pemberton (Katharine Hepburn) is something of an enigma – she has spent most of her professional life working as a physical education teacher at a range of high schools and universities, where she is helping nurture the next generation of athletes, despite the fact that she herself is good enough in a variety of sports to make a substantial living as a professional sportswoman. She restricts her own endeavours to casual weekend games and the occasional amateur playoffs, where she nearly always comes out victorious. However, it’s only when she is coerced into taking part in a slightly more professional affair, a woman’s golf tournament, that she finally gets a taste of what it would be like to live life as a professional athlete. She is head-hunted by the morally ambigious Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy), a sleazy sports promoter and agent who has a penchant for fixing games, using all resources available to him to convince the supposed 97% of athletes to throw a few games to help him back a quick buck. However, he soon learns that there exists an elusive 3% who won’t fall for the mystique of the almighty dollar, one of which just so happens to be this promising female athlete, who excels in so many areas, asking her to intentionally fail seems like an impossible task. However, they do eventually come to an agreement, especially when it becomes clear that Pat herself is not all that flawless, with the presence of her fiance (William Ching) at her sports events causing her to constantly falter, revealing a deep set of insecurities embedded in this otherwise very gifted woman.

It was a foolproof collaboration that happened quite regularly – Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, partners both on-screen and off, are given a script written by the dynamic duo that was Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, who in turn were supplemented by George Cukor, who took the reigns on the production and directed it in his distinctly unique and reliable way. A group of artists that were always exceptional on their own, but brought out a new level of brilliant when working together, their collaborations were nothing short of magical. This is even evident in a film like Pat and Mike, a story centred almost entirely on the world of sports, but done in such a way that one doesn’t need to be an enthusiast of the physical arts to appreciate what was being done here. Cukor was at his most prolific and reliable during this decade, producing a wide range of excellent films, and in working with Hepburn and Tracy (who were also doing some very interesting work), he managed to put all his faith in a pair of actors that he knew would be able to elevate the material, regardless of how tenuous it may have been. The result is wonderful – an acerbic and delightful comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and seems to be fully committed to having fun more than anything else. For these reasons alone – as well as the deeply moving sense of heartfelt enthusiasm that underlines the film, Pat and Mike is a charming excursion into the world of sport, curated by a series of artists that may not have been particularly involved with the events or activities depicting (with the exception of Hepburn, a notoriously gifted athlete herself), but who can still find the value in the circumstances that surround it.

There is certainly an argument to be made that Gordon and Kanin wrote Pat and Mike as a way of showcasing the athletic prowess of their friend Hepburn, who had a thriving hobby as both a keen golfer and very gifted tennis player, which is showcased brilliantly here. Known for her ferocious and deeply captivating control of character, this film allows the actress to venture into another one of her passions, in a way that felt natural. This is a quintessential performance that we’d expect from Hepburn, with her feisty resilience and no-holds-barred attitude making her nothing short of a captivating screen presence. As much as we’d like to believe it is entirely her film (and in an ideal world, it absolutely is, considering how magnificent she is and her ability to command every scene), but she shares the screen with one of the few actors who could match her beat-for-beat on a deeper level, the incredible Tracy. The two of them had some of the most tangible chemistry in the history of the film industry, and one doesn’t even need to be aware of their personal relationship to know that these are two actors with a deep and undying respect for one another. This is shown throughout this film, since despite playing characters on completely different ends of the moral spectrum – Hepburn portraying a very principled, moral woman, while Tracy embodies a lack of ethical values – they still find a symbiosis that was nearly always present in their work. It’s a remarkable achievement to see two actors finding such value in one another, so much that even in adversarial roles, they manage to have stunning chemistry – and everyone else in the film, including a scene-stealing Aldo Ray as a childlike boxer, simply fades into the background, since the electrifying duo of Hepburn and Tracy dominate the screen and leave us enthralled, so much that the actual content of the film doesn’t matter.

It is established relatively early on in the film that one doesn’t need to necessarily be a sports aficionado to appreciate Pat and Mike, which depends less on a working knowledge of athletic abilities, and more on the ability to embrace the sometimes quaint story being shown on screen. While it is true that the film is centred around the sports world, and there are long stretches where we see sport being played, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is preoccupied with the activities, so much as it is using a variety of athletic pastimes to tell what is essentially a charming love story that comes about through unexpected means. The growing relationship between Pat and Mike is captivating to watch, even if we put aside the performances being given by the perpetually delightful Hepburn and Tracy. Their transition from enemies to professional partners, and then eventually to a romantic pairing, is predictable but absolutely lovely – and using the world of sport as a backdrop gives Cukor and the screenwriters the chance to add literal stakes to their relationship, as well as a chance to playfully subvert expectations, which may not have been possible had the central premise been built on something that doesn’t inspire as much passion in the general public as professional sport. Even the sequences where Hepburn’s athletic abilities are demonstrated are fascinating – Cukor puts so much genuine tension into these scenes, and whether they end in a triumph or failure, we can’t help but feel a tangible sense of excitement, even when the specific content may not be something many of us are all that interested in. Sports knowledge is helpful but entirely supplementary, and doesn’t once impact our enjoyment of the film – and while it may not be his defining work, Pat and Mike prove how Cukor could make even the most niche material accessible and endearing.

Pat and Mike is the kind of delightful mid-century comedy that never takes itself too seriously, and maintains a steady sense of humour in even the most sobering moments. It isn’t against inserting some deeper commentary into the effervescent story, and while it is almost entirely defined by its upbeat tone, there’s some deeper meaning to the proceedings that makes it something quite special. Cukor could rarely do anything half-heartedly, and even something as specific as a film centred around sport feels somewhat universally accessible, offering some interesting element to every viewer, regardless of their investment in the actual athleticism that sits at the heart of the film. It gives us a pair of wonderful performances by two of the finest actors to ever work in the medium, and a strong script by a pair of criminally underrated writers who put together some of the finest films of this era. It has a firm but entertaining sense of humour, and direction that implies that Cukor was putting in effort to make this enjoyable for the wider audience, never expecting us to know the specific details, and instead inviting us to be compelled by the very simple but still quite intelligent methods of storytelling. Pat and Mike is often considered one of the more underpraised collaborations between Cukor, Gordon and Kanin and Hepburn and Tracy – and while it may lack the spark of madness that made a film like Adam’s Rib so enduring, there is nothing inherently inferior about this film, outside of the fact that it can feel somewhat unappealing to those who just look at the premise. Once we overcome these cursory doubts, we see what an absolute delight is awaiting us on the other side of that golf course.