All Else Confusion

Check out Adam's Rib 6:15PM eastern.

Hepburn and Tracy play lawyers (Adam and Amanda Bonner), married to each other and on opposite sides of a courtroom battle over Doris Attinger (played by the hilarious Judy Holliday) who shot her philandering husband (not seriously wounding him). A battle of the sexes ensues with Amanda defending Doris, claiming a double standard between the sexes in infidelity cases. Adam, the district attorney assigned to the case, disagrees, correctly pointing out that crime is crime no matter the perpetrator.

What I like about the film is that though it examines feminist issues questioning the right of a woman to be judged the same way as a man, in the justice system and society, it does not end in a supposed "triumph" of woman over man. In fact, there's a real recognition that if society treats men and women differently (though sometimes unfairly) it is because they are different.

Amanda Bonner: What I said was true, there's no difference between the sexes. Men, women, the same.
Adam Bonner: They are?
Amanda Bonner: Well, maybe there is a difference, but it's a little difference.
Adam Bonner: Well, you know as the French say...
Amanda Bonner: What do they say?
Adam Bonner: Vive la difference!
Amanda Bonner: Which means?
Adam Bonner: Which means hurrah for that little difference.

Labels: movies