“In George Cukor's Pat and Mike, professional sports become the arena for Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy to test themselves, and each other, and eventually arrive at a meeting of the mind and heart. Pat is a gym teacher and sports enthusiast whose confident performance on the court or green dissolves every time her fatuous fiancé turns up. From the recesses of sports promotion emerges Mike, a man with a shady past and a flair for speculation, recognizing talent when he sees it. Noting that there's ‘Not much meat on her, but what is there is cherce,' Mike sets out to become Pat's manager/trainer. Together they work towards one goal, a professional one - Pat's debut as an All-American athlete. And in the course of amusing events, including a bout with gangsters (Charles Bronson makes his screen debut) in which Hepburn comes to Tracy's defense, the two extend the boundaries of a business relationship to conclude in a happy Hollywood fashion.
“...Like Howard Hawks, Cukor is fascinated by the complications arising when a man and a woman of similar ambition meet. With a sensitivity for the female perspective, Cukor explores how they achieve balance without infringing on the integrity of self.” --L.A. Thielen