Adam’s Rib (1949) paired Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as a married couple who end up on opposite sides of the same court case, and it remains a model of smart romantic comedy.
Hepburn played Amanda Bonner, a lawyer defending a woman accused of shooting her husband, while Tracy played her husband Adam, the prosecutor. Their courtroom battle was also a domestic one, played with wit, affection and a serious point about equality.
Directed by George Cukor, the film let Hepburn be both funny and formidable. Amanda’s arguments were ahead of their time, and Hepburn delivered them with the confidence that made her a lasting symbol of independence.
Image: Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katharine_hepburn_woman_of_the_year_cropped.jpg