Delayed Reaction: Bringing Up Baby

Premise: A paleontologist, an heiress, and a leopard have a series of adventures.

 

With a lot of older Hollywood movies and stars, I take a "fake it until I make it” approach. I have a tough time appreciating older work and stars, so I'll trust their reputations until I find the work that finally makes it click. Katharine Hepburn is one of those stars. I've seen a handful of her movies. She's been fine in them. I know she's a legend, so I figured eventually I'd see something to make it click. In the meantime, I'd keep looking hard.

I found it! Bring Up Baby is awesome. I almost don't know what else to say. I like the screwball comedies of this era that I've seen, and Bringing Up Baby is immediately my favorite. Most of it has to do with Katharine Hepburn. She's so much fun in this movie. It's a hilarious performance that holds up amazingly. I've seen that same kind of character in movies a half a century later that are still played the exact same way. Most of her exchanges in the movie sounded like they were about to turn into an Abbott and Costello routine. Hepburn in this movie reminded me a lot of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada. Before that movie, I knew Meryl was great, but seeing her in something so different and funny gave me such an appreciation for her range. The same goes with Hepburn. Previously, I looked for movies with her because I was trying to see what the big deal was. Now, I'm looking for her movies because I'm a genuine fan looking for more.

Cary Grant is no slouch either. It's not his fault that he's asked to match up with Hepburn at full force. He's a great sparring partner for her and keeps up admirably. His role asks him to spend most of the movie trying to catch up with her and he sells that well. There is a little bit of "a supermodel plays a brilliant scientist" to his casting that I sometimes found distracting.

I can't believe how much of that movie was shot with an actual leopard on set. You literally could never make a movie like this again. What studio would ever let their stars be in so many scenes with a fucking leopard? I could maybe see them agreeing to a single non-CGI scene with the animal. A quick one for some verisimilitude. Not half a movie. I spent most of the movie in awe of this.

Not only was this movie a failure at the time of its release. Shortly after its release, Katharine Hepburn was notoriously labelled box office poison. I can't fathom this movie bombing. It's crowd-pleasing. It funny. It has huge stars and a big-name director. I don't...get it. Granted, there are movies every year that I could say the same thing about. Like, how was Singin' in the Rain not immediately beloved? Oh well, I'm glad that history has been kind to Bringing Up Baby. It's an excellent movie.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend