Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

10/10

Starring

Cary Grant

Katharine Hepburn

Directed by Howard Hawks

This movie is outstanding. I have to be honest—if you haven’t seen this movie, you need to. This is the best Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant movie I’ve seen to date.

The first time I ran into a paleontologist was in Friends, and in Friends, Ross was just as scatterbrained as Dr. David Huxley, played by Cary Grant in this 1938 screwball comedy classic. Now, I am not saying all paleontologists are scatterbrains, but based on my movie and TV viewing, they do not have good representatives.  Screwball is a genre where the female lead dominates the male.
Their onscreen chemistry is magical, and the screenplay is something you don’t see every day. The lines are more than comical—they’re hilarious. The moment the two leads start getting in each other’s way, you wish they’d never stop.

As the movie progressed, I wondered if the script would have them married and struggling to raise a child. I was wrong—Baby is actually a 3-year-old leopard that Susan’s brother sent her to look after.

The movie starts with an introduction to Dr. Huxley, who is planning to get married until his path crosses with Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) on a golf course while he’s meeting with a benefactor. After a series of events where Susan and David spend more time together, Susan takes a liking to David, while David is ready to do anything to get away from her.

Susan’s decision to pursue David takes the movie through a series of twists and turns, and I laughed hard watching the two of them get in each other’s way.

For me, the gem in this movie was Katharine Hepburn. I totally adored her in this film and fell in love with her character immediately. You will too when you see and hear the hilarious lines she delivers.

The movie’s production took a long time to materialize, mostly because Grant and Hepburn had to ad-lib their dialogues, which made them laugh and struggle to get their lines right.
Bringing Up Baby wasn’t a box office hit when it was released in 1938, but as it got re-released, it became a success.

Furthermore, the movie is ranked 88th on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), 14th on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs, and 51st on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Passions list.

What a wonderful movie—one you’ll enjoy watching and revisiting.