Woman of the Year (1942)

This classic romantic comedy was the first film in the long collaboration between Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. As intellectual, political columnist Tess Harding (Hepburn) and down-to-earth sportswriter Sam Craig (Tracy), they work at the same New York paper. After Tess makes some negative comments about sports on the radio, the two trade barbs in print. Then their editor, Clayton (Reginald Owen), brings them together to make peace. They do so with a vengeance, immediately becoming infatuated with each other. Sam takes Tess to her first baseball game where she quickly ingratiates herself with the other fans, and is surprised to find herself enjoying the proceedings. She invites Sam to her apartment for the evening, but his eagerness is dampened when he finds a couple of dozen of her friends there as well. Despite their differences, and Tess' busy schedule, the two continue to see each other, and the relationship deepens. When the couple decide to marry, Sam finds his desire for a simple, traditional ceremony overridden by the demands of Tess' schedule, and those of her illustrious relatives, which require that the wedding take place almost immediately, in North Carolina. Hepburn and Tracy perform at their peaks, with peerless direction by Stevens, and a wittily observant script. The film's insights on the battle of the sexes come from young screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr., who witnessed the relationship between his legendary sportswriter father and the equally famous columnist Dorothy Thompson.