Woman of the Year
Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn) and Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy) are journalists for the fictional New York Chronicle, with two drastically different backgrounds and worlds. Tess is an educated, well-travelled political affairs columnist who speaks several languages fluently. Sam is a knowledgeable and informed sports writer. Their difficulties are presented as stemming from class and emotional differences as well as from those of gender.
A feud in their columns erupts over baseball, and their editor tells them that he will not stand for an intramural feud at his paper. Sam invites Tess on a date to a baseball game, and she inadvertently breaks the "men only" atmosphere of the press box. She is confused and unfamiliar with the rules of the sport. Tess then invites Sam to her apartment later that night. What he thought would be a romantic occasion is actually a dinner party where none of the guests is speaking, or can speak, English. Despite the seemingly wide differences between their lives and personalities, the two fall in love.
After Sam and Tess marry, a conflict arises over Tess's priorities and Sam's place in her life. They have several minor disagreements about not being together enough, but a bigger problem occurs when Tess volunteers to take on the care of a Greek refugee child, Chris (George Kezas), without consulting Sam. Tess is excited but trepidatious about Sam's reaction. He initially believes Tess is pregnant when she announces they're having a child. Upon meeting Chris, however, he is angry and doesn't want an unrelated six-year-old orphan. Still, he tries to befriend the boy and introduces him to sports.
Tess learns that she has received the award of "America's Outstanding Woman of the Year", to be awarded at a gala ceremony. She plans to leave Chris by himself. When Sam finds out, he refuses to leave Chris alone, though Tess wants him to be beside her on her big night, and is embarrassed at the thought that the public will wonder where he is. Sam says she can tell everyone he had more important plans. Tess offends him by asking if anyone would believe he could find something more important to do. While Tess is at her ceremony, Sam returns the child to the orphanage and walks out on Tess. She learns of this upon her return home, when she goes to change for photographers – only to discover that Sam and Chris and their belongings are all gone. She attempts to reclaim Chris, but he refuses, preferring to stay with his fellow refugees.
The next day, Tess receives an invitation, addressed to both of them, to the home of her prominent Senator father (Minor Watson) and the world-famous feminist aunt who raised her (Fay Bainter). Sam is covering a championship boxing match that evening and tells her he cannot go. Tess arrives alone, only to be told that her aunt and her father are to be married that night, after 15 years of "making the same mistake" and saying nothing of their mutual attraction. Listening to the words of the wedding ceremony encourages Tess to attempt a reconciliation with Sam.
Tess enters Sam's Riverside home the next morning and starts to prepare breakfast. Eventually awakened by her noisy incompetence in the kitchen, he watches her surreptitiously. She proclaims her intention of being nothing more than his wife and thinking only of his domestic needs, but he believes it is an insincere tactic to win him back. Trying to prove herself, Tess once again tries to cook breakfast, only to fail because she knows nothing of cooking.
Sam tells her this is the first time he is disappointed in her, faulting her for going to extremes. He says he does not want Tess Harding or "just Mrs. Sam Craig," but instead "Tess Harding Craig." Tess happily agrees, and they reconcile. Gerald, Tess' ultra-competent secretary (Dan Tobin), arrives with a bottle of champagne and reminds Tess of her commitment to launch a ship. Sam takes Gerald outside, the bottle smashes, and Sam returns, claiming to have "launched" Gerald.
comedy