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Before long, Hepburn has connived Grant into her family home, where he has adventures involving a dinosaur bone and two different leopards, one wild and one tame. He also has encounters with the insulting Robson, drunken Irishman Barry Fitzgerald, big game hunter Charles Ruggles, and readily confused sheriff Walter Catlett.
How others will see it. A box office dud in its own day, Bringing Up Baby was successful in re-releases and is now generally regarded as Howard Hawks' best comedy. It sets the standard for a screwball comedy: no idea is too far-fetched, no character is too exaggerated, and every situation is ripe for temporary disaster.
This movie is manna from heaven for classic film fans, who can enjoy not only esteemed leads Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, but wonderfully kooky character performances from the likes of Barry Fitzgerald, May Robson, Charles Ruggles, and Walter Catlett.
How I felt about it. But there remains a group of people who are surprisingly cool to it: the young. Online research to understand why yielded this comment from the imdb message board: "Halfway through the movie, everyone in the [film] class wanted to commit suicide or kill Katharine Hepburn's character. I seriously consider this one of the worst movie[s] I have ever seen because it is the only movie that has actually made me angry just watching it."
Paraphrasing, then, the movie is disliked by some because the characters don't act like real people would in an identical circumstance. Worse yet (from this perspective) the situations seem contrived. After all, what are the odds that two leopards would be roaming the same forest in Connecticut? Or that Hepburn would be the daughter of the woman whose windfall donation he seeks?
To some extent, I understand and even accept this logic. I am personally suspicious of Some Like It Hot (1959), arguably the wildest and most successful of all the screwball comedies of the Production Code era. And for reasons somewhat similar to that of the film student quoted above. Why does Jack Lemmon decide he likes being a woman, and likes dating aged skirt-chaser Joe E. Brown? Why does Tony Curtis, after sanctimoniously criticizing Lemmon for enticing Marilyn Monroe, decide to risk his cover by going after her himself?
The answer, of course, is that you, the viewer, aren't supposed to consider (or at least, not care about) such things. Watch Lemmon act like a hyperactive thirteen year old girl. Watch Curtis pretend he's a wealthy yacht owner with an accent borrowed from Cary Grant. Ain't it a scream?
So, I generally reject the crazy antics in Some Like It Hot, yet I embrace the madness of Bringing Up Baby. Isn't this inconsistent? How do I justify the difference?
Well, for one thing, the leads in Bringing Up Baby are consistent, unlike those in Some Like It Hot. The only exception is the final scene, in which has Grant suddenly proclaims his love for Hepburn. This is known as providing a happy ending. But it is just one minute in an excellent film.
Otherwise, throughout, Grant is the same man. Hepburn, to him, is a frustration that must be endured in order to achieve his goal, to land the million dollar donation to the museum. Hepburn is also consistent. She wants the tall, dark, and handsome Grant the moment she casts eyes on him, and executes an impromptu strategy designed to keep him around until she can win him over. Even if it means driving him to madness first.