Barry Fitzgerald, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles

"The love impulse in man," says a psychiatrist in Bringing Up Baby, "frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict." That's for sure. For a primer on the rules and regulations of the classic s...( read more  read more... )crewball comedy, which throws love and conflict into close proximity, look no further. A straight-laced paleontologist (Cary Grant) loses a dinosaur bone to a dog belonging to free-spirited heiress Katharine Hepburn. In trying to retrieve said bone, Grant is drawn into the vortex surrounding the delicious Hepburn, which becomes a flirtatious pas de deux that will transform both of them. Director Howard Hawks plays the complications as a breathless escalation of their "love impulse," yet the movie is nonetheless romantic for all its speed. (Hawks's His Girl Friday, also with Grant, goes even faster.) Grant and Hepburn are a match made in movie heaven, in sync with each other throughout. Not a great box-office success when first released, Bringing Up Baby has since taken its place as a high-water mark of the screwball form, and it was used as a model for Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc? --Robert Horton

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90% liked it

33,042 ratings

Critics

94% liked it

35 critics

Unrated, 102 min.

Directed by: Howard Hawks

Release Date: February 18, 1938

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DVD Release Date: March 1, 2005

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Stats: 2,124 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,124)


  • April 26, 2009
    "It isn't that I don't like you, Susan,

    because after all, in moments of quiet, I'm

    strangely drawn toward you; but, well, there

    haven't been any quiet moments!"
  • March 6, 2009
    "i caughn't give you anything but looove, baby!" long before i knew anything about androgeny (and i still don't know anything about it), these folks were stretching the boundaries of thought as to just who is it we really are before, and after, somebody else tells us who we reall...( read more)y are, and doing it with rapier sharp wit. man, how i wish these filmic creations were real and closefriends of mine!
  • December 2, 2008
    i must begin by stating that howard hawks is one of my favorite directors of all time and cary grant is growing on me more and more all the time, so while im not a big katherine hepburn fan i had high hopes for this comedy that is still considered among the greats of all time. t...( read more)his was possibly the most headache inducing film i have ever seen. i literally felt pain in my head watching these "zaney" antics that were built on rediculous coincidences and confusing diologues that made me want to stop the film numerous times. the characters were dry and unlikeable and most of the sequences were uncomfortable to watch. it keeps itself from the worst of the worst by reputation and starpower, but one of the most frustrating and disappointing films i have ever seen.
  • October 28, 2008
    having seen a couple of howard hawks films i don't think he's a master of comedy. his version of slapstick is inferior to soooo many others. most of it's not funny and cary grant doesn't exactly play a likeable character. it's got to be the geekiest character i've ever seen in an...( read more)y film. katharine hepburn also plays a totally annoying character who just doesn't breathe between sentences. aside from all that there are some funny parts but not enough to make it even averagely entertaining
  • June 5, 2008
    A new kind of funny..
    easily the funniest movie in the first half of the century. its not low brow at all, cuz what u could say in movies and such was a lot different then, 1938, so it kicks up a level or two into the wittiness of dialogue. and any absurdities u can imagine... o...( read more)h wow. so great.
  • November 19, 2009
    Katharine Hepburn AND Cary Grant, hell yeah lol, they're great together. Defiantly entertaining.
  • November 13, 2009
    Great comedy, but you have to pay attention because they talk 90 to nothing.
  • November 9, 2009
    hawks' most intricate comedy and perhaps his most memorable, the dialogue is razor sharp both in humor and the speed at which it flies, hepburn is an absolute riot working with grant, true hilarity without bounds
  • October 17, 2009
    Ridiculous and funny. Fine comedy classic and a legendary Hollywood romantic story about the love impulse with an oddly symbolic animal representation.

    87/100
  • September 5, 2009
    Katharine Hepburn is amazing in this movie. Very charming, and I now see why the world was in love with her at the time.

    The movie itself was silly and out there, but after a while, it got a little too ridiculous with the jaguars and the random situations. But one thing's for ...( read more)sure, it wasn't boring.

Comments


  • teamEdward
    July 28, 2008
    I love older movies like this and this one is one of my favorites. : )

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Bringing Up Baby Trivia


  • in the movie 'Bringing Up Baby', starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, who or what is Baby?  Answer »
  • what elements unites these movies?? *Reservoir Dogs *The Talented Mr. Ripley *Gosford Park *Bringing Up Baby *The Man Who Never Was  Answer »
  • Who starred in 'Bringing Up Baby'?  Answer »
  • this movie cast included Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn  Answer »

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