The movie Katharine Hepburn regretted making: “Shame on you, Kathy”
Katharine Hepburn might be one of the most iconic leading ladies of her generation, but no amount of fame can prevent any Hollywood star from starring in their fair share of unprecedented flops.
The actor experienced a meteoric climb to fame after roles in films such as Bringing Up Baby, Holiday and The Philadelphia Story, becoming known for her portrayal of headstrong women, giving all the men around her a run for their money through her witty one-liners and fast-paced talking style. At a time in Hollywood when women were confined to relatively restrictive and limited roles, Hepburn was pivotal in merging feminist ideas and assertive female characters into mainstream cinema, becoming known for speaking her mind on current issues and never dimming her spark.
However, despite decades of groundbreaking roles in films such Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner, The African Queen and Summertime, the actor didn’t always hit the mark, with one film becoming famous for all the wrong reasons and subject to intense ridicule.
There have been many iterations of the romantic comedy over the years, stemming from the humble origins of His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night or An American in Paris. When the screwball comedy style is infused with the trials and tribulations associated with love, it can make for charming and eternally entertaining stories, leading audiences on an up-and-down journey as the central pair argue their way through hatred to true love.
However, while audiences generally appreciate this style, one addition to Hepburn’s filmography was firmly rejected by everyone. Many attributed this to her awful accent and labelled it her worst film.
Spitfire, directed in 1934 by John Cromwell, follows a poor mountain girl called Trigger Hicks who is mistaken for a witch and lives alone. However, she finds herself falling for an engineer called John Stafford, who is building a dam and helps protect her.
Spitfire was definitely an unusual and controversial choice, with many attributing the many flaws of the film to the unusual casting of Hepburn, with the role originally intended for Dorothy Jordan. However, Hepburn decided that she wanted to take a risk and play a more tomboyish character, with many describing her inability at playing less elegant and ‘lady-like characters’ after her unexpected transition to unruly and slightly feral women.
When reflecting on the role many years later in her autobiography Me, Hepburn didn’t hold back when reviewing her performance, simply saying that Trigger Hicks was, “…a Southern sort of mountain spirit. Shame on you, Kathy.”
While some might deem this sort of blunt criticism as a little harsh, perhaps Hepburn was onto something, using the failure of the film to encourage her not to accept projects of that nature again. The actor later explained who she kept a picture of her character in the film just outside her bedroom, describing it as, “A reminder. Trigger keeps me humble.”
