Adam’s Rib (Warner Home Video) -- Josh Barber

Vacillating between superficial and deep, this courtroom comedy pits man and wife against wife and man. With their dialogue, a clear forerunner of the sexually charged banter of today, Hepburn and Spencer Tracy keep things at a nice 1950s-style simmer as they play married lawyers on opposite sides of a case. Who wears the pants? Who cares? This film highlights both early feminism and balanced masculinity.

Favorite line: "Let's all be manly!"

The Lion in Winter (MGM Home Entertainment) -- Rad Bennett

Supported by one of John Barry’s best scores, James Goldman’s play was transformed into a riveting movie. King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) and his estranged queen, Eleanor (Hepburn), engage in a battle of wits, pitting their children against one another. Hepburn won an Oscar for her portrayal of the acerbic, power-hungry yet world-weary, womanly and wise Eleanor. It is hard to imagine any other actress capable of her brand of tour de force acting.

Favorite line: "Well, what family doesn’t have its ups and downs?" (Eleanor, after taunting Henry with the news that she slept with his father.)

Adam's Rib (MGM Home Entertainment) -- Anthony Di Marco

Many think that the chemistry between Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen was electric, but I would take Hepburn and Tracy over Hepburn and Bogart any day. Adam's Rib is a wonderful example of how well this team worked both onscreen and off. This classic deftly handles issues of equality between the sexes, and does so without pulling any punches. As always, Hepburn's charisma and wit are more than a match for any leading man.

Favorite line: "All I’m trying to say is there are lots of things a man can do and in society’s eyes it’s all hunky-dory. A woman does the same thing -- the same, mind you -- and she’s an outcast."

The Philadelphia Story (MGM Home Entertainment) -- Wes Marshall

1939. Hepburn’s film career was moribund. The theater owners considered her "box-office poison." Apparently, her masculine dress coupled with her "screw you" attitude towards the press had left her with a pushy image that most women, and even more men, found unattractive. So, she decided to finance a Broadway play for herself. Always wise at business, she devised a way to take her well-known public persona and skewer it with humor. Her character started as the Kate everyone knew and didn’t like, then showed her receiving a tough comeuppance, which eventually caused a breakdown of her spirit and her redemption at the hands of a strong man. That was The Philadelphia Story. The public loved watching her deconstruct her own image. She would end up doing it repeatedly throughout the rest of her career.

Favorite line: "Why don’t you postpone the wedding…get smallpox."

The African Queen (20th Century Fox Home Video) -- Wes Phillips

I've never been sure if Katharine Hepburn was a great actress or not. She appeared in many of my favorite films, but she always seemed to play some version of what I have always assumed was Katharine Hepburn -- a woman full of class, sass, and barely contained energy. Of course, appearing natural and unaffected is the hardest act to pull off. Unfortunately, my favorite Katherine Hepburn movies are not currently available on DVD -- The African Queen, Desk Set, and Bringing Up Baby -- but that's almost sure to change in the very near future. When it does, join me in watching those three films again -- and in enjoying every minute of 'em. Watching them, it's impossible to imagine anyone else playing Hepburn's characters -- and that is the mark of greatness.

Favorite line: "I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!" (Perfectly in character as an old maid.)