I had seen GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER when it was first
released. At the time it held no particular meaning for me, after all I was
only 10 years old and had no concept yet about the topic of racism. To me
people were just people and skin color meant little. Watching it now and
remembering various items through the history of our country I can see where at
the time it would have been highly controversial. What I didn’t realize until now
was just how funny the movie is as well.
The story revolves around a young couple, Joey Drayton
(Katherine Houghton) and John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), who have met in Hawaii
and immediately fallen in love. The only issue is the fact that Joey is white
and John black. While that might seem normal today in 1967 it was still
controversial. The thing is Joey thinks
that her parents will have no problem with this.
What she discovers is that her parents while tending to be
liberal are what has been termed “limousine liberals”. That is to say they are
well off, preach one thing and then do the opposite. The shock on their faces
as each finds out is both interesting and hilarious. Joey’s mother Christina
(Katherine Hepburn) is perplexed at first but seeing how filled with joy her
daughter is soon accepts her choice.
Joey’s father Matt (Spencer Tracy) is another matter. Matt
has supported causes all his life as the publisher of the newspaper The
Guardian. Now that one of these causes has arrived on his doorstep he’s not
quite as embracing. He knows the uphill battles the two will experience when
exposed to public scrutiny. His reasons are not bigoted at all when looked at
but more one of concern. Or are they? This is something that he must wrestle
with on his own terms, confronting the possibility that he does harbor some
sense of racist attitude.
Not only are Joey’s parents faced with this in the most
sudden manner but their acceptance is put on fast forward. John, a world
renowned doctor, is on his way to Geneva to work with the World Health
Organization. They only have that night with them and John tells Matt in
private that without his blessing there will be no marriage. All weighs on
Matt’s shoulders now.
If this weren’t enough another fly is tossed into the
ointment. While talking to his mother and father on the phone Joey interrupts
and invites them to dinner at her parent’s house that night. What she doesn’t
know is that John hasn’t told his parents about her yet either and he’s not
expecting them to be as accepting as hers are which is strained at best.
There is plenty of support around the main theme here to
provide plenty of both laughs and insight. Isabell Sanford as the Drayton’s housekeeper
offers her own opinions asked or not throughout the film and sees it as
something wrong. Cecil Kellaway as longtime family friend and golf partner for
Matt Monsignor Ryan also weighs in from time to time. Each of the characters
brings to the table a different perspective to the situation.
What was once thought of as a problem now seems common
place. So when watching this film you have to place yourself in the mindset of
what was going on back then. It shows how far we’ve come in 50 years. And at the
same time with the number of racial issues coming to light in recent years it
shows how we still have far to go. Perhaps not as far as in 1967, but there is
still room to grow.
What surprised me most while watching the film was that
they’ve taken a hot topic for the time and made it one of the funniest things
I’ve watched in some time. The theme itself isn’t funny but the reactions of
all involved create some of the funniest moments ever put on film.
One special note on the film is that it was Tracy’s last.
During production he was seriously ill and many takes were done in short spurts
in an effort to help him. He gives a tremendous performance here with a final
speech that is filled with insight and affection from his character for his
daughter. Both Hepburn and director Stanley Kramer put up their salaries in
escrow until he completed his scenes to since the insurance company on the film
had such a high premium on him. He completed his last scene on May 24, 1967 and
died 17 days later on June 10th. He received a posthumous Oscar
nomination for best actor that year and actually won for best actor at BAFTA.
Twilight Time has done a great job with this one as they
always do. Not only are we presented with a clean looking print there are
plenty of extras on hand as well. Those include an isolated score track, audio
commentary by Karen Kramer, Steven Spielberg, Tom Brokaw and Quincy Jones, A
LOVE STORY FOR TODAY featurette, A SPECIAL KIND OF LOVE featurette, STANLEY
KRAMER: A MAN’S SEARCH FOR TRUTH featurette, Stanley Kramer accepting the
Irving Thalberg Award, the 2007 Producers Guild Stanley Kramer presentation to
An Inconvenient Truth and the original theatrical trailer.
As with all Twilight Time releases this one was pressed with
only 3,000 copies available. This is a movie that should be on every film fan’s
shelf so pick up one immediately if you can.
Click here to order.
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