Director: Stanley Kramer
Writer: William Rose (Screenplay)
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn
Plot: A couple’s attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her African-American fiancé.
Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Outstanding
Story: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner starts when Joey (Houghton) returns to San Francisco with her new fiancé Dr John Prentice (Poitier) to introduce him to her parents Matt (Tracy) and Christina (Hepburn), which seems to go well, but it is clear the parents are uncomfortable with her being with a black man.
As the mixed race couple go around the day, the parents are trying to deal with her choice, seeing how their own friends, family and clients react to the news, showing how they will support their daughter, no matter what happens to the reputation around town.
Thoughts on Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Characters – Matt Drayton is the father of the family, while surprised by her daughter’s choice, he isn’t happy with his daughter’s choice, mostly because he is scared of what society would think of the mixed race couple, believing they will forced into facing their own problems in life, Christina Drayton is the mother that is also surprised, but delighted to see her daughter so happy, she will let the couple be together even if it means pushing people out of her life. Dr John Prentice, is the black man that Joey wants to marry, he has done incredible things around the world with his time, even if he has his own tragic story behind him, he is as concerned about meeting Joey’s parents as his own to meet her.
Performances – We have three of the greatest performers of all time in this film, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn show why they are the elite with their performances in this film too, with a supporting cast that includes Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn and Isabel Sanford being wonderful too.
Story – The story here follows a new mix race couple that are happily in love, preparing to get married, only when they meet each other parent’s they will face new problems are seeing both sides not behind their relationship, needing to show their love with beat out any racial conversations. We have a story here that for the time of release, would have been a real conversation people had, while the racial divide had shrunk, people would still be left disapproving of certain things, including relationship between two. The way this story unfolds, is showing how the people involved are still doing marriage the correct way, while showing love can turn heads, change minds and make people happy, dealing with plenty of the everyday problems which shouldn’t be a problem.
Settings – The film does use the setting, which is mostly the Drayton house, to show the privileged life that Joey has come from, which can reflect on her family’s mindsets.
Scene of the Movie – Matt’s speech.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Nope.
Final Thoughts – This is a brilliant drama that shows how racially relationships can bring a problem to people who were too shallow to accept changes, with some of the best performances in of the era.
Overall: Brilliant.
