Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner , directed by Stanley Kramer, is a 1967 comedy-drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, and Katherine Houghton.

The movie concerns Joanna “Joey” Drayton, a young white American woman (Houghton) who has had a whirlwind romance with Dr. Prentice (Poitier), an African American man she met while on a holiday in Hawaii. Prentice plans to fly to New York later that night then on to an assignment in Switzerland. Joanna plans to join him there, soon to be married, even though she has only known him for a very short period of time. The plot is centered on Joanna’s return to her liberal upper class American home in San Francisco, bringing her new fiance to dinner to meet her parents (Tracy and Hepburn), and the reaction of family and friends.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for screenwriter, William Rose.(Katherine Hepburn also won the Academy Award for Best Actress.) The 1967 groundbreaking story dealt with the controversial subject of interracial marriage.

According to director Stanley Kramer, he and Rose intentionally debunked ethnic stereotypes; the young doctor, a typical role for the young Sidney Poitier, was purposely created idealistically perfect so that the only possible objection to his marrying Joanna would be his race, or the fact she only met him nine days earlier. Therefore, he has graduated from a top school, begun innovative medical initiatives in Africa, refused to have premarital sex with his fiancée despite her willingness, and leaves money on his future father-in-law’s desk in payment for a long distance phone call he has made.

Stanley Kramer stated later that the principals believed so strongly in the premise that they agreed to act in the project even before seeing the script. Spencer Tracy was dying and insurance companies refused to cover him; Kramer and Hepburn put their salaries in escrow so that if he died, filming could be completed with another actor. The filming schedule was altered to accommodate Tracy’s failing health.

Criticism was more positive than negative, with most critics praising the elegant, understated performances. The film also attempted to touch upon black-on-black racism, as when both the doctor’s father and the household cook Matilda ‘Tillie’ Binks, played by Isabel Sanford in a small but memorable role, take the young man to task for his perceived presumption.

The film was also memorable for being the last on-screen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn (Tracy died seventeen days after filming ended). In Tracy’s final speech of the film, Hepburn’s tears were real—they both knew that this would be the last line of his last film, that he had not much longer to live. Hepburn never saw the completed film; she said the memories of Tracy were too painful. The film was released in December 1967, six months after his death.

The film also featured Roy Glenn and Beah Richards as Mr. and Mrs. Prentice. Richards was nominated for an Oscar for her role but lost to Estell Parsons. Virginia Christine is also featured as a co-worker of Christina’s.

In 1998, the American Film Institute rated Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner as number 99 in its list of the 100 Greatest Movies of the past 100 years.

This post was written with the help of Wikipedia.

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner ?

deletereply philsgal7759 wrote on Jul 11, ’08, edited on Jul 11, ’08 A wonderful and important play/film in the civil righs era

deletereply strongwilledwoman wrote on Jul 11, ’08 This has always been one of my favorites. The acting and the content is rarely matched.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Jul 11, ’08 A great classic film with great actors !