#99 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn star as wealthy Californians who consider themselves progressive until their only daughter (Katharine Houghton) brings home her African American fiancé (Sidney Poitier) in this snapshot of race relations in the late 1960s. The film earned two Academy Awards (for Hepburn's performance and William Rose's screenplay) and eight other nominations. Stanley Kramer directs.

This movie is borderline brilliant.

I was excited about this movie, hearing my entire life what a wonderful and gifted actor Sidney Poitier was. I was not only floored by his screen presence, but his delivery and emotional output. Not to mention that the entire screenplay was so well-written, full of wit and humor about a topic that was certainly not humorous during the era in which it was filmed. I wanted to include so many quotes in my review, but they are many and vast in their context... but this quote, spoken by Katharine Hepburn, have never been truer:

"We told her it was wrong to believe that white people were somehow essentially superior to black people. Or the brown or the red or the yellow ones, for that matter. People who thought that way were wrong to think that way. Sometimes hateful, usually stupid, but always wrong."

I didn't grow up in the era that first saw this movie, which was evident when I did a spit-take the first time the words "negro" and "colored" were uttered during my viewing. I felt violated, like I had gone back to a time when the term "colored" was a perfectly acceptable way to describe African-American people. They said it with such nonchalance that I felt squeamish, as if the politically-correct-police would burst into my home at any moment and take away my subscription to Netflix.

Once I got over the verbage (did I get over it? Not sure...) I sat back and enjoyed the dialogue. It was brilliant and delivered brilliantly. Sidney Poitier was gifted and anyone who hasn't experienced his acting is missing something wonderful.

After watching the movie, I started to think of what my reaction would be if my children (white) brought home a date of a different race. If I was put in the Drayton's position today, I would be less concerned with the race of their betrothed and more concerned with the speed with which they have come to this rash decision. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but what's wrong with just shacking up? (That was sarcasm... sort of.)

The romantic in me (admittedly a VERY tiny piece), wanted them to run off together and show the world what love was. I wanted to scream at the television that opposition would raise itself no matter the circumstances, and they needed to hold tight to each other and brave through it. The practical mother in me wanted to ask them "YOU HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER 10 DAYS? GOOD GRAVY, GIVE IT A MINUTE BEFORE YOU RUN OFF TO GET MARRIED." In the end, the right decisions were made and the movie left us wondering if they really did live happily ever after.

Watch this movie. Spencer Tracy was amazing along with Katharine Hepburn and it was his last movie. Enjoy the movie and put yourself in their shoes. If we all cared more about love and less about pigmentation, this world might be a happier place.

Coming up next, #98: Unforgiven.