Movie: Guess who is coming to dinner
Year: 1967
Director: Stanley Kramer
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn

Snapshot of Story:
The movie is about a young white woman coming from a well-to-do family that brings back a black man to get approval from her parents for marriage. The setting of this movie is in the 1960s where race relations were low and nothing like what we see today.

Storyline:
Joey Drayton played by Katharine Houghton and John Prentice played by Sidney Poitier come back from Hawaii to tell Joey’s parents of the good news about their imminent marriage to each other. However, John Prentice has some conditions regarding the marriage and needs complete and unequivocal support from both parents in order for the marriage to proceed but does not tell Joey. Joey simply needed some reassurance from both her parents to proceed and as her mother Christina Drayton pointed out later in the movie, she would go along with it even if she did not have approval from the parents.

The movie is interesting in that the viewer needs to detach himself/herself from the element of surprise that the news brings to the Drayton family and the hidden racial element. We go through some interesting exchange of words as well as expressions from each member of the family as they are told of this news. It is this initial reaction that can sometimes define who we really are and underlines our own philosophy of race and whether any of us truly have double standards or not. What follows afterwards are words of justification, reassurance and often disbelief and possibly anger. I felt that movie did well to portray the subtle nuances of race and even addressed the gender separation. The reaction of the black maid was typical and almost amusing in her expression of suspicion towards John as playing some sort of game.

When viewing this movie, one can find some amazingly accurate references to the future of race relations as in one case where Matt Drayton played by Spencer Tracy who blurts ‘we need to be reasonable and we are not going to see any big changes in our lifetime’. A nice touch was when Christiana said to Matt that they had brought their daughter up in exactly the manner they had always wanted which was not to discriminate between whites and negroes. It was funny to see how over the years we have become more accustomed to saying ‘black’ rather than ‘negro’ which would sound a little ridiculous today. This maybe due to the reflection of blacks at that time when there was much turmoil around the country to bring about new reforms for the black community. Perhaps ‘blacks’ was a derogatory word used by people at that time who stood for the racial segregation that was so commonplace.

The movie however does not aim to make a topic of racial discussion but rather the intertwining deep seated philosophy of race itself held within individuals as it pertains to their life and blood ie. their sons and daughters. Apart from the standoffish and disbelief behavior of John Prentice’s father the majority of the family members could overcome their racial prejudices and see the real meaning of their relationship which Matt Drayton eloquently delivered in his final speech to everyone.

The director Stanley Kramer took a big risk with this movie but managed to pull it off very well. It is easy to see why Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn were towering figures of cinema at their time. Sidney Poitier in his usual artistic ability gave a convincing performance as John Prentice with subtle hints of arrogance and air of superiority expected from a person of his standing. Katharine Houghton was charming as the young 23 year old very much in love, head strong and resolute in her decisions.

Rating:
8/10

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