Review of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) by Matthew H — 12 May 2014

It has its faults - the age of cinema it exists in being the biggest - but it is a superbly acted film that is never dull, in spite of being stilted and preachy.

Also, do yourself a favor and read Mark Harris's PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION. It examines the five Best Picture candidates from the 1968 Academy Awards as a means of discussing how cinema was changing. This film ,along with the abysmal DR. DOLITTLE, were paired up on the side of Old Hollywood. That it was. What it is not is tired. It was Spencer Tracy's last film, and it does him justice. It won Katherine Hepburn an Oscar, and she deserved it. It continued Sidney Poitier's brilliant streak. It brought us Katharine Houghton, who... okay... hasn't done all that much acting since, but she was damn good in this. As were Roy Glenn, Beah Richards, and Cecil Kellaway. Except for that twit delivery boy, every performance here is above and beyond. Yes, it's aged. Yes, it has an overt agenda. But it's still passionate. It's still true. And that's what art is all about, isn't it?