Review of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) by Nick D — 30 Jul 2009

An underrated film, and certianly important for the time period in terms of the message. This was made a year before Dr. King was assasinated, and Stanley Kramer is a genius in portraying a message, in can come in the form of The Wild One or The Defiant Ones, or Inherit the Wind.

I found this film to be very "sixties" in terms of the transitional music and the "Black people need to get along with white people" sort of feeling. Sidney Poitier was very good as usual, although stayed in his area of "a respectable intelligent African-American", while as his role in In The Heat of the Night was much different, where he plays an angry black man for the first time.

It is sad seeing Spencer Tracy in his last film, and he didn't look well, but he still managed to put together a strong performance, and I thought his speech at the end was excellent about racial divides and love.

Katharine Hepburn was very emotional in this, but was good none the less. Stanley Kramer used Tracy and Poitier, as they were actors he had been with before in films. Altogether it was a good film, with a positive message.