Review of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) by Katarina C — 23 Mar 2009

"Civil rights is one thing. This here is somethin' else.".

A movie that presents a perfectly constructed problem, where each and every character fits exactly into a mold, so much so in fact that the characters are nothing but walking viewpoints really, until good old Spencer Tracy has the eight-minute speech at the end that wraps it all up. Roger Ebert thinks the the problem with the movie is that really the only time anyone changes their minds about the situtation (particularly the fathers of the bride and groom to be) is when his masculinity is threatened (Mr. Prentiss's when his son lectures him for opposing the marriage, Mr. Drayton's when Mrs. Prentiss tells him he's a dried up old fart who has forgotten what it means to be in love). That's what finally does it for them, so in fact the movie sort of ends up being not about race at all, but about love, which I suppose is kind of the point. A revolutionary film for its time and still worth the watch.