Our final visit to Black History Month in 2016 continues with this classic tale of racial tension and acceptance in this simple, but valuable Stanley Kramer classic, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967).
Run Time: 108 mins
Genre: Drama
Format: Widescreen Format, Color
Director: Stanley Kramer
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn and Isabel Sanford
IMDB.com Entry for the Film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061735/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Wikipedia.org Article for the Film:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guess_Who%27s_Coming_to_Dinner
Wikipedia.org Article for Sidney Poitier:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Poitier
Wikipedia.org Article for Spencer Tracy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Tracy
Wikipedia.org Article for Katharine Hepburn:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn
Wikipedia.org Article for Katharine Houghton:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Houghton
Wikipedia.org Article for Cecil Kellaway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Kellaway
Wikipedia.org Article for Isabel Sanford:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Sanford
Wikipedia.org Article for Director Stanley Kramer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kramer
Trailer for the Film on YouTube:
So far this year for Black History Month we have seen four other films that came from a much more modern era (The Color Purple (1985) being the oldest one so far, two others came from the 90s and one from 2009), but today's film is the oldest and gives an even more interesting perspective on acceptance and tension. It is the kind of perspective that comes from our parents era or even our grandparents era. A perspective from an America deeply involved in fixing these silly human differences and that the fight still goes on.
Being a film that is almost 50 years old and given the fact that even today we still face these daunting issues, it is very refreshing to see how hard America fought early on in the fight for more equality and acceptance and we should keep fighting until the words racism and discrimination are gone from this discussion and that skin color isn't even part of the dialogue anymore. It is the message in this film that really tells us how silly we really are about something that shouldn't even be an issue, especially when love is involved. The film tackles the subject of inter-racial marriage and came out in 1967, the same year that laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage were struck down by the Supreme Court just six months before the release of this film. - Phil
Wikipedia.org Article on the Supreme Court Hearing on Inter-racial Marriage in Loving v. Virginia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia
ABC News Report on the Loving Case 1967 on YouTube:
This is a simple, humorous drama and is basically a film about two families coming together for dinner to celebrate the proposed marriage of their respective children and it all culminates into a dinner hosted by the daughter's parents. What no one knows, other than the husband and wife to be, is that the bride is a 24 year old white woman (Houghton), named Joanna and the husband is a 37 year old black man (Poitier), named John. What I was really surprised to see is they were so preoccupied by skin color, that no one even cared that there was a 13 year age gap in there too, something that also seems like an issue for some people, even for today. In fact they gloss over it like it meant nothing. I was very surprised by that, but it also showed a maturity, when it comes to age, and showed that this film has a much bigger issue to tackle than silly age-difference.
This is a great film. It is another classic from Stanley Kramer. It also features the amazing acting of legends such as, Spencer Tracy as Joanna's father, Katharine Hepburn as Joanna's mother, Isabel Sanford, Cecil Kellaway and of course, Sidney Poitier. There is a sad note here though. Unfortunately the master himself, Spencer Tracy would never see this film released, because he passed away at the age of 67 just a few months before the release of this film. - Phil
SPENCER TRACY'S LEGACY" - TRIBUTE BY KATHARINE HEPBURN, 1986 on YouTube:
Just watching these people act out a scene is amazing enough, but when you hear the message and think of the silly reasons why this film even had to be made, it is definitely a must see film. I am going to toot my own horn here too; 1967 was the year I was born. A great year. - Phil
Click the link below at GoWatchIt.com to see where you can stream or watch Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) online or on TV right now:
http://gowatchit.com/movies/guess-who-s-coming-to-dinner-43404
Or check out TVGuide.com to see if this film is playing on TV/Cable in your area:
http://www.tvguide.com/movies/guess-whos-coming-to-dinner/125227/
Check back in tomorrow ......................
For our next Film of the Day .....................
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