GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER

While the film is most certainly a product of its time, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) can still be appreciated for what it set out to do…. while simultaneously being disappointing by revealing it might never have been as progressive as it set out to be.

Director Stanley Kramer is well known for examining controversial social issues in his films. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner tackles what racism looks like in a post-Civil Rights Act America. The film starts out with a young and vivacious Joanna Drayton (Katharine Houghton) unexpectedly visiting her parent’s house in San Francisco. She comes from a very upscale, liberal family and is overly excited to introduce them to a man she recently met on a trip to Hawaii. That man is the highly accomplished Dr. John Prentice, and he is accompanying her on this impromptu visit. So where is the plot conflict you might ask? Well, it turns out that Dr. Prentice (Sidney Poitier) is a “negro” (Ugh… the repeated use of this antiquated word is just one of the uncomfortably dated aspects of this film).

Joanna’s parents, Christina and Matt (played by Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy), discover they might not be as secure in their beliefs as they imagined themselves to be. They continually refer to their daughter’s engagement as a “problem”. And thus, the examination of racial ideals versus true integrity begins. The discomfort gets turned up even higher when Dr. Prentice’s parents (played by Beah Richards and Roy Glenn) unexpectedly come to meet the woman their son has told them about on the phone. They arrive for the evening’s dinner having no clue that their son’s new fiancé is a white woman. They too find the engagement/relationship to be a “problem”.

The acting is superb the whole way around and there are many stand-out scenes (Christina firing her busybody assistant Hilary (Virginia Christine), Mrs. Prentice’s frank patio discussion with Matt, and John’s dressing down of his father among them). One scene where Christina and Matt go to get ice cream before dinner is quite amusing. As they discuss their daughter, the scene cleverly conveys how “old” (out of step) they are with the changing society around them. As Matt discusses ice cream flavors with his young gum-chewing waitress, I almost expected Dr. Rick from the Progressive TV ads to step in saying “No one cares what ice cream flavors delighted you in the past!”

For its time, this film was an important one to be made. But I can’t help but ponder the fact that it still reflects a society where men are in charge and their opinions are given higher importance. Dr. John makes decisions about his impending marriage without ever discussing them with Joanna, and Christina dutifully abides by what her husband decides. Even more glaring is the fact that in the end, it is the white male character that delivers the final platitudes. The entire “problem” seems to only be worked out once the Draytons have found resolve in THEIR beliefs. We only see outside influences (the aforementioned Hilary, Matt’s friend the Monsignor, and maid Tillie) shaping THEIR perspectives. We never experience the perspectives of the Prentices, except as it is framed by the Draytons. I’m certain today if we were given more insight into the perspectives of the Prentices it would be haughtily dismissed by some as “CRT”! Despite its subject matter, this film was definitely made for white audiences, to assuage their concerns with a changing American landscape. Because of this, I think the film doesn’t hold up as well as it could have or should have.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner would come out the same year as In the Heat of the Night. Both films were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, both films starred Sidney Poitier in a powerful performance, both films confronted racism in America… and both films only had their white leads nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Oh, the irony.