Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Dinner Tonight or Guess Who's Coming Tonight) is a 1967 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn, and featuring Hepburn's niece, Katharine Houghton.

The film was one of the few at the time to positively portray interracial marriage, as marriage had historically been illegal in most US states, and was still illegal in 17 of these, mostly from the US. south, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film's release, approximately two weeks after Tracy performed her final scene (and two days after her death), when the Supreme Court struck down the anti-miscegenation laws in Loving v. Virginia. The Oscar-nominated music for the film was composed by Frank DeVol.

The film is notable for being Tracy and Hepburn's ninth and final screen pairing, with filming wrapping just 17 days before Tracy's death. Hepburn never saw the full film, saying that Tracy's memories were too painful. The film was released in December 1967, six months after his death. In 2017, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". #34;.

Plot

The unexpected unannounced return of Joanna Drayton (Katharine Houghton) from a Hawaiian vacation causes a stir when she brings her new fiancé to their upper-class San Francisco home in 1967. He is John Prentice (Sidney Poitier). Joanna's parents, newspaper publisher Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy) and his wife, art gallery owner Christina Drayton (Katharine Hepburn), are self-styled progressives who They have instilled the idea of racial equality. Although they try to hide it, Joanna's parents, and particularly her father, are initially upset that she plans to marry a black man. The Draytons' black housekeeper, Tillie (Isabel Sanford), is even more horrified, suspecting that John is a careerist who wants to marry a white woman.

Joanna is oblivious to the reactions of her parents who are uneasy about her engagement to John, never thinking her choice would be a black man, and even more disturbed by John's decision that if Joanna's parents they do not accept the commitment that day, then he will end the relationship.

Joanna, who had originally intended to join John in a few weeks in Geneva for their planned marriage ceremony, changes her mind and decides to leave that same night with John. Also, she invites John's parents (Roy E. Glenn and Beah Richards) to dinner, so they can all get to know each other. Also, John is forced to reveal that he had not yet told his parents of his intention to marry a white woman.

Matt's golf partner, Monsignor Mike Ryan (Cecil Kellaway), a Catholic bishop, arrives at the Drayton home just as Matt has just canceled his golf date. After meeting John, he shares Joanna's excitement about the wedding and tells Matt about it. However, Matt says that he cannot give the couple his blessing: he fears that Joanna will be harmed by the prejudice that she and John are sure to encounter. Meanwhile, one of Christina's employees at her gallery, Hilary (Virginia Christine), who had briefly run into John and Joanna earlier in the day, stops by the Drayton home to express her disapproval of the relationship, and while Christina is still unsure of her own feelings on the matter, she is so offended by Hilary's racism that she fires her on the spot. Later, when she is getting dressed for dinner, Christina shares with Matt her support for Joanna, even if it means having to fight with her husband.

The Draytons' house cocktail parties resemble a game of musical chairs, because of the different sets of parental characters. Mothers generally express more faith in their children than fathers. They express that it takes more than a few hours to make a proper decision, but John's mother brings up her idea that men are missing the key to the situation: passion. When the elder Prentice tells John that he is making a big mistake, his son tells him that he sees himself as a black man, while he sees himself as a man. Mrs. Prentice tells Matt that her husband and he, getting older, have forgotten what it's like to feel romantic passion. If they remembered it, they would see that in their children it is more important than any racial problem.

After thinking about the situation and his conversation with Mrs. Prentice in particular, Matt calls everyone to make an announcement. He says that it doesn't matter what everyone else might think about John and Joanna getting married; the only thing that matters is that they love each other. The film ends with the two families and Monsignor Ryan finally sitting down to dinner.

Cast

Production

Script

Tracy, Hepburn and Kellaway in a movie scene.

According to producer-director Stanley Kramer, he and screenwriter William Rose intentionally structured the film to debunk ethnic stereotypes. The young doctor, a role typical of those played by the young Sidney Poitier, was created ideally perfect, such that the only possible objection to his marrying Joanna would be his race, or the fact that she had only known him 10 days ago. – Character graduated from high school, started groundbreaking medical endeavors in Africa, refused premarital sex with his fiancée despite her good will, and left money in an open container on his soon-to-be father-in-law's desk in payment for a lengthy long-distance call she had made. Nothing is said about the 14-year difference in his age. Kramer and Rose completed the film's script in five weeks.

Cheers to Tracy

Kramer later stated that the main actors believed so strongly in the premise that they agreed to act in the project even before seeing the script. Production had been set for January 1967 and ended on May 24. Spencer Tracy was in poor health and insurance companies refused to cover him. Kramer and Hepburn put up their salaries as collateral, so that if he died, the shoot could be completed with another actor. Kramer stated:

(...) insurance is never examined until a few weeks before the photograph begins. [Even] with all his addictions and alcohol, Tracy always called for insurance before, so no one thought it would be a problem in this case. But it was. We couldn't get insurance for Spence. The situation seemed desperate. Then we figured out a way to handle it. Kate and I set up our own salaries to compensate for the lack of an insurance company for Spence. And we were allowed to proceed.

The shooting schedule was altered to accommodate Tracy's health. All of Tracy's scenes and shots were shot between 9 am and 12 noon to give her enough time to rest. For example, the most of Tracy's dialogue scenes were shot in such a way that during close-ups of other characters, a stand-in would stand in for him.

Tracy's lack of health was more serious than what could be seen on screen. According to Poitier:

Spencer's disease dominated everything. I knew his health was very bad and many of the people who knew what the situation was didn't think we'd end the movie, that is, Tracy would be able to finish the movie. Those of us who were near knew it was worse than they thought. Kate brought it to and from the set. She worked with him on his lines. She made sure with [Stanley] Kramer that his hours were right for what he could do, and what he could not do was different every day. There were days when I couldn't do anything. There were days when it was great, and I had the opportunity to know how it was to work with Tracy.

A bust of Tracy sculpted by Hepburn was used as a prop, on the shelf behind the desk where Poitier makes his phone call. Tracy died two weeks after completing her work on the film.

Houghton's Choice

Hepburn was instrumental in getting her niece, Katharine Houghton, cast in the role of Joey Drayton. Regarding this, Hepburn stated:

There was a beautiful part for Kathy [Houghton], my niece (...). The part of my daughter was difficult. A young unknown actress needs more opportunities to win the audience's sympathy. Otherwise, too much has to depend on your youth, innocence and beauty. She had a good speech to win the audience, but she was cut. Instead, she only talks to her father about the differences between the principles he taught him and the way he's acting. (...) She would interpret Spencer's daughter and me. I loved it. She's beautiful and definitely had a family resemblance. It was my idea.

Poitier paper

Poitier often surprised himself and as a result, somewhat annoyed, in the presence of Hepburn and Tracy, whom he considered "giants" As far as acting is concerned, however, Poitier reportedly found a way to overcome his nerves.

When I went to take a scene with Tracy and Hepburn, I couldn't remember a word. Finally, Stanley Kramer told me, "What are we going to do?" I said, "Stanley, send those two people home. I don't want them here because I can't handle that kind of company." He sent them home. I played the scene in the foreground against two empty chairs while the dialogue instructor read the lines of Mr. Tracy and Miss Hepburn from outside the camera.

Given the tense nature of racism in the United States at the time of the film's production, Poitier felt he was "under close observation" by both Tracy and Hepburn during their first meetings before production, however, he quickly won them over. Because of Tracy and Hepburn's close history with Kramer, Poitier cited Hepburn and Tracy reaching out to him: "the kind of respect they had for Kramer, and they had to tell themselves (and I'm sure they did) they did), this kid has to be doing pretty well, because Stanley is crazy to work with him".

Premiere and reception

The film was released in theaters on January 1, 1968.

Variations

The original version of the film released in theaters in 1968 contained a moment in which Tillie answers the question "Guess who's coming to dinner now?" with the sarcasm of a sentence: "The Reverend Martin Luther King?" Following King's assassination on April 4, 1968, this phrase was cut from the film, so by August 1968 almost all screenings of the film had that phrase omitted. As early as 1969, the phrase was restored on many, but not all copies, and was also preserved on the VHS and DVD versions of the film.

Criticism

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was a box office success across the United States, even in the southern states, where traditionally few white moviegoers were supposed to want to see a movie with actors blacks. The success of this film challenged that assumption in film marketing. Despite this success, which included numerous nominations for various film awards, Frank Rich of The New York Times wrote in November 2008 that the film The film was frequently labeled as being shot among the liberals. Another main point of contention was the fact that Poitier's character, the future son-in-law, was without flaw. Many people felt that the dynamic between Drayton's character and Poitier would have inevitably resulted in a happy ending because Poitier's character was perfect, respectable, likable, and adequate. Some people even went so far as to say that Prentice was "too white" not to be accepted by the Draytons.

The film's US release gave Poitier its third box office success in six months in 1967, with everyone calling into question the race of Poitier's character. The film grossed a total of $56.7 million.

In a 1986 review for The New York Times, Lawrence Van Gelder wrote: "the suspicion is raised that if the film were made today, its creators would be much more bluntly confronting each other. to the problems of mixed marriage. It is a skilful comedy and, above all, a hymn to the power of love".

Awards

Oscar Awards

For the 50th Academy Awards, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner was nominated for ten awards, winning two.

BAFTA Awards

At the 22nd BAFTA Awards, Tracy posthumously won the BAFTA for Best Actor and Hepburn for Best Actress.

David di Donatello Awards

At the David de Donatello Awards, Kramer received the Best Producer Award, Tracy received the Best Foreign Actor Award, and Hepburn the Best Foreign Actress Award.

Other acknowledgments

In several of its listings, the American Film Institute recognized Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in:

• 100 years... 100 movies - #99
• 100 years... 100 passions - #58
• 100 years... 100 phrases:
  • "You consider yourself a man of color. I consider myself a man."
• 100 years... 100 inspirations – #35
• 100 Years... 100 Films (Anniversary Edition) – Nominated