This was one of three landmark films Sidney Poitier made in 1967, along with In the Heat of the Night and To Sir, With Love, which changed Hollywood in sort of the same way that Jackie Robinson changed baseball. Not that he was the first black actor but he was the first black film star. This was also the last time Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn acted together, the last movie Tracy made before he passed away. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was a big box office hit and played straight into the changing attitudes of Americans at the time. No doubt about anybody’s character, though, with Hepburn and Tracy rich white San Francisco liberals, Poitier a world-famous philanthropist doctor, and Hepburn’s neice Katharine Houghton making her only major film appearance as the young, beautiful, willful daughter who brings him home.
The script does have some stilted dialog; the producers obviously had a message to deliver and weren’t worried about pushing it. The monsignor’s speeches and the scene were Hepburn fires her gallery manager are two good examples. One quibble: I know I was just a little kid and not too observant when this film was made but I know I don’t remember teenagers dancing around the suburban streets just because a radio was playing.
Stanley Kramer directed Guess with a strong touch, setting off the dramatics with comical scenes with Isabel Sanford (yes, she went on to move on up as Mrs. Jefferson), using strong, emotional colors to augment the tone. Every (major) character gets at least one significant monologue but Spencer Tracy’s speech, the film’s climax, is powerful yet understated, moving, and wonderful.
Recommended–duh!
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