Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - Racial Tension, Party of 7

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Director: Stanley Kramer

You know I've always loved you and you're just as black as he is. How could it possibly be alright for me to love you and wrong for me to love him. Will you just stop and think about that? –Joanna Drayton

She's not at all like anyone I've ever known. It's not just that our color difference doesn't matter to her; it's that she doesn't seem to think there is any difference. –Dr. John Prentice

Well, you made her, Mr. Drayton; I just met her in Hawaii. –Dr. John Prentice

This is not a night for talking about happiness, Mr. Drayton. This is an unhappy night. –Mrs. Prentice

Dad, you're my father; I'm your son: I love you, I always have, and I always will. But you think of yourself as a colored man; I think of myself as a man. –Dr. John Prentice

Netflix description:

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn star as wealthy Californias who consider themselves progressive until their only daughter (Katharine Houghton) brings home her African American fiancé (Sidney Poitier) in this snapshot of race relations in the late 1960s. The film earned two Academy Awards (for Hepburn’s performance and William Rose’s screenplay) and eight other nominations.

The era in which this movie is set is so far removed from the era in which I write about it. Would some families still react to a mixed race marriage the way that Joanna's and John's families reacted? Sure. But it is a far more common thing today than it was then to see people of two different cultures tying the knot. But in 1967, when this movie was made, it was touted as "a love story for our time."

While the attitude of the Drayton's housekeeper Tillie – she accused Dr. Prentice of using Joanna to "marry up" and increase his position – and the use of the word "negro" in lieu of today's more politically correct "African American" served to date the movie appropriately, the story itself is timeless. Parents will often question the choices their children make in love. They will often forget what it's like to be young and so smitten by a person that 10 days, three weeks or two months does not feel like too short an amount of time before engagement. And they will always feel that they are thinking only of their child's best interest, even when the child is old enough that the best interest of their past does not equate to the best interest of their present.

The movie played out almost like an essay on the subject. In paragraph one, the problem is introduced and a little background given. In paragraph two, we get the initial reactions of Joanna's parents (both leaning against the marriage), thus setting the mood of the essay. Paragraph three shows the mother's shift in thought – the setup for the climax; the conflict is further heightened by the division of parental opinion. Paragraph four introduces the Prentice family and their reaction to their son's news, adding momentum toward the climax. Paragraph five deepens the divide among the parents, pitting wives together in viewpoint against  husbands; the tension builds. Paragraph six begins the climax of the essay – when John and his father have a showdown and Mr. Drayton is confronted by Mrs. Prentice. Paragraph seven is Mr. Prentice's speech to the dinner party (the "resolution" of the conflict), when he announces his support of their children's marriage. Paragraph eight is simply, "Tillie served dinner and the families celebrated the upcoming nuptials."

A few other observations of note: This is the first movie starring either Katharine Hepburn or Spencer Tracy that I've seen; this seems odd to me. The movie's entire soundtrack seems to be a single song – "The Glory of Love" – in a varying forms and parts. Katharine Houghton really held her own among three Oscar winners. And I can definitely see myself watching this movie again.

My takeaways: Parents will always try to protect their children and lead them in the way which they feel is best, even if the child outgrows the need for protection. And if you give a priest a scotch…