In the thickest part of racial tensions in America, a white, Jewish director produced what may be the greatest movie on race relations, ever. It still stands today as an example, even 56 years later.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner tells the tale of a wealthy, white, liberal San Francisco couple (Spencer Tracy in his final role and Katherine Hepburn) who has a daughter who just decides to get engaged to a black man, Sidney Poitier. Never mind that the black man is a doctor, or has a world-wide reputation as brilliant, giving and philanthropic in areas of medicine and caring for the poor- he's black.
The best thing about the film is that it never takes sides, We see a white liberal couple struggling with their own feelings and reactions. We see the same thing from the blue-collar black couple who are
Poitier's parents. We see racist overtones and comments from Hepburn's assistant, for which Hepburn fires her, even as Hepburn struggles with her own inner turmoil.
We see a decidedly racist response from Hepburn and Tracy's maid Tillie who, having voiced earlier in the film that she doesn't want a member of her race getting above himself, tells Poitier, "Well let me tell you somethin'. You may *think* you're foolin' Miss Joey and her folks, but you ain't foolin' me for a minute. You think I don't see what you are? You're one of those smooth-talkin', smart-ass ni**ers, just out for all you can get, with your Black Power all that other troublemakin' nonsense. And you listen here. I brought up that child from a baby in her cradle, and ain't *nobody* gonna harm her done while I'm here watchin'. And as long as *you* are *anywhere* around this house, I'm right here watchin'. You read me, boy? You bring any trouble in here you just like to find out what Black Power *really* means!"
The film's scripting and dialogue are full of raw nerve and gritty, base human reaction. Production was completed in 1967, but while being produced, anti-miscegenation laws (making inter-racial marriage illegal in 17 states) were still active. The laws were struck down 6 months before the film's release, but the Nation's nerves were still raw over the matter. The three characters who are the only ones who can see that people should "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" are Poitier, his fiancée Joey and the family's friend, a visiting priest. It's funny that Hepburn goes out of their way to explain that they are not Catholic, that he is just a friend.
Everyone else in the film struggles with what it really means to evaluate their own feelings and bias. It would seem that if the Hepburn and Tracy couple would have read about such a pairing in the society page of the San Francisco paper, the would have applauded the couple for their courage and progressive beliefs. But what do you do when the black fiancée is standing in your living room explaining that his intended is your white daughter? Should it matter? Of course not. Does it matter? Almost always, as we face our own biases and try to navigate through what it means to be human.
The man responsible, Stanley Kramer, had already helmed socially charged films by this time including the Men, High Noon, the Caine Mutiny, The Defiant Ones, On the Beach and Judgment at Nuremberg. He may have been the only director at the time who could have handled such a weighty project. He does so expertly.
Spike Lee's comment that "they (meaning Hollywood or whites, take your pick) know nothing about black people" indicts everyone who has tried to tackle such a delicate subject. I would like to point out to Mr. Lee that he was 10 when Kramer was making Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and neither he, nor anyone since 1967, has made a movie that addresses race relations as so brilliantly.
IMDB says 7.8/10, which is way off the mark. It's an 8.5 minimum and may be one of the 10 best films in movie history.
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