Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Regista:

Stanley Kramer

Sceneggiatore:

William Rose (written by)

Data di uscita:

12 dicembre 1967 (USA)

Genere:

Drama | Romance

Slogan:

a love story of today

Plot:

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play a couple whose attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiance who is black.

Plot Keywords:

Racial Issues | Bittersweet | Engagement | Clergy | Taxicab

Premi:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 20 nominations

Recensioni degli utenti:

Overlook the "dated" aspect.

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Sept. 12

9:30 AM

OXYGEN

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Matt Drayton
Sidney Poitier	...	Dr. John Wade Prentice
Katharine Hepburn	...	Christina Drayton
Katharine Houghton	...	Joey Drayton
Cecil Kellaway	...	Monsignor Ryan
Beah Richards	...	Mrs. Prentice
Roy Glenn	...	Mr. Prentice (as Roy E. Glenn, Sr.)
Isabel Sanford	...	Tillie (as Isabell Sanford)
Virginia Christine	...	Hilary St. George
Alexandra Hay	...	Carhop
Barbara Randolph	...	Dorothy
D'Urville Martin	...	Frankie
Tom Heaton	...	Peter
Grace Gaynor	...	Judith
Skip Martin	...	Delivery Boy

Alias:

Indovina chi viene a cena? (Italy) [it]

Durata:

108 min

Nazionalità:

USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Colore (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonoro:

Mono

Divieti:

USA:Approved | South Korea:12 | Iceland:L | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | West Germany:6 | Argentina:Atp | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG

Luoghi delle riprese:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Curiosità:

When the movie was conceived and launched by producer-director Stanley Kramer, one of Hollywood's greatest liberal movie-makers, intermarriage between African Americans and Caucasians was still illegal in 14 states. Towards the end of production, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Loving v. Virginia. The Loving decision was made on June 12, 1967, two days after the death of star Spencer Tracy, who had played a "phony" white liberal who grudgingly accepts his daughter's marriage to a black man. In Loving, the High Court unanimously ruled that anti-miscegenation marriage laws were unconstitutional. In his opinion, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, "Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State." Interestingly, Kramer kept in the line of the African American father played by Roy Glenn, who tells his son played by Sidney Poitier, "In 16 or 17 states you'll be breaking the law. You'll be criminals." This was probably because Kramer realized that, despite the change in the law, the couple would still be facing a great deal of prejudice requiring a stalwart love for their marriage to survive, which was the message Tracy's character gives in an eight-minute scene that is the climax of the movie. The scene summing up the theme of the movie was the last one the dying Tracy filmed for the movie, and it was the last time he would ever appear on film. It took a week to shoot the scene and at the end, he was given a standing ovation by the crew. He died a little over a fortnight after walking off of a sound-stage for the last time. Ironically, a 1913 anti-miscegenation law was used in 2005 by then-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to block out-of-state residents from taking advantage of the Commonwealth's gay marriage law.

Errori:

Continuity: The car that Tracey backs into already has a dent in the front door panel. During the accident the relative position of the two cars and the number of dents in the side panels change with each change in shot.

Citazioni:

[first lines]
John: You know, I just had a thought. Why don't I go check into a hotel and get some rest, and you go find your folks?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Black History: Lost Stolen, or Strayed (1968) (TV)

Colonna sonora:

Glory of Love

Overlook the "dated" aspect.

This film is of course dated in many portions but still remains a powerful motion picture over thirty years after its release. Superb acting and dialog is what overcomes the dated aspect. Hepburn and Tracy are Matt and Christina Drayton a wealthy and successful couple who have a daughter named Joey played by Katherine Houghton who comes home and tells them she has met the man of her dreams. The only problem in the story is that he is of a different race. Sidney Poitier is John Wade Prentice a successful individual who is the man of Joeys dreams and is of the different race. The Draytons are people who in theory hold no prejudice toward any one regardless of their race, color or creed but now have those same views put harshly to the test when it's their own daughter involved. Sort of like the NIMBY philosophy "YES YES build more prisons, build more nuclear power plants, build more missile silos but Not In My BackYard! " Sure I believe in interracial marriage as long as it's not my daughter".

John Wades parents essentially share the same views as the Draytons. However Johns parents particularly his father played by Roy E. Glenn Sr. seems more realistic when speaking to his child about the situation than does Matt Drayton. He tells his son the way it really is and most likely will be. "You'll even be illegal in some states" he reminds his son. The two couples eventually come to grips with the fact that no matter what they say they will not be able to prevent their two children from going through with their plans. Spencer Tracy throughout his film career delivered many powerful lines of dialog. The final moments of this film he delivers perhaps his greatest. Which also turned out to be his last. AFI ranked this film number ninety-nine on their list of top one hundred. Because of it's powerful story and social issue it deserved to be higher. Other films that deal with interracial marriage to see are 1956's GIANT and 1961's Bridge to the Sun.