''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' (1967 film)- Review

Directed by: Stanley Kramer
Released: 1967
Country: United States

Genre: Comedy-drama

Main cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, Katherine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy E. Glenn, Isabel Sanford

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Review

Such a wonderful and thought-provoking film it is! ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' tells the story of Joanna Drayton (Houghton), a girl from a progressive upper-middle class white family who has always been taught by her parents that there is no difference between a white person and a black person. The film is set in the 1960s, when interracial marriage was still illegal in many of the states of the United States. Joanna falls in love with John (Poitier), a highly educated and well-established African-American young man. When Joanna introduces John to her parents, her parents are surprisingly are in a dilemma, which is pretty much in contrast to their mentality which enables them not to judge people based on the color of their skin. Joanna waits for her parents' approval of the marriage. While Joanna's parents are definitely not racists, they still fear what their daughter might face if she marries John, they are uncertain about and afraid of the things that she might have to face from the society and the people around them. As the evening approaches, all of them get together, waiting for dinner: Joanna and her parents, John and her parents- who, like Joanna's parents, are also uncertain, and a family friend who warmly approves of the relationship. What will happen and what will truimph? The love between two human beings or the fear of the mentality of many of the people around them? 

''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' is definitely a thought-provoking film. While there is plenty of humor, there is also a great depth in the film, great character development- along with great performances by both the lead and the supporting cast. The story is definitely very interesting, the screenplay is wonderful, the subject matter is serious and thought-provoking. There are plenty of scenes that make us laugh, but at the same time, there are plenty of scenes and situations that make us think hard. Spanning just a single day, the film is about how, with the passage of time, the characters deal with the situation that has arisen and deal with their own dilemmas, providing us an insight into the minds of the characters to whom, over the course of the film, we get deeply attached. 

(Also, the song ''The Glory of Love'', with which the film begins, is beautiful and very, very memorable!).