Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writer:

William Rose (written by)

Release Date:

12 December 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

a love story of today

Plot:

Matt and Christina Drayton are a couple whose attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Dinner | Father Son Relationship | World Health Organization | Interracial Romance

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Matt Drayton
Sidney Poitier	...	John 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
John Hudkins	...	Cab Driver
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Natalie Core	...	Small Role (uncredited)
Jacqueline Fontaine	...	Singer (uncredited)
Timothy Scott	...	Small Role (uncredited)
Yuki Tani	...	Japanese Waitress (uncredited)
June Whitley Taylor	...	Edie (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Stanley Kramer

Writing credits
William Rose		(written by)

Produced by
George Glass	....	associate producer
Stanley Kramer	....	producer

Original Music by
Frank De Vol		(as De Vol)

Cinematography by
Sam Leavitt		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Robert C. Jones		(film editor)

Production Design by
Robert Clatworthy

Set Decoration by
Frank Tuttle

Makeup Department
Joe DiBella	....	makeup (as Joseph Di Bella)
Helen Hunt	....	hair stylist
Ben Lane	....	makeup

Production Management
Ivan Volkman	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ray Gosnell Jr.	....	assistant director (as Ray Gosnell)
Leonard Kunody	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Clarence Peet	....	property master
Jim Bochman	....	set designer (uncredited)
Gabe Resh	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert Martin	....	sound
Clem Portman	....	re-recordist
Charles J. Rice	....	sound
James F. Rogers	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Geza Gaspar	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Lawrence W. Butler	....	process photography (as Larry Butler)

Camera and Electrical Department
Les Everson	....	chief electrician
William Gossman	....	camera operator
Martin Kashuk	....	company grip (as Marty Kashuk)
Doug J. Campbell	....	company grip (uncredited)
Ron Cooney	....	grip (uncredited)
Darryl Kenzel	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
John Monte	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joe King	....	costumes
Jean Louis	....	wardrobe supervisor
Edna Taylor	....	wardrobe: women (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Tony Friedman	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Mike Deasy	....	musician (uncredited)
Albert Woodbury	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Marshall Schlom	....	script supervisor
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents) (A Stanley Kramer Production)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1967) (USA) (theatrical) (as Columbia)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1971) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen) (40th Anniversary Edition)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1973) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Columbia-Bavaria Filmgesellschaft m.b.H. (1968) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Seven Films (2012) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• LK-TEL Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2002) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) (2002) | West Germany:6 | Argentina:Atp | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | Iceland:L | USA:Approved (original release) | South Korea:12 | UK:U (original rating) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | USA:Unrated | Netherlands:14 (orginal rating)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Sidney Poitier, born February 20, 1927; was only 13 years younger than the actor portraying his father, Roy Glenn, born June 3, 1914, and only 7 years younger than the actress portraying his mother, Beah Richards, born July 12, 1920. However, Katharine Houghton, born March 10, 1945 was appropriately age spaced with the actors portraying her parents, Spencer Tracy, born April 5, 1900 (45 years older), and Katharine Hepburn, born May 12, 1907 (38 years older).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Just before Drayton crashes his car into Frankie's, the dent on the side of Frankie's car is already present.

Quotes:

[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:

Referenced in "Suburgatory: The Wishbone (#2.5)" (2012)

Soundtrack:

Glory of Love

"That's the story of....... That's the Glory of Love"

I wrote a review for IMDb about the film Saratoga which I got some bad criticism for. It was obvious that Jean Harlow was seriously ill making this rather pedestrian film about folks at the racetrack. No serious drama of significance here, why wasn't the poor woman getting medical attention.

Looking at Spencer Tracy it also is obvious he's in pretty bad shape, but he at 67 was two generations older than his co-star Jean Harlow at MGM in their salad days. And this final film of his and final screen partnership with Katharine Hepburn had a lot more of a significant message than Saratoga did. It's enobling in its own way to see how much faith Spencer Tracy had in the project.

Oh, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is certainly dated now. But back in 1967 it was daring enough. Tracy and Hepburn who for the fourth time in their nine films play a husband and wife from the start, get the news that their daughter Katharine Houghton is getting married to an older man who is a widower. Oh and by the way, she's marrying Sidney Poitier who's a doctor.

Getting a doctor for a son-in-law would be reason enough for celebration in most homes, but interracial marriage was still a daring topic. As Roy Glenn who is Poitier's father reminds him, he's still breaking the law in 1967 in about 17 states. The film is about how Tracy and Hepburn and Glenn and his wife Beah Richards deal with the news.

Hepburn won her second Oscar for this film and she's the character on screen most of the time. Her best moment comes when she fires Virginia Christine who works for her and rushes to Hepburn's side to express "concern" for her.

One of the things that made Spencer Tracy the great player he was, was that incredible ability he had to make the audience feel he was listening. My favorite scene of his in the film is when Beah Richards is alone with him on the porch and she compares him with her husband how the two of them have forgotten all about romance. As she speaks the two of them are profiled against the screen, Richards to the left and Tracy to the right. Though Richards is in the foreground your attention is completely on Tracy and is reactions even though we're only seeing half of his face. Stole the scene without speaking a word.

I know so many people who profess liberalism in all things, but never can quite walk the walk when necessary. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is about that, putting your money where your mouth is.

Watching my VHS copy of it again this evening, the scene with Glenn and Poitier brought home something else to me. Just like Poitier and Houghton were illegal back in 1967 in some parts of America, it was only until 2003 that gay people were illegal in and of themselves in several states. And even now same sex couples battle for marriage rights and equality.

Maybe Guess Who's Coming to Dinner isn't quite so dated at that. And maybe Brokeback Mountain is the closest thing that gay people have to a Guess Who's Coming to Dinner right now.

But can you see in a few years a man or a woman bringing home a partner of the same sex to Mom and Dad and announcing they're getting married in Massachusetts?

Now that would be a great film.