Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter introduces them to her African-American fiancé.

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writer:

William Rose

Stars:

Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn

Won 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

After a period of vacation in Hawaii, Joanna "Joey" Drayton returns to her parents' home in San Francisco bringing her fiancé, the high-qualified Dr. John Prentice, to introduce him to her mother Christina Drayton that owns an art gallery and her father Matt Drayton that is the publisher editor of the newspaper The Guardian. Joey was raised with a liberal education and intends to get married with Dr. John Prentice that is a black widower and needs to fly on that night to Geneva to work with the World Health Organization. Joey invites John's parents Mr. Prentice and Mrs. Prentice to have dinner with her family and the couple flies from Los Angeles to San Francisco without knowing that Joey is white. Christina invites also the liberal Monsignor Ryan, who is friend of her family. Along the day and night, the families discuss the problems of their son and daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

miscegenation | interracial relationship | social commentary | doctor | racism | 

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Taglines:

a love story of today

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 December 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$56,700,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$70,000,000, 31 January 1970

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was selected into the National Film Registry in 2017 for being "culturally historically or aesthetically significant".

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Goofs

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

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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?

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Alternate Versions

When Monsignor Ryan is added to the guest list, Joey goes to tell Tillie. Joey asks "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" and Tillie replies "Reverend Martin Luther King". Following the assassination of King, this was removed - Joey says she'll tell Tillie but we see nothing more. Several months later, this gag was restored.

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Connections

Referenced in I Drink Your Blood (1970)

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Soundtracks

Glory of Love
(1936)
by Billy Hill
Sung by Jacqueline Fontaine at the restaurant
Sung offscreen by a chorus during opening and closing credits
Played in the score often

User Reviews

Way too preachy

First of all, it is implied in this movie (and by some user comments) that all conservatives are prejudiced and only a liberal can take the moral high ground in matters of race relations. As someone who is a religious conservative, let me dispel at once the theory that all conservatives would be opposed to interracial marriage.

I like movies that tackle moral issues including prejudice and racism and was eager to see a subject like interracial marriage tackled in a movie with such prestigious actors, but "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" left me thoroughly disappointed.

The premise of this movie is excellent and the cast is good except for Katharine Houghton (more on her later), but the movie beats you over the head with a lesson that is mostly just preaching to the choir. It talks down to it's audience and doesn't really bring you along to see the subtle forms of prejudice in the way "Gentlemen's Agreement" does and it lacks the down to earth characters of "To Sir with Love". Unlike "To Sir with Love", race is so central that there's little room for anything else.

The worst part of the whole production is a tie between the extremely wooden Katharine Houghton (it must have helped to be Hepburn's niece) and the abominable lines she was given to speak. This might not be an exact quote, but in one scene Houghton speaks, in her overly peppy voice, a line like,

"But mother, why would daddy be upset just because I'm marrying a negro?"

In all she must have said the word "negro" about two dozen times (or at least it seemed like it). It was just too hard to believe that Portier's character (a handsome well-spoken internationally famous doctor) would even be interested in this simple child.

The last scene features a sentimental speech delivered by Tracy's character in the direction of Hepburn's character. The heart-string plucking undercurrent is that these sentiments are those of Tracy himself toward Hepburn. How romantic? I wonder if Mrs. Tracy's heart-strings were plucked by this tender scene.

All in all, it failed even though I was really hoping it would succeed. It left me with the impression that I had to become a liberal in order to be on the right side of this issue.