Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love, and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh

Customer Rating:
Summary: Guess Who Coming To Dinner
Comment: I'm a die-hard Sidney Poitier fan. This is a must own. I was disappointed that the 40th anniversary edition did not feature Sidney but featured the Director Stanley Kramer. I did not mind knowing a little bit about the him--I just could have live without so much info on him to the point where I got bored. They could have done something on the actors and actresses and even greater...on Sidney. I just could live without the second disc so dont call it a bonus feature. The acting was great and the movie was before it time-- A must own.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!!!
Comment: The film arrived super quickly - this film is amazing and never gets old! Check it out!!!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Guess who's not really that impressed...
Comment: Understand that I understand that this movie probably had a much deeper impact upon its release, and that my review may actually be harsher that it would be had I actually seen it in 1967 and not 2008, but also please understand that regardless of when a film was released, it is open to judgment based on its `aging' factor. That said; I don't think `Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' holds up.

The film tells the story of John Wade and Joey Drayton, an interracial couple who met in Hawaii. Joey belongs to an upper-class White family; her parents being liberalists. John came from simpler means, but he built a good profession for himself as a doctor and is well respected and admired. The only problem is he's Black. The couple has only known each other for a few days but they are in love and want to be married. They travel to meet Joey's parents and tell them the good news. Joey is naïve and convinced that their racial difference will not be an issue, but John knows the reality of these things. It's not that her parents would be apposed because of his skin color, but more or less because of the issues that their marriage would cause them in the long run. They are more concerned for their daughter's reputation and well-being.

Like John suspected, there are some issues and concerns and John makes it clear to the parents that if there are any problems he would not marry their daughter. The only stipulation is that they make up their minds practically on the spot for he is only staying for dinner and then must catch a flight.

And then his parents, who are equally apposed, join the party.

The plot is rather ridiculous when you think about it. No, not the fact that there are racial tensions and concerns because that can happen even today; but the way that the issue is presented is particularly ridiculous for the time in which it was released. In the 60's interracial marriages were still taboo and so no daughter in her right mind would be stupid enough to expect her parents be okay with it so quickly. She may be convinced that with time her parents would come around to the idea and even support her but she would never expect them to come to that conclusion immediately. That is, unless she really was very stupid, and if that were the case then someone as smart as John would not be interested in marrying her. I also found the reaction of John's mother, and even Joey's mother, to be rather over-the-top. When Mrs. Prentice goes into this long speech about how Joey's father Matthew must not remember what it's like to love someone as deeply as John and Joey love one another, well, I wanted to laugh. She was missing the point and came off as stupid as Joey.

The fact remains that this movie is less about racism (because no one in this film is racist) and more about social conditioning. The concerns raised by the parents (fathers mostly) is not anything out of racial spite but out of concern for the acceptance of others. They want what is best for their children and would not want to see them suffer in any way. I think that the way the script was written, well, it pulled away from the importance of the real issue.

No one should tell you who to love and who to marry; that is true.

The performances for the most part help to elevate this film. I say `for the most part' because some of the performances, even the praised ones, come off rather ridiculous to me.

First off; the good.

Spencer Tracy (in his last screen performance) actually delivers a very well thought out and fleshed out performance as Matthew Drayton. He captures the mans real concerns and expresses them rather well, especially in his overwritten ending monologue (the script was messy, but he worked with it). Isabel Sanford (from `The Jeffersons') is also delightful here as the feisty maid Tillie. I loved the fire she brought to her performance, and that attack on John is one of those scenes that just takes you by surprise. Katherine Hepburn won the Oscar for this performance, and while I would never have given it to her (I don't think I would have even nominated her) I can say that she doesn't disappoint. She is a tad scary here (I don't know what it is) but she manages to evoke some pure emotions. Cecil Kellaway gives my favorite performance in the bunch though, and probably the only one I would have nominated. As Monsignor Ryan he is charming and witty and entertaining and he also grasps his characters real motives and feelings on the matter.

But then there is the bad.

I enjoyed the first half of Poitier's performance for he had this natural charm I hadn't seen from him before (I am one of the few who finds him rather stiff) but as the film progressed and he went on the ridiculous rant about being oppressed by his fathers generation I began to be annoyed by his performance. It may have more to do with the script, but then again, Tracy rose above the scrip; Poitier could not. Katharine Houghton is also quite terrible, but then again, her character is an idiot so maybe that had to do with it. Beah Richards received an Oscar nomination for her performance; why I'll never know. Her only speaking lines came with that ridiculous speech to Matthew and I found that to be one of my least favorite scenes in the whole film.

I don't have much to say about Roy Glenn. He wasn't very memorable.

In the end I give the film a C-. I know that everyone loves this movie, but I just don't see what all the hype is about. The script borders on comical it is so off and the acting is spotty. The overall impact I know was heavy when it was released, but it has not aged well at all. Kellaway and Tracy elevate this movie a lot for me, for they really got it. I know that it tackles some major issues, but it could have went about it a better way.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and ageless!
Comment: I watched years ago when it first came out and keep on watching it each time I see it on TV. Now I own the video. A pure classic, with brilliant actors, some that we will miss forever. Deep and wonderful movie. Sidney Poitier is a class act! A four-star movie.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Thematic still applicable today; great movie
Comment: "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" is nothing short of fantastic. It is funny, smart, brilliant, thoughtful, and altogether great. The performances by Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katherine Hepburn were phenomenal. I especially liked the performances by Hepburn and Tracy as their characters were confronted by their own unconscious racism and discrimination when they though they were extremely liberal.

This couple raised a daughter, Joanna, to be extremely liberal and to believe in the equality of the races. But, it is still a shock to them when their daughter brings home a black man, Dr. Prentiss, as the man she wants to marry. This family must then confront the schemes and ideas they had of themselves and of their views. The couple, played by Sidney Poitier and Katherine Houghton, must also face the criticism of his parent, who is also against this biracial engagement, and also the housekeeper, a black woman, who also is against them. The movie is brilliant in that it challenges not only the characters, but ourselves, about our so-called liberalism, and it does it in a very funny way. In retrospect, I can only imagine what this movie meant for its time; but, let us not forget what it still does and how the thematic of this film is still applicable to this day.

---