Guess Whos Coming to Dinner

Film is not only the most effective art form at chronicling social change; it’s also the most adept at inspiring it. And there’s little doubt that that was the agenda behind Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, which confronted the conflicting generational attitudes regarding interracial relationships in a way that the stodgy news media and well-meaning protests could not. With cinematic royalty like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn involved, this was a shot fired over the bow of most American’s view of race relations, yet presented in such a way that its liberal politics meshed perfectly with classic Hollywood dinner party comedy.

After a ten-day courtship, freewheeling Joey (Katharine Houghton) brings back Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) to meet her a parents, Matt and Christina Drayton (Tracy and Hepburn), and announce their impending nuptials only a short week away. Despite the Drayton’s liberal leanings, the situation comes as a shock, especially when John insists that he’ll only go through with the wedding if he wins their unconditional approval within the next 6 hours. And, to make the situation even more complicated, John’s black parents - who have no idea that his bride-to-be is white - accept Joey’s invitation to dinner the same evening.

This melting pot of a guest list certainly has the potential for screwball comedy antics. But Kramer has something more ambitious in mind. As is so often the case with the director’s films, he brilliantly uses the structure of the medium to make his message go down easier. If nothing else, each reaction shot to the “big news” is a major achievement in audience anticipation in itself. And Kramer introduces us to enjoyably eclectic array of them: from the snooty disdain of Christina’s art gallery manager (whose no-nonsense dismissal by Hepburn later is wonderfully underplayed) to the angry distrust of the Drayton’s black housekeeper, who challenges John’s intentions as overachieving Negro who should know his place.

That being said, the movie has been widely criticized for making things too easy on the Drayton’s. After all, who wouldn’t want Poitier’s character – a renowned humanitarian with a list of degrees as impressive as his good looks – for a son-in-law! Yet the real accomplishment is that the script keeps the drawn out speeches to a minimum, using Tracy’s cantankerous disposition to do most of the heavy lifting. The actor, who could only work a few hours per day and died only two weeks after filming was complete, always has the right thing to say…even when he says nothing at all. And his final soliloquy is delivered with a common-sense wisdom that could have sprung from no one else.

Twilight Time’s 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray gives Kramer’s film every bit of respect it deserves, starting with a superlative hi-def transfer and a buffet of extras, including celebrity introductions (from the like of Spielberg and Quincy Jones), an audio commentary, several lengthy featurettes along a theatrical trailer, isolated score track and liner notes.