"guess who's coming to dinner"

[insidehappy]

i recently saw this classic film "guess who's coming to dinner" staring Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Portier. It is set in the 60s/70s when interracial marriage was still illegal in many states. I never really saw this before. It about a white family with a daughter that announces that she is getting married to a black man (doctor) and he and his family are "coming to dinner" to meet everyone. Both sets of parents (black and white) have no clue that their daughter/son is going to marry someone outside of their race and the movies deals with all the preconceived notions regarding this, discrimination, parental disappointed on both sides, etc. i will not give the movie away but i couldn't help to see teh similarities between the issues of them "coming out" to their parents about who they were marrying and how it was very similar to coming out to your parents,family, friends, about your sexual orientation and introducing who you may be dating or marrying or the idea that you want to date somone of the same sex. if you have time, check it out. its a classic and it may help you.

[Jordash]

Hey I saw that movie a couple weeks ago. It was okay, but seems better now when I think of it helping in that way. hahaha

[Tracker57]

Or, there's La Cage aux Folles, where a gay couple's son is marrying--of all things--a woman. The gay parents are quite flummoxed at first. And the parents of the woman would appear to be very intolerant--he's the minister of morality or something like that. Skip the Robin Williams version. Go right to the original French one. Tolerance and understanding triumph over prejudice and hate.

[Foxywolf]

I noticed that too. And I recently watched the movie too, in one of my college classes.

[Jordash]

Im going to check out that french one soon! It sounds interesting.

[Chip]

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is simply an extraordinary film. At the time, it was, as you might imagine, extremely controversial, and it was also Spencer Tracy's last film (he was very ill, and died about 2 weeks after the film; he stuck with it because he understood how important a film it was.)

The film came out a couple years after the Civil Rights Act passed, and was credited with helping to change attitudes in the country.

I showed it to a bunch of my younger gay friends a couple of months ago, and we were all completely struck with how much it mirrored the current-day struggles that LGBT people have in overcoming the stereotypes that society have about us.

For what it's worth, practically every other film Sidney Poitier made in the 50s and 60s deals with issues of race and acceptance; in his biography, he talked about how he only made films where he felt like his character would present a positive message and help to influence society. I haven't come across a bad Sidney Poitier film yet, so I'd encourage everyone to see Guess Who Came to Dinner as well as his other films.

[Chip]

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is simply an extraordinary film. At the time, it was, as you might imagine, extremely controversial, and it was also Spencer Tracy's last film (he was very ill, and died about 2 weeks after the film; he stuck with it because he understood how important a film it was.)

The film came out a couple years after the Civil Rights Act passed, and was credited with helping to change attitudes in the country.

I showed it to a bunch of my younger gay friends a couple of months ago, and we were all completely struck with how much it mirrored the current-day struggles that LGBT people have in overcoming the stereotypes that society have about us.

For what it's worth, practically every other film Sidney Poitier made in the 50s and 60s deals with issues of race and acceptance; in his biography, he talked about how he only made films where he felt like his character would present a positive message and help to influence society. I haven't come across a bad Sidney Poitier film yet, so I'd encourage everyone to see Guess Who Came to Dinner as well as his other films.

[Ben]

Katharine Hepburn's performance was, as always, utterly flawless in this movie. I think it carried a good message, but it probably would have been a bit more profound in its time. I probably watched this with more of an eye on Katharine's acting prowess, so I might watch it again with a modern eye for same-sex issues. Thanks for the tip!

[Mlpguy88]

I've never heard of these movies, I'll try to find them they sound good.
It is a little strange how these types of issues work. Back when interracial marriage was an issue the thought process was "Don't let them marry us, make them marry each other" Now with gay marriage it's like "Don't let them marry each other, make them marry....us?!"
I don't get it, bigotry is confusing.

[insidehappy]

Originally Posted by Chip

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is simply an extraordinary film. At the time, it was, as you might imagine, extremely controversial, and it was also Spencer Tracy's last film (he was very ill, and died about 2 weeks after the film; he stuck with it because he understood how important a film it was.)

The film came out a couple years after the Civil Rights Act passed, and was credited with helping to change attitudes in the country.

I showed it to a bunch of my younger gay friends a couple of months ago, and we were all completely struck with how much it mirrored the current-day struggles that LGBT people have in overcoming the stereotypes that society have about us.

For what it's worth, practically every other film Sidney Poitier made in the 50s and 60s deals with issues of race and acceptance; in his biography, he talked about how he only made films where he felt like his character would present a positive message and help to influence society. I haven't come across a bad Sidney Poitier film yet, so I'd encourage everyone to see Guess Who Came to Dinner as well as his other films.

totally. there was one scene where Sidney stands up to his dad regarding his dad coming down on him for wanting to marry outside his race. i think many of us can relate to this in terms of the gay topic because many of us are afraid of what parents and family will say.

---------- Post added 29th Jan 2012 at 11:29 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Ben

Katharine Hepburn's performance was, as always, utterly flawless in this movie. I think it carried a good message, but it probably would have been a bit more profound in its time. I probably watched this with more of an eye on Katharine's acting prowess, so I might watch it again with a modern eye for same-sex issues. Thanks for the tip!

yea her acting was really good. did you know that the woman that played her daughter was actually her biological niece in real life.

[nydtc]

Guess who's coming to dinner is a great movie.
One of my favorite Hepburn movie - followed closely by Desk Set!