Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Director: Stanley Kramer
Year Released: 1967
Rating: 2.5
Typical of Kramer's output: morality-driven story that tries really really hard to drive home a message. It's essentially a filmed play - well, aside from the one disposable scene from Mel's Diner where Spencer Tracy tries to find the one ice-cream flavor he likes - with loads of discussions leading up to a conclusion you more or less expect. Here's a thought, though: what would the scenario have been if, instead of being 'one of the best doctors in the world,' Poitier's character was 'just' a postal worker like his father (in other words, add 'class' to 'race' as being another problem to the mixed-color marriage). What is most disturbing about all this is how, even today, in the United States, thirty years later, mixed marriages are still looked down upon - I speak on behalf of the people I know and the stories I have heard (in Robb Armstrong's comic strip Jump Start, this topic was brought up to some extent).
