the audience applauded

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

When Katharine Houghton returns home to San Francisco from a ten-day Hawaiian cruise, she's deliriously happy. She's fallen in love, wants to get married, and has brought her intended home to meet her parents, Katharine Hepburn—her aunt in real life—and Spencer Tracy. On paper, everything's perfect. He's a doctor, a humanitarian, morally respectful, and in love with their daughter. When they meet him, though, Kate and Spence are a little surprised. Their daughter wants to marry Sidney Poitier, and while they raised her to be as color-blind as possible, they're not particularly thrilled that she's chosen to marry a black man in the 1960s.If you haven't seen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, you're missing out on an iconic piece of American cinema. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, taking home the gold for Best Actress and Best Screenplay, and it's one of the most defining films of the decade. While Sidney Poitier was universally ignored for this film during the awards season, and for the other famous film he made that year, In the Heat of the Night, his role and performance were etched in film history. There's a line Sidney says after Spencer voices his concerns about the difficulties of raising bi-racial children, and at the time it was merely considered cute and full of wishful thinking: "Johanna feels that all of our children will be President of the United States. . . I'd settle for Secretary of State." Watching the film now gives that line an entirely different meaning.While all the performances in the film are wonderful, watching Katharine Hepburn and her longtime love Spencer Tracy is bittersweet. In their ninth film together, Spence's health was failing drastically. He died seventeen days after filming completed, and Kate never saw the finished product because it would have been too painful. He gives a very famous speech about true love that brings tears to the audience's eyes, not only because it's a well-written speech, but because it's clear he's speaking about his on screen and offscreen partner.Each character has his or her own fondly remembered lines and speeches in the film: Kate's unforgettable recitation of the title; Spence's Oregon boosenberry ice cream scene and "that's everything" monologue; Sidney's "get off my back" speech; Katharine's "Isn't it just!" exclamation; and Isabel Sanford's line that proves she's clinically blind, saying Sidney Poitier isn't good-looking. I remember watching this movie as a kid, not understanding why anyone would have a problem welcoming Sidney Poitier into the family, and of course being terribly jealous of Katharine Houghton. I've had a crush on him ever since, but whatever reason you watch the film, for the Americana, acting, writing, or eye candy, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

This film explores the issue of interracial marriage.Sidney P's character is a successful man, John Prentice. He is a doctor. Maybe this is a bit of a problem, in that one might have hoped for an exploration of class issues, as well as race issues. Both Poitier and Hepburn are lovely and middle class (though, to be fair Poitier's dad is a blue-collar gut i think). Having said that, both issues are huge and it might have been asking a bit much to expect the film to address both. The class thing was air-brushed i felt.But it does address gender issues I think. Both the black father and the white father are very conservative and old-fashioned. They are opposed to the marriage, as are the mothers - initially. However the mums get their heads together. The mums are more liberal-permissive and their job is to talk their respective husbands into being groovy. But Spencer Tracey (Hepburn's dad) and Roy Glenn (Prentice Snr) are opposed to the marriage. So the film does play up to gender stereotypes - the dads are the warriors and the mums are the peacemakers. But stereotypes are not wrong just because they are stereotypes...The dads are entrenched and the mums are trying to sort it out. Which view will prevail? Will it all end in lots of tears and tragedy, or can the mums pull the iron out of the fire?Of course, as well as the mums trying to sort it out, so are the love- struck couple. Poitier is trying to convince his dad to be a bit more open minded, and Hepburn is doing likewise with Tracey.Of course Poitier and Hepburn are brilliant, but I never really picked up a big sexual attraction here, not a lot of chemistry. Indeed, they are rational, pretty cool. A decent exploration of race issues, but a little bit folksy for my taste - could have done with more edge.

I'm going to speak frankly.As a person who is by no means a leftist or a liberal, I found this film to be very moving. Most people who review the film I assume are liberals, so I guess I offer a different perspective. For me, this is a sad film. It is sad because the vision of America that the liberals Tracy and Hepburn's characters have here just did not pan out. The moment when Poitier's character says "you see yourself as a colored man, but I see myself as a man" shows just what sort of society these people imagined we would have, and it's tragic that history did not turn out that way. From the vantage point of 2017, race relations are worse than ever before. With SJWs, Affirmative Action, crime in the inner cities, anti-white racism, immigration problems etc, the vision that race would no longer matter just simply did not pan out. As whites today this film can only make us sad. It's tragic. I almost wish things did turn out that way, that race in America could have become a nonfactor and that none of the crazy problems we face today exist, but they do. And so viewing this film in retrospect, it seems so innocent and naive in a tragic way. Beautifully filmed with a San Francisco location and a lovely soundtrack, this is by all means a tremendous film, and I probably like it a little more than snotty liberals who probably can find this or that reason to view this film which to me seems progressive as "reactionary."

Guess who's coming to dinner is a first class film. It focuses on the subject of interracial marriage and the challenges that can arise. Set in the 1960s, this was definitely topical. We are treated to first class acting from Sidney Poitier who is arguable one of the greatest and most dignified actors to grace the screen. Great performances from Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn who play shocked and concerned parents. This film also focused on the important issue of walking the talk, righteous people who preach certain ways of living but we see it put to the test when they themselves are in that situation. The parents who raised a unbiased and open minded daughter must deal with her choices. Spencer Tracey's speech to his daughter and Sidney is one of the best in film. He passes on an important message of understanding and righteousness to not just his daughter and son in law to be but the rest of America watching. A showcase of brilliant acting and messages in a film that was ahead of its time.