There's been a slight flurry of job-hunting activity around here, with an interview and some testing involved, so there haven't been any new posts in days. But while I wait on tenterhooks for news, I've got some time to read and watch. 

Number 99 on the AFI's Top 100 Movies of All Time is "Guess Who's Coming for Dinner." 1967. Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn. Sritten by William Rose. Directed and produced by  tanley Kramer.

This is one of the movies I'd never seen before, although I had a fairly good idea of the main plot, just based on what I'd heard about it. Bright, young, attractive white woman meets somewhat older, professional, all-around-good-guy black man while on vacation, they fall in love, they get engaged. 

The movie takes place over the course of one day, the day in which the daughter brings her fiance home to meet her parents. The liberal parents who were careful to bring their daughter up without racial prejudice. The movie centers around the parents and their reactions to seeing what all their careful teaching has wrought. Their reactions are probably not what they thought they'd be. And they are forced to face the fact that they would rather their daughter not marry this man.

Poitier's character is almost too good to be true--a doctor, who  works overseas to help the poor and disadvantaged. It's as if they wanted to make sure there were no flaws in his character that Spencer and Hepburn, or Mr. and Mrs. Drayton, can possibly object to. 

Dr. Prentice's parents get invited to dinner. They aren't thrilled with the situation, either. A priest, a good family friend of the Drayton's, is more positive and encourages the parents to view the situation in a better light. 

In the end, the parents are won over by the love between their children. Or maybe a realization that things could be worse.

The movie does a good job of examining how the various characters examine the issue. They all raise some valid points against the marriage, including the speed (because Dr. Prentice needs to report to Switzerland for a new job in two weeks, the wedding would need to take place before then).

And it's thought-provoking on the subject of racism. Are you racist if you accept people of other races in every way except as the spouse of your child? Does considering the issues your child will have to deal with in a "mixed" marriage, and wishing they wouldn't have to deal with those, make you a racist or a realist? 

And on a side note, the Drayton women go through several costume changes throughout the movie and whoever did the costumes did a great job. I love to see contemporary clothing done well and enjoyed the costumes in this movie.