December 11, 1967 (New York City)
December 12, 1967 (United States)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton.
The film was one of the few films of the time to depict an interracial marriage in a positive light, as interracial marriage historically had been illegal in many states of the United States. It was still illegal in 17 states, until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released, and scenes were filmed just before anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia.
The film was the ninth and final on-screen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn. Tracy was very ill during filming but insisted on continuing. Filming of his role was completed just 17 days before Tracy's death in June 1967.Hepburn never saw the completed film, saying that the memories it would evoke for her of Tracy were too emotional. The film was released in December 1967, six months after his death.
In 2017, on its 50th anniversary, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film's Oscar-nominated score was composed by Frank De Vol.
Storyline
In 1967, Joanna Drayton, a 23-year-old white woman, returns from her Hawaiian vacation to her parents' home in San Francisco with Dr. John Prentice, a 37-year-old black widower. The couple became engaged after a 10-day romance. Joanna's parents are Matt Drayton, a newspaper editor, and his wife, Christina, who owns an art gallery. Though the Draytons are liberal-minded, they are shocked that their daughter is engaged to a man of a different race. Christina gradually accepts the situation, but Matt objects because of the likely unhappiness and seemingly insurmountable problems the couple will face.
Unbeknownst to Joanna, John tells the Drayton parents he will withdraw from the engagement unless both Draytons give the couple their blessing. To complicate matters, John is soon scheduled to Geneva, Switzerland, for three months in his work with the World Health Organization. His answer from the Draytons will determine whether Joanna follows him. Joanna invites John's parents to fly up from Los Angeles to join them for dinner that evening. John has not told them his fiancée is white. Monsignor Mike Ryan, Matt's golf buddy, arrives and tells Matt and the couple that he is supportive of the engagement. Christina tells Matt she, too, is supportive of Joanna, even if it means fighting Matt. Christina fires her bigoted art gallery manager, Hilary St. George, who nosily intrudes and voices her sympathy for Christina's situation.
John's parents, the Prentices, arrive and are shocked to discover that Joanna is white. The two mothers agree that this was an unexpected event but support their children. The two fathers meet, expressing disapproval at this unhappy occasion. The Monsignor advises John not to withdraw, despite Matt's objections. John and his father discuss their generational differences. John's mother tells Matt that he and her husband have forgotten what it was like to fall in love, and their failure to remember true romance has clouded their thinking. John chides Matt for not having the "guts" to tell him he disapproved of the marriage. Finally, Matt reveals his decision about the engagement to the entire group. He concludes that he does remember what true romance is. He says although the pair face enormous problems, they must find a way to overcome them, and he will approve the marriage, knowing all along he had no right to stop it. The families and the Monsignor then adjourn to the dining room for dinner.