EARLY ACCESS: Guess Who's coming to Dinner
Added 2022-07-14 16:12:26 +0000 UTCSorry for late upload, I was filming something else and totally forgot to post!
Comments
The fact that you don't realize how important this topic was to the average American at the time says a lot about how far we've come. On the other hand, not understanding that time period (I am older than dirt, so I was there) means you don't grasp why parents would be concerned, even if they had no particular prejudice against it. The norms were such that mixed marriages were punished, socially and sometimes legally (Loving v. Virginia, 1967). A couple such as the one in the movie would be ostracized. This is the source of some of the resistance of the black characters in the movie. The maid, in my opinion, is more upset because she'll always remain a maid, but Sidney Poitier ("POYT eee aaaay") is already a doctor (but likely has no white patients, and is also likely not well-paid), and is about to break a taboo she's had to live with. I think she _resents_ him for being able to do what she never could.
N1nth Sh4dow
2022-07-21 02:07:57 +0000 UTCLove Poitier's portrayal of Virgil Tibbs in "In the Heat of the Night"...also love the 2 sequels "They Call Me Mister Tibbs!" and "The Organization"
Paul Johnson
2022-07-17 19:45:30 +0000 UTCWould love a reaction to "Marathon Man"...topnotch suspense/scares and great performances by Hoffman, Roy Scheider and Laurence Olivier
Paul Johnson
2022-07-16 03:03:01 +0000 UTCCan't wait for Dead Poets Society, another fantastic, life changing type movie, at least to me.
Michael Waldrep
2022-07-16 01:53:26 +0000 UTCKramer vs. Kramer (1979) is another great "changing of the times" movie that I'd highly suggest, both because it's a great movie and also as a great reflection to show the times it was made. Ashleigh has already enjoyed Meryl Streep on the channel, but I don't think she's done anything with Dustin Hoffman in it yet.
Kenton Kruger
2022-07-16 01:21:23 +0000 UTCSo glad you enjoyed the movie. It is easy to forget that at the time, interracial marriage was illegal, and men of color (literally) risked death in some states if they were involved with a white woman. Insanity! Love is love, is love, is love.
Louise Brooks
2022-07-16 00:31:50 +0000 UTCBehind the scenes info. Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn were a secret couple forever. He was very ill during the filming of this movie, and he passed away after. It gives more significance to his speech about "If you love her as much as I love her mother" Hepburn's tears were real. "A strict Catholic, divorce was not and would never be an option for Tracy, who remained married to his wife throughout his life."
Louise Brooks
2022-07-16 00:29:17 +0000 UTCI love this film and have seen it many, many times. I've had to deal with the "problems" that the film reflects in my own life, and I have many friends who have had to deal with them too. We're all doing fine. Please see more great older movies. There are so many that will thrill you and move you and will surprise you as to where so much of today's films got their ideas from.
Patrick Reynolds
2022-07-15 09:15:11 +0000 UTCPerson of color here speaking, not to far from back then. If you look around, there are many children (millions and millions) alive today from the marriages and unions of interracial people. The problems take care of themselves because biologically (the human need to need love) just doesn't see race as a real thing. It's an invention made up by the primitive part of our brain that reacts to difference with caution. Biology fights through that part. Each of us is made up of many differences we cannot see. The ones we can see are often the least important. Never the less, I understand what you mean. But it's just something that we have to deal with and it will come to an end soon enough because our nature demands it.
Patrick Reynolds
2022-07-15 09:11:15 +0000 UTCGood job. There are so many of his films that would have been great tributes, but this is a great one for starting conversations.
Mark Finley
2022-07-15 01:00:59 +0000 UTCI love that you were hung up on the same thing I was “TEN DAYS?!”. That would have been my issue with the marriage. On the flip side, I would have also thought, “They’re in love, he’s a doctor, and is anyone LOOKING at this man?!” Sidney Poitier is fiiiiiiiiiiiine! Once we get into old-old movies, it will be a free-for-all. Then you’ve gone from hundreds of people’s favourites, to thousands. More movie than you could ever get to. However….here’s MY favourites 😜 once you start going back to Katharine Hepburn (my favourite actress), and unlike many on here, they aren’t the ones with Spencer Tracy. My favourites are Bringing Up Baby, and The Philadelphia Story. The two roles that made me absolutely fall in love with Katharine Hepburn, and she couldn’t have done two characters more different than each other. Also, bonus: one has Jimmy Stewart and both have Cary Grant! *swoon*
Heather Qualy
2022-07-15 00:21:24 +0000 UTCI love when you react to culturally significant movies like this one!
Michael Waldrep
2022-07-14 23:51:39 +0000 UTCIn a perfect world the decision was just between them, but in the real world this decision could have derailed many parts of their lives. This was 1967 so no one had to sell them a house base on race, the Fair Housing law wasn't signed until 1968. There is still discrimination now, so even with some laws on the books, how do you think they would have had it. Then there was the worry of both cultures rejecting them or their children, so this decision would hit them too. I think this movie goes several layers deeper that what you realize. It would be interesting to interview a person of color that was alive then and see how they took things.
Jack Jones
2022-07-14 23:16:42 +0000 UTCGlad you enjoyed this! I almost picked "In the Heat of the Night" for the Poitier homage, but I decided to Trojan Horse some other classic movie stars into your viewing history. Hope you see more Poitier, Hepburn, and Tracy
Michael Tocci
2022-07-14 21:42:28 +0000 UTCGreat reaction...as my work/sleep schedule usually makes me late to the party most of the info on Sidney Poitier and the rest of the cast has been covered but here's a couple of bits of info...the Monsignor was played by Cecil Kellaway a prolific British character actor who memorably appeared in one of my 1950's sci fi faves "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms"...Hilary the b*tch was played by Virginia Christine who became famous as "Mrs. Olson" in 1970's/80's TV commercials for Folger's coffee...and lastly just would like to observe that Spencer Tracy was Capt. Culpepper in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" a film that also shares the same writer(William Rose) and director(Stanley Kramer) as this one...Kramer was mostly known for his liberal minded dramas such as "The Defiant Ones", "On the Beach" and "Inherit the Wind" as well as this film
Paul Johnson
2022-07-14 21:21:55 +0000 UTCYou have to remember this is the 1960s. As many mentioned above, it was illegal in many states. Also you could have been the most progressive parents of the age and at the same time be deeply worried about your child marrying someone of a different race. That choice was not an easy row to hoe. There was most more resistance to interracial marriages. That is what Tracy was talking about when he said he was concerned about them getting their brains beaten out. The high school that I graduated from and many others were still segregated when this moving came out.
John Williams
2022-07-14 21:08:53 +0000 UTC
