Movie · 1967 · Drama, Romance · 1h 48m · NR · English
Curator score: 6.2/10 (106K ratings)
A love story of today.
Overview
A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.2/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.85/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Metacritic: 63
TMDB: 7.6/10
Director
Stanley Kramer
Production
Stanley Kramer Productions, Columbia Pictures
Cast
Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn, Isabel Sanford, Virginia Christine, Alexandra Hay, Barbara Randolph, D'Urville Martin, Tom Heaton, Grace Gaynor, Skip Martin, John Hudkins, Jacqueline Fontaine, Yuki Tani, Garrett Cassell, June Whitley Taylor
Curator Review
Verdict
A polished, emotionally charged 1960s drama that uses a dinner-table premise to confront interracial marriage, liberal hypocrisy, and generational anxiety. It can feel stagey and very much of its era, but the performances and historical context give it real weight.
Best for
Viewers interested in classic Hollywood acting showcases
People curious about civil-rights-era social dramas
Fans of dialogue-driven family conflict
Viewers who appreciate prestige dramas with historical significance
Skip if
You want a modern, subtle treatment of race and family politics
You’re allergic to earnest, issue-forward studio dramas
You prefer fast pacing or visually expansive filmmaking
Overview
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is one of those films where the cultural moment matters almost as much as the story. Stanley Kramer stages the material as a high-gloss social problem drama, and the result can feel blunt, even sermon-like, by contemporary standards. But the movie’s directness is also part of its force: it puts polite liberal discomfort under a microscope and refuses to let anyone stay comfortable for long.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is the acting. Spencer Tracy’s final screen performance carries a heavy, almost mythic sadness, while Katharine Hepburn gives the film its emotional temperature and Sidney Poitier brings calm intelligence and dignity without ever flattening the character into a symbol. The movie is often remembered as a “message film,” but the best scenes work because the performances make the family tensions feel personal, not abstract.
Bottom line
It’s dated in some of its assumptions and occasionally too tidy in its resolutions, yet it remains a significant Hollywood artifact: a mainstream studio film openly confronting interracial marriage at a moment when that was still a major social and legal flashpoint. If you’re interested in classic prestige drama with real historical stakes, it’s absolutely worth seeing.
Top Letterboxd reviews
eely (4★) · 1877 likes
katharine hepburn queen of out of focus crying and firing racist employees
Chris (4★) · 1269 likes
Yes, it plays like a Public Service Announcement for Middle America ca. 1967, but it is a beautifully acted Public Service Announcement.
No, it hasn't dated that well, but when Tracy gives the speech at the end, and there's Katherine Hepburn looking on, eyes overflowing with tears, knowing that this will be Tracy's last moment on screen ... well it's one of those moments where the weight of what was happening outside the movie was greater than what was going on in the movie.
And I'm not ashamed to admit, it kind of wrecked me.
Matthew Saponar (4★) · 1208 likes
the blue pill to GET OUT's red pill
Danielle (3★) · 881 likes
Spoiler: They never actually eat dinner in this film.
p e r s i a 🍒 (4★) · 819 likes
this was so sweet with incredible performances (my first poitier and hepburn movie and i just have to say holy shit they’re incredible) but WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK was that dancing delivery guy scene
1967 · Crime, Drama, Mystery · 1h 49m · PG-13 · Curator 8.5/10 (176.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, History Vault, IndieFlix, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Another landmark 1960s social drama centered on race, respectability, and the tensions of a changing America, with a similarly mainstream but forceful approach.