Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

If you have already Read my Review of " Smith" ----http://www.epinions.com/content_130131791492 . You can skip this part and go to *****)


TBR stands for now two things in my book life. As we alleged literati say in the book chat forums that usually means " to be read" ( of which my pile is quite massive) but for me it also stands for " To Be Reviewed". Well due to the fact I have been inundated writing 20 articles a month for my actual writing OCCUPATIONS I haven't gotten a chance to get to much book reviewing lately.

But this past weekend while doing other piles of work from my extra-busy life (orchestrating a new composition of mine) I got to do my usual thing of having the TV on to make the time pass faster as I do this tedious work. . What I got to wonderfully experience thanks to the Turner Classic Movies channel was bang out 250 measures of score while I revisited two classics from TCM's extended Oscar Winner and Nominee celebration– " Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" ( ) and " Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"– here on a day when I finally have a few minutes to bang out some other writing--- *****is my thoughts on this second flick :


One of the things that jumps at you from this seminal film on race issues is how relatively lighthearted it is. ( Just one of many ironies abounding in the movie's extremely literate script.) . This isn't a lot of screaming and angry KKK-like berating of people who dare to date and marry out of their race, what many people may not realize ( or have forgotten, like I did before I had this chance to view this film again.) is that this film has genuinely hilarious parts and is FAR from heavy-handed. To be honest, this movie is not the dissertating tower of preaching many think it is, it's actually a VERY highbrow and VERY highfalutin' drawing-room piece. You might think with both of these works brilliant writing you are actually watching an extended episode of All in The Family with the Spencer/Archie and The Katherine/Edith characters radically repositioned from their blustery and naive ignorances to the far right of intelligence and liberalism.

That charcetrizxation sets up many of these rionies. When hyper-happy daughter Joanna ( we are going to get to her in more depth later) brings from Hawaii home her whirlwind partner in romance and engagement the seemingly perfect Albert- Schweitzer-in Training Dr. John Prentice ( It is only because Sidney Poitier is such a fabulous actor that he doesn't come across as a too-perfect to be true saint before he finally shows some.. Um.. COLOR in a scene John has later with his father I that I will get to in a bit.) – the hyperliberal parent' concern, after seeing how respectful and accomplished and wonderful John is , ISN'T his race any more. It is quite realistically the concern of the parents that SHE JUST MET HIM. Thankfully there is a feeling in their concerns of "Who the hell Marries someone they just met? Especially someone who entering into marriage with would cause them endless amounts of sociological eyebrow-raising and possible castigation and abuse"? The race issue here ironically becomes that the race ISN'T the issue with Joanna's parents– it's understandably the WHIRLWIND issue.

Needless to say this all preludes the fact that before John leaves to go to Europe to continue being his wonderful doctor self .. His Daddy decides they will fly up from L.A. to San Francisco to meet Joey and her parents. When Joey and John meet them at the airport , Beah Richard's expression alone easily earned her Best Supporting Actress nod. (and is gut-bustingly funny.)

Then of course said Black parents " go to Dinner" with the white parents and the uneasiness in their first dialogues (especially when they keep marveling about the quickness of Airplane travel ) is brilliantly portrayed, acted and written. Not to mention to once again be surprisingly hilarious.

Another deft touch in the script is that everyone pairs off for very revealing conversations.. The Mothers, The Dads.. Each mother with each Dad etc. and the most stunning one , which fuels another one of the glorious ironies in the story is that the BLACK father is the one that's outraged. As fantastically portrayed by Roy Glenn.. John's dad respectfully asks Tracy's Matt if he has any concerns.. When he says he finally does.. Roy spouts the first BLUNTNESS of the whole movie when he says "Good !! IF you didn't I was going to say you were out of your mind !! Just Like They Are!!" It's a stunning, character aligning moment.

Another Irony in one of these pair-offs is that even though Spencer appreciates how noble John is.. And though he has concerns about the marriage as well... he is even MORE concerned over the fact that John confides in his possibly-Daddy-inn-law-to-be that if Matt doesn't approve .. He won't marry Joanna and put her through her parents disapproval. Matt needless to say finds him self RE-torn because he wonders how the kids can be so committed to a " love conquers all " defiance of how shaky their marriage idea sounds, yet still have John saying he will back down and not marry her if he has too. Again, another deftly stunning moment in the script.

So who IS racist then? The huge irony here is the only person that is LOUDLY racist isn't any of the WASPy folk, nor is it a white person. In one of those wonderful classic movie discoveries where you were like , " I forgot that that was her!" , Isabel Sanford of Jeffersons fame goes stark raving bananas repeatedly , and at times hilariously , thinking John is not only an opportunist but he is a " Mouthy Negro who is getting above his raisin''" The only real WHITE racist in the movie is dispensed with quickly as John and Joanna at the beginning go to their mother's gallery to meet her and instead only chat with mom's assistant---huffy society maven Hilary. When Hilary a few minutes later tries to " comfort" Christina over the horrific thing her daughter is about to do.. Christina summarily dismisses her form her job and her life in outrage over her bigotry.

Another defining irony in this movie is when John shows perhaps he ISN'T perfect in a loud confrontation with his own father. Daddy Prentice goes on and on about how hard he worked as a mailman to get John where he is and how dare he try to throw it away doing something so ridiculous (Again, it seems the point here Isn't at all that Joanna is white.. It's that John has a phenomenally busy and successful life and he wants to derail it by marrying a flibbertigibbet.) ... John's response isn't some tearful declaration of appreciation for his parents' sacrifices.. It's quite the opposite. John screams at him that his daddy did that stuff cause HE WAS SUPPOSED TO!! John then goes on to say he will do the same for his son when the time comes and that's what parents are supposed to do.. And that this doesn't give them carte blanche to meddle in their child's lives. Whoa !! This comes as a total shock out of the mouth of the previously sanctified Dr. John and it totally keeps the characterizations in balance– another brilliant script aspect. John of course then goes on to of course to deliver the expected speech that all of this is about raising the black man above his station and how dare his father attack him for trying to do so in the heaviest but perhaps most resonant scene in the movie.



This all ends of course with Spencer Tracy giving his final speech in his final performance about the power of love conquering all,.. But also about admitting what a hard battle Joey and John are going to have to fight in terms of how the rest of their socioanthropological circle is going to deal with their union. He also says that with this power of love.. Everyone who balks that loves them ( mainly John's dad ) will eventually come around and eventually everyone will cotton to the couple's attempts to live happily ever after. Then he says.. Well, let's all eat dinner.

This ending is paradoxically both satisfying and a bit inconclusive. Yes, it is very intelligent and refreshing that despite this setup's similarity to some brilliant All In The Family episode... the script doesn't pretend you can actually RESOLVE this kind of an issue in 22 or 100 minutes. But then again I would have liked to seen at least SOME sort of minimal flash forward to see if the couple did indeed MAKE it or not and to see the hideously annoying Joanna prayerfully lose some of her INCREDIBLY irritating idealism and naivete.


This brings me to conclude with my three issues with this brilliant , but imperfect story and script. One, John is 14 years older than Joey. Now older men and younger women get married all the time.. But before they start their initial concern that he is black ( before throwing it off to realize they have bigger concerns) .. Shouldn't Joey's parents have cared about THAT That he is basically of a whole other GENERATION than her? The fact that THIS is ignored bothered me. Two, since this is San Francisco in the Late 60's.. How could we really expect Matt and Christina to balk at ALL at Joey bringing home such an accomplished, well-spoken, and brilliant man.. no matter what color he is !! Isn't it obvious that probably they should just have been thrilled he wasn't some barefooted, unwashed, LSD-munching hippie from Haight Asbury? This time reference issue is ignored as well, which also bothered me. Finally, to the character of Joanna... she is SO grating, SO perky .. and so some annoying creature resembling Marlo Thomas on too Much Happy Acid that her idealism and buoyancy grates SO much that by the end .. I didn't give a flying frig if she ended up happy or not. And I didn't care if she was white, green, black, or purple.. In the end .. I could NOT buy that someone as magnificently dignified as John prentice would give the time of DAY to this annoying twerp of stereotypical WASPy little-girlness.... much less decide to marry her in a week !!! I really don't think it's fault of the perky performance of Katherine Houghton– I think it's that the ONLY major flaw in William Rose's otherwise pitch-perfect script that he tries so hard to make sure Joey is SO idealistic and fun and full of life that he goes overboard and she comes off as some annoying childlike twit that you just want to friggin' smack the bejesus out of and tell her to SHUT UP. ( Also explain to me how parents as dignified and elegant as Matt and Christina could have had a child this incredibly immature and enervating. Maybe she was adopted.)


But despite these concerns, the revisiting of this classic is something that everyone should do as to re-enjoy the wonderful acting and the surprising
wittiness of a very intelligent script. If for nothing else to watch Katherine H. In the middle of her career be so brilliant, to watch Spencer T. In the finale of his career be so brilliant.. and to watch perhaps most of all ..Sidney P.near the beginning of HIS career be also so very brilliant. Just to watch all three of these masters interact is to truly experience the artistry that cinematic acting can be.



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older

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