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Guess Who's Coming To DinnerGuess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 award-winning comedy-drama movie starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Houghton. The movie concerns Joanna Drayton, a young Caucasian American woman (Houghton) who has had a whirlwind romance with Dr. Prentice (Poitier), an African American she met while on a holiday in Hawaii. The two plan to marry and she will return with him to Switzerland. The plot centers around Joannas return to her liberal upper class American home bringing her new fianc to dinner to meet her parents, and the reaction of family and friends. Guess Whos Coming to Dinner dealt with the then-controversial subject of inter-ethnic marriage. In 1967 such marriages were illegal in 16 states. Although groundbreaking for its time, the film was criticized for its plot devices, such as the stereotyped ingnue and hero. The young doctor, a typical role for the young Sydney Poiter, was idealistically perfect: he has graduated from a top school, begun innovative medical initiatives in Africa, refused to have premarital sex with his fiance despite her request, and leaves money on his future father-in-laws desk in payment for a long distance phone call he has made. The character is a heavy-handed attempt to debunk the stereotypical black male and the story was criticized for not addressing what would have happened had the young heroine brought home an ordinary fellow. Still, criticism was more positive than negative, with most critics praising the elegant, understated performances. The film also attempted to touch upon black-on-black racism, as when both the doctors father and the household cook Tillie Binks, played by Isabel Sanford in a small but memorable role, take the young man to task for his perceived presumption. The film was also memorable for being the last on-screen pairing of Tracy and Hepburn. It also featured Roy Glenn and Beah Richards as Mr. and Mrs. Prentice. External links
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