Directed by: Stanley Kramer,
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton
Running Time:108 minutes
Joanna Drayton is a
23-year old white woman who flies into San Francisco after a vacation to Hawaii
to make a surprise visit to her parents. The goal of her visit is to introduce
her new boyfriend, Dr. John Prentice to her parents. She intends to marry Dr.
Prentice, even though he’s a black man. Joanna’s father, an otherwise very Liberal
man, has a hard time accepting the idea of his daughter embarking into multi-race
marriage.
This film was way ahead of its time. It must have been very hard to make such a film in the 60’s, with all the racial tensions around. Tensions still do exist, but we have evolved somehow as a society. In that sense, the filmmakers did a brilliant job tackling a difficult topic like racism in such a masterful way.
The acting was superb here, which is no surprise. I mean with such names as Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier, you could expect greatness. The ending speech by Tracy’s character was a good closure, though the tearful eyes around were a bit much. There is also the dance moment, in the middle of the movie, with the delivery guy and the maid’s daughter, that felt really out of place. In spite of these little flaws, I consider this a masterpiece.
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