Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

For the last pairing of the three-hundreds, we turn to films that have an indelible place in U.S. race-relations, in two separate decades. First up, from 1967, a film whose production during a time when mixed-race marriages were still illegal in over a dozen U.S. states. Directed by Stanley Kramer, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" put the issue front-and-center and called into question the truth of many liberal views on the subject. Dewey-eyed college graduate Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton) returns from a trip to Hawaii with a new fiance, Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) to introduce him to her parents Matt (Spencer Tracy) and Christina (Katharine Hepburn). Both Matt and Christina are staunch democrats, liberals, and have been vocal in their support of the civil rights movement, but John's arrival forces them to decide if they can actually live their ideals. Add to the mix suspicious and protective housekeeper Tillie (Isabel Sanford), long-time friend of the family Monsignor Mike Ryan (Cecil Kellaway), and the arrival of John's parents, (Roy Glenn and Beah Richards) and the question becomes one of love, principles, and family! The film also stars Virginia Christine, Barbara Randolph, and Skip Martin!