This is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time, and it has so much relevance today. Substitute “orientation” for “pigmentation”, and you can see how anti-gay-marriage arguments look hopelessly flawed and hateful.
“I think now, no matter what kind of case some bastard could make against your getting married, there would be only one thing worse. And that would be if, knowing what you two are, and knowing what you two have, and knowing what you two feel, you didn’t get married.”
And for those who know film history, you realize that Katherine Hepburn’s tears are quite real. Tracy died 17 days after his scenes were filmed, and his mentioning how much his character Matt loved Hepburn’s Christina was a hard pull on the heartstrings for those who knew of their history.
The movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner will be on at 21:00 EST on 13 December on Turner Classic Movies. (I’m not a TCM employee–just a highly satisfied customer.) (Per the Spouse®, it’s also available in streaming mode on Netflix, and no, no one here is a Netflix employee.) It’s a wonderful film–#99 on AFI’s top 100 of all time– and Tracy’s work in it is superb.
Toward a Moral Life 