Did anyone else dislike Joanna??

I too found her character to be naive. She came across as an airhead. I think being married to her would have become tiresome after awhile.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

One of the obvious things is that Joanna is an only child, and therefore accustomed to being the center of attention.

She is spoiled, was raised with servants and had her needs met instantly throughout her life. She may have subconsciously chosen to fall in love with a man of color to challenge herself because she always got anything she wanted. Her father is a legendary liberal, so she's literally thrown down the gauntlet for him to put his money where his mouth is. In 1967, miscegenation was a brave move, and Joanna may have gotten thrills from shocking folks. She is only 23, and really has no way of knowing the cruel reactions she will get once she hits the streets with John Wade Prentiss.

I found the Joanna character completely obnoxious because princesses like that irritate me. Life is so easy for these kinds of girls in Hollywood fantasies. It gives women utterly unrealistic expectations.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

From a recent interview with Katharine Houghton:

Houghton played Hepburn's daughter in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," but wasn't thrilled with the role because it was so vapid and different from whom she really was. She begged director Stanley Kramer to retain a scene in which her seemingly bubble-headed character shows some smarts and confronts her father with his racism, but "Stanley Kramer said, 'You don't understand America. A lot of people will be upset by this film and if you appear to be an intelligent, articulate young woman who knows what she's getting in for, you're not going to be sympathetic.'

"I said, 'I couldn't disagree with you more. People are going to hate me because I'm a cipher and they're going to say why would a man like Sidney Poitier fall in love with a girl like that? It's more racist that you make me a cipher because you're saying that my being white and pretty is enough and it isn't.'"

The scene was cut . . .

reply share

add reply

formatting help

She was too naive and acted like she did not understand the size of the situation.

I think that was kinda the point. I didn't think that she was "ditzy", just that awkward combination of impatient idealism and the firm belief that all problems have solutions - as a result of her upbringing. Her father is a tremendously wealthy and successful man who made a public show of his opposition to racism. It isn't difficuly to imaging that this girl's childhood has been a constant parade of solutions to problems that, to other people, might seem intractable.

Given that, how could she behave any differently than she did?

-
President-elect Obama... I like the sound of that!

reply share

add reply

formatting help

I never could regard the movie as a masterpiece because I couldn't believe this marriage would last. I'm very sorry Katherine Houghton wasn't allowed to play a woman sensible enough to inspire a distinguished doctor old enough to be her father to challenge his parents and the status quo to marry her. Joey's character made John's seem shallow as well--"too perfect," as the complaint goes. But the movie remains tremendously enjoyable in the parents' scenes, and in that sense I concede it's highly watchable.

In my view, Sidney Poitier played a much more convincing character in In the Heat of the Night, where he's smarter than everybody else, but the situation is believable. Racism is much more blatant in this movie, Poitier's Virgil Tibbs is much more angry and defensive than Dr. John Prentiss, and the grudging respect that evolves between Tibbs and Rod Steiger's Gillepsie is truly moving.

reply share

add reply

formatting help

Ms. Houghton was saddled with an Ingenue (young girl) role. She played the daughter of rich, liberal and privileged parents. It was a thankless role. She handled it fine. Get OVER yourself!


"You can't HANDLE the truth!" Jack Nicholson, "A Few Good Men."

reply share

add reply

formatting help

i too was annoyed by Houghton's characters naivete and bright-eyed innocence and hopefulness... it was unrealistic

You have to keep in mind that this movie was created with a staunch social purpose...they were trying to persuade people who were against miscegenation (marriage between people of different races) to change their mind and support miscegenation...if Houghton's character wasn't so naive and quite frankly idiotic then people watching the film would of thought Houghton's character was just marrying the black guy to rub her liberal values in everybodies face! But, by having her character be a complete dimwit the audience ( some of which were probably against marriage between persons of opposite race)was left feeling awwwwwe the sweet girl just loves the black guy...and are therefore more likely to say "hey, maybe opposite race marriage isn't so bad after all...who am I to get in between that sweet girl and whoever she chooses to love"

reply share

add reply

formatting help

I totally agree, I didn't like her at all. She was too naive and unrealistic. It was hilarious when she was out of the blue joyfully packing for ten years..



http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=13276747
-my vote history

reply share

add reply

formatting help