Below is a transcript from “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. I re-watched this movie right before Christmas. It’s one of my all time favorites. I am a sucker for a romance. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn had one of the greatest romances of all time. Katharine loved Spencer with a crazy sort of love, and how could Spencer not have adored Katharine? She stuck by him through his alcoholism and his marriage to another woman.
In the ending scene of this movie, Katharine is crying real tears, knowing this would most certainly be his last film as his health was fading. Spencer gives the speech below with conviction, certainty and a special sort of softness directed at Katharine. It is quite amazing. Even more amazing is that if ”pigmentation” were changed to “gender”, this speech could have been directed to a same sex couple as easily as it was to the interracial couple in the movie. Think about it as you read it and most certainly find this movie and watch it over and over again.
4 bags of popcorn for Katharine and Spencer.
I’m sure you know–what you’re up against.
There’ll be a hundred million people right here in this country…
who’ll be shocked and offended and appalled at the two of you.
And the two of you will just have to ride that out.
Maybe every day
for the rest of your lives.
You can try to ignore those people…
or you can feel sorry for them
and for their prejudices…
and their bigotry and
their blind hatreds and stupid fears.
But where necessary…
you’ll just have
to cling tight to each other…
and say screw all those people!
Anybody couId make a hell of a
good case against your getting married.
The arguments are so obvious
that nobody has to make them.
But you’re two wonderful people…
who happened to fall in love…
and happen to have
a pigmentation problem.
And l think that now…
no matter what kind of a case
some bastard could make…
Lelo in Nopo was kind enough to send me a copy of this documentary. Honey and I watched it last night. I am still a little shell shocked from seeing it, please forgive my transgressions.
Two stories from 1992 (the year that ballot measure 9 was proposed and put to a vote in Oregon).
I was married with one baby (DD) I was trying desperately trying to be a grown up, doing all the “right” things. I was a registered Republican and generally had my head up my ass. I knew nothing of the battle for human rights that was taking place 35 miles south of where I lived. I was struggling with the feelings I was having towards my female friends but I was no homo! All straight girls have the same issues with close friends, or so I thought. I wasn’t happily married but I was in a stable environment which was the goal considering my precarious upbringing. I was so deeply in denial I might have been one of those crazed OCA’s trying to shove everyone back into the closet. Ugh the thought is sickening. Thanks to those who fought so hard to show that homosexuals were human beings and deserved the same rights as other human beings. Because of you, my coming out was relatively pain free. I came out in 1998 and by then I felt no disgust with myself for being gay, I was not afraid that people would consider me sub-human nor did I care if they did. My ease in coming out was most definitely connected to those who fought against ballot measure 9 and the closely related measures that were on the ballot in many other states, including my own. My sincerest thanks go to you all. May I someday be able to do the same for another lost soul.
In 1992, Honey was deeply closeted in a small rural town. She had one friend much older than her that was also a lesbian. She was Honey’s rock. She had been a lesbian a long time and was no worse for the wear. She wasn’t out, but only because of the safety issues surrounding being gay in a small conservative rural town. There was a very small lesbian community within this town, but no-one was officially out to the public. Then came ballot measure 9 which was beyond terrifying for the small lesbian community.
A small group of fair minded liberal citizens put together a protest of ballot measure 9. Honey’s friend attended the protest. The local newspaper was covering the event and asked Honey’s friend if they could interview her. She said yes but only if they could assure complete anonymity. They were happy to oblige. Honey’s friend then proceeded with the in depth interview, hoping she was doing good for the LGBT community.
The next day the article came out. Surprisingly there was a huge picture of Honey’s friend on the front page. The article went on to name her and give her home address, which was in a even smaller, more rural neighboring town. She had a small child at home and was overcome with fear for her and her daughters safety. Needless to say she was harassed and her home was vandalized. It was a scary scary time for her and for Honey- who was no doubt associated with her- a known homosexual. A short time after the article came out Honey’s friend was fired from her job of 13 years. What a F*ing mess.
Two good things happened after this. Honey’s friend sued the local newspaper for revealing her identity as well as her address- and won! Also measure 9 was defeated thanks to the more heavily populated areas of the state. Thank Karma!
Ballot Measure 9- the documentary- is a fascinating look at our (hopefully) past. I recommend it to everyone interested in cilvil rights. It is available at Amazon.com for preorder and will be released on January 28, 2008.
This documentary is off the popcorn scale- it is an absolute must see.
I am passing my copy along to my conservative FIL who informed us last night that Mitt Romney is the best choice for President. It’s not his fault, he was born and raised in the small town described above. He only gets his information from AM conservative talk radio and the local paper. He just needs an education- my newest mission.
Thanks again to LeLo for sending me her copy. What an amazing gift.
Will Smith! Although I still think his wife is hotter.
We went to see “I am Legend” Saturday night. I was expecting fun and lovable Will Smith battling nature which I supposed had taken over NYC. What we saw was freaking scary ass, night stalking, zombie people who had scary ass, night stalking, zombie pit bulls. Whoa! I did not see that coming at all. I watched the whole movie with my hands over my eyes, peeking through my fingers. I squealed several times which of course is not very butch. Honey was quite horrified that had picked such a movie. She is likening it to the time I drug her to “Open Water”, which is the worst movie I have ever personally picked to go see. I think she exaggerating because of the shock induced by scary ass, night stalking, zombie people.
I don’t want to give away the story but in the ending scene something happens that is definitive. Honey pulls me closer and says “Why did he do that so early in the movie?” Uh I don’t know, I guess the movie will go on to explain this event. No, the movie was over. We had been a watching this movie for almost 2 hours and it felt like 15 minutes. That’s how action packed it was. Wow! I really liked the movie but I am going to have to give it 3 bags of popcorn because:
1. It was not what I was expecting.
2. There were a couple of scenes that were a little too Tom-Hanks-in-Castaway.
3. It was way too short.
4. An animal was injured. ( I can’t help it, I hate movies and books where kids, animals or even cute little aliens get hurt).
Besides all that, it was a great movie. If you are a Will Smith fan you’ll love it. There’s a scene where Will is doing pull ups- my gawd the body on that man. I did however have a little trouble getting past the fact that in the movie he was graying quite a bit.. It made me feel very old. I can still sing “Parents Just Don’t Understand”like it was 1988. Ugh.
If you are a L word fan and haven’t seen this yet, shame on you. If you are an L word fan and have seen this, watch it again for a giggle or two. If you don’t like the L word because it’s too unrealistic, this video may still be right up your alley.
Personally I watch the L word for Shane. In my next life I hope I’m as cool as her. Oh yeah and now Marlee Matlin. Does anyone know if she is gay in real life? I’m betting “no” but man do I dig her. I have since Children of a Lesser God in the 80’s (Great movie, I give it 4 bags of popcorn). Marlee Matlin mmmmmmmm yummy.
Last night after work, Honey and I sat down to watch “We are Marshall”. Honey doesn’t know anything about football or team sports, so occasionally I would pause the movie to explain the importance of “team”, how players can still play after an injury or the benefits of playing a veer offense with a week offensive line. I watched a lot of football in my younger years. Somehow cheerleaders came up in the conversation. Honey said something about cheerleaders being useless and dumb. I was forced into action.
Let’s just get this out of the way now. I was a cheerleader in high-school and coached a wonderful cheer team in my early 20’s. I was one of those fanatical cheerleaders, involved in every aspect of high school life. In our school cheerleading was a sport. I lettered in both Cheer and Softball. We had male cheerleaders on our team and we did some fantastic stunts, the kind you see on collegiate cheer competitions on ESPN. We practiced 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week and I was built like a brick sh*t house. Our season lasted from June through March, sometimes cheering at 5 games in a single week. Not to mention competitions and cheer camps during the summer.
Back to last night. For the first time in 5 years, Honey asked me what kinds of things did we actually did as cheerleaders and if I was any good. I told her about pyramids, basket tosses, and partner stunts such as “chairs” and “torches”. Then I remembered how I was particularly good at jumps. I hadn’t thought about that in years. In my attempt to show Honey how good I was in high-school, I attempted a “toe touch”, a pretty basic jump. Sort of a spread eagle with legs parallel to the ground. In the good old days it was something I could do without thought or preparation.
Well guess what? I am almost 38 and in no shape to be attempting such ridiculousness. First of all it was terrible and Honey laughed out loud. Secondly, I scared the dogs. I’m suprised I didn’t find any puddles afterwards. Lastly, I think I hurt myself. Groin pulls are terribly painful and can take days to fully develop. I’m pretty sure I have a pulled groin muscle. I sure don’t want to put an ice pack down there, but I am not sure what else to do. Needless to say, I am officially hanging up my pom poms.
**side-note** “We are Marshall” is a fantastic sports movie, even for someone not into sports. The cast was great and the stroy is true. I give it 4 bags of popcorn. Get out and rent it or find it this month on HBO.
This is one I would take to a deserted island. I have watched this movie so many times I can almost recite the dialogue. It was on TMC last week and honey Tivo’d it. I took a 4 hour break from housework this evening to relive Tara. I never get bored of Gone with the Wind. Does anyone know if they ever made the movie version of “Scarlett”? I need to look that up. Many people were horrified that a sequel was written. I was not one of them. I needed more any way I could get it.
Anyway, I urge you all to watch/re-watch Gone with the Wind sometime soon. I doubt you will regret it.
Rating- 5 stars, until I come up with something more clever.
