評論
打印
A movie influence US families
一部影響美國家庭的電影
The 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner by director Stanley Kramer broke ground on racial issues. Mike O’Sullivan spoke with the late director’s wife about the impact of the film, newly re-released on a 40th anniversary DVD.
1967年由導演斯坦利·克雷默執導的電影《猜猜誰來吃晚餐》首次探討了種族婚戀問題。在該片推出40周年之際，記者邁克·奧沙利文采訪了已故斯坦利·克雷默的遺孀，談到了這部電影40年來所產生的影響。
In 1967，16 states still had laws against interracial marriage, but attitudes were changing. In July of that year, the US Supreme Court overturned those state laws.
1967年，盡管美國還有16個州禁止異族通婚,但是人們的態度卻在悄悄改變著。1967年7月，聯邦最髙法院推翻了那些州的法律。
The film came close to not being made, says Karen Kramer, who worited with her late husband Stanley behind the scenes on the movie.
凱倫·克雷默是該片導演、已經過世的斯坦利·克雷默的遺孀。她和丈夫一起拍攝了這部電影。她說,這部電影當時差點就拍不成了。
Kramer enlisted actors Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Poitier, and actress Katharine Houghton, who was Hepburn’s niece.
克雷默夫婦說服凱瑟琳·赫本、斯賓塞·特雷西、西德尼·波蒂埃以及凱瑟琳·赫本的侄女凱瑟琳·霍頓加盟演出。
The story concerned a young African-American doctor, played by Poitier, who wants to marry Houghton, a young white woman. They have not known each other long, but he is an ideal prospect， respected in his field and well mannered. But parents Hepburn and Tracy must deal with the fact he is black at a time when interracial marriages were frowned on.
影片講述的是一位由波蒂埃扮演的年輕非裔醫生，希望能和由霍頓扮演的白人女孩結百年之好的故事。兩個年輕人認識的時間不長,但是年輕的非裔醫生卻是一個理想的人,他在工作中廣受尊重,而且彬彬有禮。但是赫本和特雷西扮演的父母卻必須得面對現實，因為這個小伙子是黑人,而當時異族通婚不為人所接受。
Poitier's character’s parents are also opposed to the marriage. In one scene, the doctor’s father tries to dissuade him: “Have you thought what people would say about you? Why, in 16 or 17 states, you would be breaking the law. You would be criminals. And say they changed the law, that don’t change the way people feel about this thing.”
小伙子的父母也反對這樁婚事。有一個場景是小伙子的父親希望說服兒子放棄白人女友。父親說:“你有沒有想過人們會怎么議論你?在禁止異族通婚的十六七個州里,你這樣做是犯法的,你會成為罪犯。就算他們改變了法律,人們對這種事情的看法也是不會改變的。”
Karen Kramer says at the time, the topic wsis sensitive and the director did not tell the studio what the story was about as the film was being made. “He knew that if Columbia pictures knew what the subject matter was, they probably would not have allowed him to make it. So they kept asking him, ‘Stanley, what is this film about?’ Well, it is a love story, he would say. Well, it is a love story.”
凱倫·克雷默說，當年這類話題非常敏感,拍攝電影的時候,作為導演的斯坦利·克雷默沒有 告訴電影公司他到底在拍什么電影。她說斯坦利知道,一旦他告訴了哥倫比亞電影公司他在拍什么,公司可能不會讓他繼續拍下去。所以每次公司問他：‘斯坦利，你拍的這部電影到底是講什么的？斯坦利就說：噢，就是一部愛情片而已。是啊，就是一部愛情片。”
They started filming in San Francisco. “We had a week up in San Francisco to shoot all the exterior shots, and then everything was really shot right here in Los Angeles at the old Columbia Pictures.But when we were in San Francisco, the studio demanded to see the screenplay. And once they read it, they canceled the film/’ she said.
克雷默當時在舊金山開拍這部電影。凱倫·克雷默回憶說我們花了一個星期的時間去舊金山取外景,其他的就是在洛杉肌哥倫比亞電影公司的舊的影棚里拍攝的。我們在舊金山的時候，電影公司要求看劇本。看完后，公司就停止了電影的拍攝工作。”
The studio said it was canceling the film because star Spencer Tracy was in failing health, and if anything happened to him, they would lose their investment.
當時電影公司的理由是,片中主角之一特雷西健康狀況不好,如果他出了什么事,公司的投資就打水漂了。
“We all came home, and Stanley was devastated. He did not know what to do. But he siiddenly got an idea. He grabbed me by the hand, put me in the car, and we rode over to see Katharine Hepburn. And he said, (Kate, look, you and I both know that this is not the reason why they are canceling this film. It is subject matter,’’，she said.
她說:“我們大家都回家了,斯坦利非常沮喪,他不知道接下去該做什么。不過很快他想到了一個主意。他抓著我跳上了車,我們一起跑到凱瑟琳·赫本家里。他對凱瑟琳說,我們都知道公司停止拍攝工作的真正理由不是這個，而是題材的問題。”
Kramer and Hepburn put their salaries up for collateral and ensured the film was finished.
克雷默和赫本用他們的工資作為擔保,使影片拍攝得以完成。
It opened quietly at a small theater in Los Angeles.
《猜猜誰來吃晚餐》低調地在洛杉磯的一家小劇院里上演。
“And the minute the doors opened, there were lines around the block. I do not mean two blocks.I mean 15 blocks long. And the people just never stopped coming. And it still remains today as one of the highest grossing films of all time for Columbia Pictures，” she said.
凱倫克雷默回憶起了當時的情況，她說電影院的門一打開,我們看到人們已經排起了長龍。這條長龍不是一兩條街，而是婉鋌了15條街那么長。觀眾陸續不斷地來。一直到今天,這部電影仍然是哥倫比亞電影公荀歷史上收益最好的電影之一。”
Some critics loved the film, while others did not, one calling it sanctimonious drivel. Some viewers were outraged by an interracial kiss.
影評人士對影片褒貶不一。有的說這部電影假裝神圣，有的觀眾對電影中異族男女接吻的鏡頭表示非常憤怒。
But attitudes were changing, like the changing attitude of Katharine Hepburn in the film, as she talked with Spencer Tracy about their love-struck daughter.
但是態度在慢慢發生改變,就像影片中赫本和特雷西談過他們陷人愛河的女兒之后，態度發生轉變一樣。
Karen Kramer says young people, in particular, responded well to the film when it previewed at Stanford University and after it opened,
不過,凱倫·克雷默說,當時電影在斯坦福大學首映以及后來全面上映后，年輕人對該片都非常肯定。
