What parents (especially of Joey) would NOT be against a quick marriage after only knowing someone eight days????? She lives at home and comes back from a trip and announces she's flying/moving to Switzerland in four hours to get married!!!!!! It was just way too contrived.
shareI agree. i think that is far more of an issue than his colour. i would also be concerned about the disparity in their ages and intellectual attainments.
shareI agree too, just saw this tonight for the first time in years, and seemed too pat and contrived. There were more issues than just race. Maybe it was just a product of it's times, an attempt to treat the whole issue in a light manner. Looks pretty unbelievable today.
RSGRE
To me it is a film of its time but even though it was a whirlwind romance,he was older than her, the issue of colour sticks out.
It's that man again!!
I agree there are many more issues, but in the US of A in 1967 the racial issue would clearly predominate (in fact an older man choosing a pretty young woman was probably looked less askance at in that period). I don't personally remember, as I was too young, but this was a very explosive issue. While the film was being made, the US Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the remaining state laws forbidding interracial marriages (I believe there were 17), so in the dialogue, it was pointed out that they would be breaking the law in some states. My grandmother was from New Orleans and I recall an incident in the early 1970s when we were driving through SF (I'm from SF) with my grandmother in the passenger seat. Suddenly she gasped quite loudly, I looked at her and saw that she had her mouth covered (expressing shock), and was pointing out the window. What was she pointing at? An interracial couple, black man and white woman.
It's interesting because this film is considered a landmark in terms of portraying interracial romance, but it was far from the first film that did so. Perhaps it was the first to portray black/white interracial romance, but the 1950's had, in Sayonnara and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, portrayed white/Asian romance. In 1961, West Side Story portrayed white/Hispanic romance. Perhaps the difference in these last three mentioned films was that the male was white, which was considered less threatening according to the prevalent racial stereotypes. However, in 1939's The Rains Came, Myrna Loy played a Brit who fell in love with an Indian (even if played by the white Tyrone Power). Perhaps there are others I am not thinking of.