Just how dated is this movie?

The touchstone of racial attitudes is intermarriage.

When two communities are living side by side, if they are interrelating in any kind of a normal way then boy meets girl. Nowadays, the country club antisemitism described in this film is so dead that Jewish-American numbers are threatened more by intermarriage and assimilation than anything else.

Though the film may be a testament from a forgotten era, one can still ascertain wisdom and insight from this celluloid time-capsule.

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Movie is dated. Values/morals/issues aren't, really.

But I think a lot of critics mistake the movie's occasional clumsiness for old age. Some of the scenes feel like a stretch, even for 58 years ago. But if you consider Dante's phrasing - "the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality" - it's still cogent in light of other civil rights issues. Like interracial marriage or even homosexuality. The thing is, the movie was made pretty close to the end for the kind of upper-crust anti-Semitic discrimination in the USA. More information about the persecution of Jews in concentration camps and the Zionist movement took the public's attention, eroding some of the old prejudices. I think.

It's not just against anti-Semitism but about people who, even when they're shocked and disgusted, refuse to take action for their beliefs.

I live in Palm Beach County, Florida. It is the only county, outside NYC, that is 50% Jewish. Everywhere else in the US it is more like 5% Jewish or less. Plus the Jews down here are mostly VERY affluent. And you know what? There are STILL country clubs and hotels that have gentleman's agreements. People still tell anti-semitic jokes and throw stereotypes around. You could remake this film today and it would have a huge impact. Especially the part about how not protesting things like that is as bad as vocally supporting them.

As some other posters above have mentioned, I think that this movie remains bold and relevant today. My praise/criticisms of the acting, dialogue, and Hollywood conventions belong on another thread, but I think that aside from all that, this is a fantastic movie because it indicts the passive prejudice that still moves mountains in this country, or keeps them from being moved. I must admit that I see more in it than just anti-Semitism, but homophobia and racism as well (if not more so), but that only makes it all the more resonant. It's what makes this a singular movie. The filthy face of bigotry is frequently (if effectively) portrayed in such films as In the Heat of the Night and Philadelphia, yet films that deal with the unexpected occurences of social injustice in the MODERN day (even in diluted or compromised form, such as Crash) are so few and far between that I am hard-pressed to come up with effective examples.

I have seen the kind of subtle, ingrained prejudice and tolerance of intolerance against a wealth of different minorities in daily life, and I never would have thought that even a film made in the present day, let alone Hollywood's Golden Age, would assault the truly insidious form of this affliction. I am very glad to have been mistaken.

Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!

I live in Charlotte, NC, in the "New South". This is a place that takes religion and religious freedom quite seriously. There are so many transplants here, and so many of them from New York, that anybody with a brain, regardless of their prejudices, avoids anti-minority humor or comments when in "mixed" company.

Thus, I was stunned when a prospective client of my business, just last week, said to me, during a friendly negotiation over my fee: "I'm not trying to Jew you down." Pretty pathetic, especially in light of the fact that I am a Jew, which I'm fairly certain she didn't realize. Especially surprising was that this woman was a sales executive in the real-estate field, and really should have been on guard about such remarks.

Like Kathy in the movie, I didn't challenge her on the comment, partly because I hadn't yet closed the sale, and partly because I could tell (from what I had learned about her) that she was a fundamentally good person, just a product of her age (67) and rural Southern roots, speaking out of ignorance.

Fortunately, I've heard that expression (from Gentiles) only a few times in my 51 years, but I guess it's one sign that those old stereotypes are still in play -- and not just by real anti-Semites (e.g., the Gibsons) but by otherwise decent, fair-minded people.

It's not dated in that the thought expressed are relevant to many types of discrimination.

Anti-semitism in the US is obviously very different now to then.