Filmed in Ohio,
One Potato, Two Potato
was a "critic's darling" film of 1964 dealing with the then-daring topic of miscegenation. White Barbara Barrie divorces her husband Richard Mulligan, then falls in love with and marries African-American Bernie Hamilton. When the ex-husband sues for custody of Barbara's child, arguing that a mixed household is an improper place to raise the girl, Hamilton fights for his parental rights in court. But the judge is driven by the prejudices of the era, and the child goes back to its natural father. At the time of its release,
was praised beyond all proportion for its realistic and progressive dissection of race relations. Only a few renegade critics like Judith Crist dared to note that sociologically, the film was still mired in the patronizing
Pinky
era. Instead of concentrating on the injustices heaped upon black Bernie Hamilton, the film's sympathies are almost totally directed towards poor, put-upon, snow-white Barbara Barrie.