Carbon Copy (1981)

One of my all time favorites.

best movie i've ever seen.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A white corporate executive is surprised to discover that he has a black teenage son The son was born as a result of a relationship the exec had many years ago, and now his new found son can't wait to be adopted into the, almost-exclusively-white community of, San Marino, California......Oh Denzel, if you have any skeletons in your closet,this has to be the icing on the cake.It's one of the most offensive films I have ever had the displeasure to have seen, it should have been called Racism: A Kooky Comedy...The writers think that things like sexual abuse, oppression, casual racism, and typecasting is the height of hilarity.Segal spends the majority of the film double taking every five minutes, with a look on his face more or less saying 'My son is B-b-b-b-b-black???' and looking embarrassed.Jack Warden appears as the one who has the big office, and he has a face of disgust throughout the whole shambles.It's disgusting. There are jokes about chicken, Washington spends the film as the subliminal innocent party, but if you look a little deeper into the film, he is depicted as nothing more than a metaphorical slave, living in a garage, and then showing the rich white man, how the other half live.It's in my top ten worse films I have ever had the displeasure of seeing, only just pipped to the post by The Sweetest Thing.Should have been called Birth Of A Nation 2: Nothing's Changed folks!!!Vomit inducing.

Walter Whitney, a White executive, got the news that he has a Black son. Being at heart a good person, he decided to adopt him. His wife and father-in-law said no, and fired him, took away his rolls, his credit cards, and even black-listed him so he can't get any job. The film is the story of his development from a person desperate to fit into White society, to a "free" person. He was so desperate to fit in that he changed his last name to conceal the fact that he was Jewish. Although he was in love with his Black son's mother, he dropped her like a bad habit so he could fit into the top society. As he endured travails and adventures with his son, his innate goodness slowly resurfaced. George Segal is a great underrated actor, the more so here as he managed to walk that tightrope between funny and insulting in this movie, where no stereotype is left exploited. In his first major movie role, there's a glimmer of stardom already peeping through Denzel Washington's performance. Susan St. James and Jack Warden did the best with what little they were given. Perhaps it's just a sign of the movie's time, or perhaps the filmmaker wanted to accentuate the issue of racism, the White characters are so easy and so generous in their racism. From Walter himself; immediately assuming that his Black son would be a great basketball player; to his wife, father-in-law, to his minister, even. Of course, we get a saccharin-y happy ending. A good movie to see on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I love Denzel Washington, but he must have been truly desperate to do this movie. I guess I'm especially sensitive because our next President will have a European-American parent. It wasn't even a little funny, it was insulting to everyone. I kept waiting for something funny to happen, but it just kept getting meaner and stupider, with what's-his-name treating this supposed son like dirt. Is that funny? Sorry, I don't get it. Yuck, so glad Washington moved on to better things. I'm only continuing to type because I need to put in 10 lines, and I really need to get this review off my chest. Are we done yet? Are we? Yeah!!

Talk about an undiscovered gem. I never knew this film existed. Denzel Washington's first film role. You could see the potential for greatness even then. Yes, I know that is easy to say now, but I really mean it. Even in this small role, he was great.My personal connection to this film aside, it really hit home the problem in this country. The divide is so great that only the election of Obama will begin to heal it. We still have the separate communities displayed here, and we still have the separate attitudes. George Segal really did a good job in displaying the angst of the two worlds that divide us.Most of the credit has to go to Oscar-winner Stanley Shapiro, for writing and producing this film. He used humor very creatively to spotlight a real problem that has plagued us for many many years.