Carbon Copy (1981)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Michael Schultz

Writer:

Stanley Shapiro (writer)

Release Date:

25 September 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Any resemblance between Father and Son is purely hysterical.

Plot:

A white corporate executive is surprised to discover that he has a black teen-age son who can't wait to be adopted into the...

Plot Keywords:

Racial | Racial Slur | Blaxploitation | Independent Film

Cast

George Segal	...	Walter Whitney
Susan Saint James	...	Vivian Whitney
Jack Warden	...	Nelson Longhurst
Dick Martin	...	Victor Bard
Denzel Washington	...	Roger Porter
Paul Winfield	...	Bob Garvey
Macon McCalman	...	Tubby Wederholt
Vicky Dawson	...	Mary Ann
Parley Baer	...	Dr. Bristol
Vernon Weddle	...	Wardlow
Edward Marshall	...	Freddie
Ed Call	...	Basketball Father
Angelina Estrada	...	Bianca
Carmen Filpi	...	Wino
Warren Munson	...	2nd Guard

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:PG

Company:

First City

Trivia:

Denzel Washington's first movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Walter pulls in to park and hits the parking meter, he reverses and parks. The car is visibly outside of the parking lane lines. After the cut, he gets out of the car and the car is within the parking lane lines.

Quotes:

Mary Ann: Have you ever been arrested?
Walter Whitney: That's an offensive question, Mary Ann.
Roger Porter: Yes, little sister, I've been busted by the pigs.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lo squartatore di New York (1982)

Soundtrack:

I'm Gonna Get Closer to You

Very funny and politically incorrect, with lessons

Walter Whitney has a mansion in San Marino and a great job that comes with a Rolls Royce and numerous credit cards. Hisd life isn't quite perfect, since his uptight wife Vivian won't let him touch her or even let him see her without her clothes on. And her daughter Mary Ann won't accept Walter as her father, even though he adopted her when he married her mother. Mary Ann considers herself to be engaged to her boyfriend, but apparently this isn't important enough to tell Walter.

Nelson, Vivian's father and Walter's boss, has a talk with Walter because he is concerned that his daughter isn't happy. But this is the least of Walter's problems. It seems that when he was in college at Northwestern, Walter lived with a black woman. And that woman's son Roger is here to see him. His mother is now deceased, and Roger feels the need to find his father. Guess who it is!

The opening credits said "Introducing Denzel Washington". This respected and usually serious actor comes across more like Will Smith in TV's "Fresh Prince of Bel Air"--appealing, smart-alecky, intelligent though apparently not book-smart (and we know Smith progressed from that image to a career similar to Washington's, though in less serious roles). Washington does show potential here, though it's not immediately obvious he will someday win an Oscar. He does comedy well, but he also has at least one fine dramatic scene.

But this is not "Fresh Prince". On that show, only Carlton and Hilary thought they were better than everyone else. Their parents never forgot where they came from. In this movie, Vivian, Mary Ann, Nelson, and even the family doctor and pastor think blacks are inferior, and that Walter has done something unthinkable. And wait until you find out the hilarious consequences!

Most of the leading actors here give good performances. Dick Martin is funny as Walter's pot-smoking best friend and lawyer, and Paul Winfield does a good job as another lawyer.

One of the many highlights: Roger's '59 Chevy, which makes Al Bundy's Dodge Dart look like a BMW. The only movie car more pathetic that I can remember was one of the cop cars in "Smokey and the Bandit", but that was only after numerous wrecks.

And you have to see how Walter and Vivian solved their difficulties in the bedroom!

Eventually, lessons about prejudice are learned, but not by all. Those who don't think there should be racial prejudice should keep in mind what was said about Archie Bunker. We learn prejudice is wrong by making fun of it.

The ending was not neat and tidy, but it showed promise.

This was very good.