I was very surprised to see this movie today on a channel that plays lots of familiar movies. I had never heard of this one before, but I figured with Denzel Washington how could I go wrong? Yes, Carbon Copy is over-the-top in its depiction of snooty racists, and some of the comedy borders on slapstick. But if you concentrate on the relationship between the Denzel Washington and George Segal characters, you're in for a real treat. They are truly wonderful together and Denzel, especially considering this is one of his earliest roles, has all the charisma, polish, and depth we have come to expect from him. Bonus points for some really funny lines and a serious point that is made with heart.
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nanckou18 August 2017
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One part "Fire Sale" ( White family adopting Black child ), one part "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" ( the culture clash surprise ), one part "Life Stinks" ( the reality of life on the streets ), and you pretty much have "Carbon Copy". The movie can stand on it's own however, because George Segal and Denzel Washington compliment each other nicely as mismatched Father and Son. There are a number of laugh out loud moments, and some social lessons too. If you go in not expecting too much in the way of logic, you will not be disappointed. I think George Segal is very underrated as a comedy actor. Just take a look at "Where's Poppa?" if you disagree. - MERK
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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. -
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. -
utgard1422 November 2020I read some of the reviews and expected to like this. Most of the criticism seems aimed at the politically incorrect humor and with each passing year I give fewer and fewer effs about that. This is awful for reasons that have nothing to do with being offensive. It's like a bad pilot for a TV sitcom padded out to movie length. George Segal's career was declining at this point but Denzel Washington's was just beginning. Glad this didn't kill his career. I made it through about forty minutes of this without laughing once. If you decide to watch this, good luck.
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rosemary-mchugh416 February 2013Just watched on Bounce TV, and ancillary channel available here in NYC to those of us "cable-less" free TV antenna viewers.
I thought it was a very well done comic treatment of a very real American issue. Racism is never dead, it just hides under the surface like an indolent disease. I thought George Segal did a fine job. Jack Warden played the rich, controlling, pragmatic racist father in law to tee. And then there is Denzel. I watched the opening credits and saw "and Introducing Denzel Washington". How could ANYONE resist that?? Maybe I am just blinded by love ;) but the talent was just so obvious in this very early performance. -
FlashCallahan6 February 2017A 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. -
view_and_review3 July 2019This was a movie that if you had the patience to see it through it could be worth it. After reading the synopsis this was not my kind of movie at all. The only thing that drew me in was Denzel Washington. I had no interest in watching a movie about a white businessman who gets a surprise visit from his black son after 17 years. An illegitimate son he knew nothing about. That conjures up some very raw feelings for me. Yet, Denzel was in the movie so I was willing to give it a try.
The first two thirds of this movie was hard to stomach. Naturally, Denzel plays the unknown son, Roger Porter. He is a sassy overbearing character portraying the image of black ineptitude. His father, Walter (George Segal), is immediately put off by the appearance of this socially unacceptable faux pas. Sure, he loved a black woman at one time but now he's a successful businessman and a black son would ruin everything. And if Walter's reservations had the stench of racism, then his wife, the priest, the lawyer, the doctor, et al were unabashed racists. All the stereotyping and fears came pouring out and it was ugly. I was watching this with a bristling disgust. There were fried chicken references, welfare references, criminal background references, and more. It was enough to make me ill. But, I was going to see it through. And I'm glad I did. The ending didn't make the movie great but it made the movie somewhat worthwhile. -
silklily5 July 2001This movie tries to talk to race relations and spoof stereotypes. It does do this to a certain degree but it is also quite slow, predictable and frankly, lame. And, are we supposed to believe that Denzel is a teenager here? He is almost 30 years old in this movie. Please.
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hkritikos200425 May 2018I really to don't why some movies (like this one for example) have such a low rating! I watched the movie and had fun! Nice actors, parts you will laugh and a great feeling that only 80s movies have. If you are thinking of watching don't let the rating stop you! You will definitely enjoy it!
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Mister-67 October 1999Racism is a serious issue in the world: it was in 1981 and it still is today. That this movie makes it its central issue isn't the bad thing. What's bad is that no one cared to think about what was being said.
"Carbon Copy" is aptly named; it's the same story that was used in a million other movies about fathers finding out they had sons that were a different race/impoverished/radicals/whatever was the hot topic issue of the day. What is different this time around is that things are supposed to funny.
Funny. Yes, you read that right.
I guess that any subject can be made funny, in theory, but RACISM? The Hollywood suits must have felt they had to take yet another serious issue and sugar-coat it with slapstick, one-liners and stereotypes (white ones, for a change).
Segal, Warden, Washington and Winfield should have known this was a doomed project from the start. Nothing works, even the "humor" is blunted since it grates so against the real subject matter. But since it was directed by Schultz (not known for his subtlety) I guess no one should really be surprised.
No great strides in the bridging of the races were made with "Carbon Copy", I'd guess since no one took it seriously.
No stars. Fortunately, the actors recovered and went on. After seeing this mess, I wish I could. -
leczorn12 January 2005I first saw one scene of this largely forgotten movie on TV in the early '80s. A white man told his white wife that the black teenage boy with them was his son. She became hysterical and told her husband that God would never forgive him. He responded by saying "How do you know? Maybe he's pleased? Maybe God is black!" As a white kid about 12 years old, somehow I found "Maybe God is black" to be one of the funniest things I'd ever heard! Over the years, I quoted that line many times, mostly in arguments with my mother and maternal grandmother about inter-racial marriage. I supported it and they opposed it, though their opposition was out of fear of the social stigma rather than hatred for other races.
That scene was all that I ever saw of "Carbon Copy" until I was 19, when I saw it in a video store and rented it. I loved it but didn't see it again until getting the newly released DVD for Christmas last month. Now 34 and in an inter-racial marriage, I find the movie funnier than ever!
Now for my synopsis of the movie! Walter Whitney (played by George Segal) is a wealthy businessman who lives a high society lifestyle with his snobbish wife Vivian (Susan St. James) and his equally snobbish step-daughter Mary Ann (Vicky Dawson). That changes one day when a 17-year old black boy named Roger Porter (Denzel Washington in his first movie) arrives at Walter's office and, after an extensive display of crude behavior, cheerfully says "Hi, Daddy!"
It turns out that Roger was the product of Walter's relationship with a black woman, now dead, who he loved. But he left her when his longtime employer and now father-in-law Nelson Longhurst (Jack Warden) advised him that it would be harmful to his career to be with a black woman. It's also revealed that Walter changed his last name from Weisenthal to hide his Jewish ethnicity.
Walter is shocked to learn that he has a son and nervous about the way it might disrupt his life. But he attempts to help Roger by telling Vivian that he wants to adopt a poor child for the Summer to show him a better way of life. Vivian reluctantly agrees, then changes her mind shortly after meeting Roger, which leads to the scene that I mentioned to start this review.
Vivian proceeds to kick out Walter and her father fires him, takes his company Rolls Royce and his many job benefits. Walter learns that his total worth is the $68 in his wallet.
So Walter and Roger, the day after meeting, seek shelter together. They first check into a cheap motel and later move into an apartment in Watts while Walter looks for a new job. But in the town of San Marino, his reputation turns out to be ruined and out of desperation to make some quick cash, he ends up shoveling horse manure.
As the movie progresses, it's obvious that Walter regrets leaving Roger's mother. And now he must decide whether to keep Roger at a distance for the sake of social acceptance or try to make up for the mistakes of his past by attempting to build a close relationship with his son.
Throughout the movie, the interaction between Walter and Roger is fabulous. Though they are father and son, their lives have been radically different. Their cultures often clash and this results in many hilarious situations. The movie does a great job striking the very difficult balance between having fun with racial stereotypes but still condemning racism.
And during the last 15 minutes, when the movie makes the transition from comedy to drama, it does so surprisingly smoothly.
In conclusion, "Carbon Copy" gets my vote as the best culture clash comedy ever. I also consider it to be one of the most underrated movies ever. It's a great movie to watch for lots of big laughs. 9/10. -
elo-equipamentos28 March 2021Wistfully this week we lost the beloved George Segal, this dramatic comedian gone forever, in 2011 I'd taped from TV "Carbon Copy" that introduces the still young Denzel Washington, I never forget Segal and Jane Fonda on"Fun with Dick and Jane" perhaps his best picture, henceforth I'd be happier watching his movies, which I have a few of them, sadly "Carbon Copy" never came out here in Brazil officially on DVD.
George Segal plays Walter Witney, who by stroke of luck he ascended to high-ranking of a huge corporation due a bright idea on the marketing section, he ends up marrying the fancy Vivian Witney (Susan Saint James) daughter of the Company's owner Nelson Longshurst (Jack Warden), actually Walter is Vivian's second husband whose already had a daughter, aside Vivian be an annoying wife and slight cold in the bed, Walter tries living a fruitful sexual activity, but dully reported by Vivian for his handler father about Walter's insatiable sexual behavior, thus the next day he'd to hear tons of complains about it, priceless sequence indeed.
One day he receives at his office a swollen-headed chocolate teenager Roger Porter (Denzel Washington) alleging be his son from Walter's old affair, he stays baffled by such statement, in fact he did not denied, he loves Roger's mother, which they lived together on the past, Roger wants live with Walter due his mother died recently, Walter tries figure out how introduce a colored son in a wealthy white family without many upheavals, the cunning father settles a plan, but the hoax doesn't take long, he is fired, dumped of the fancy mansion what he lives and his Rolls Royce and all credit cards are withdraw from him merciless.
Actually he has a choice, forget his son and goes back to his easy life, however the dogged man would rather living with Roger and starts again, clearly as a matter of conscience and worthiness, nonetheless all doors are close to him by Nelson's commands trying break his pride, he has to living with a few dollars at his pocket, at flophouse working as stable's cleaner, if it weren't enough tragic is funny as well, father and son slowing getting closer just a slight.
Underrated dramatic comedy strangely forgotten by majority, with smart lines about if God would be possible a black being, as Walter says I am a disguised J.e.w, white man and has a black son, the screenplay is largely well conceived, with a strong social criticism about prejudice, also Denzel displays why he later becomes a bright black star at cinema industry on so great performance, it deserves be discovered by the upcoming generation of cinephiles!!
Thanks for reading.
Resume:
First watch: 2011 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5. -
moogie77714 December 2008This 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!!
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tfrizzell12 May 2004White corporation man George Segal gets a rude awakening when he finds out that he has an illegitimate son who happens to be black (our first real theatrical look at Hollywood icon Denzel Washington). Naturally Segal's Beverly Hills life turns topsy-turvy with wife Susan Saint James and father-in-law Jack Warden complicating the situation by forcing Segal into a life of degradation and poverty with usually hilarious results. Pure early-1980s fluff here as Washington puts that bright smile of his on and steals every scene from veteran Segal. Segal though does an admirable job and feeds off the film effectively. Ultimately though the substance is lacking and the typical comedic situations eventually end up being predictable and sometimes stale. The late drama also feels forced and somewhat unnecessary. Still a watchable piece of entertainment for its two leads. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
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keith19349 November 2018As a young kid I went to the theater on a Sunday afternoon expecting to watch a good movie. This movie had a brilliant cast and was listed as a comedy. I remember the contrast and generational conflict of race was supposed to funny. I didn't laugh. Denzel Washington was a stand out in the movie. I only found it in poor taste.
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deetya3 September 2012Walter 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. -
Case in point this was one of Denzel's early movies and he does a good job. The movie is offensive but unfortunately truthful. In the movies if a black man has had relations with a white woman its a love story & he is defying the odds, and reached the height of whatever. The opposite is shown here where a white man has had relations with a black woman but convinced once his career takes off he wont make it and when its foundout her has a son, now everyone around him is appalled, he gets shamed, and loses all his money, credit cards, job, house ect all because he had a child with a black woman. If you feel like watching hypocrisy feel free and unfortunately even still there are still people with this mindset.
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imseeg7 March 2021Cant remember having seen this debut of Denzel Washington. Is it worth watching? Not really, but it doesnt start out bad and the end is rather good as well. In between it is lacking though in being more than just a silly comedy.
The good: excellent jokes on racial prejudices, making fun of white privileges. Good dialogues as well.
The bad: it's rather cheesy and dated, with terrible eighties music and a story that you see coming from a mile afar...
Best suited for fans of Denzel Washington, who wanna see EVERY movie he has starred in. At his young age, Denzel Washington already is showing all of his signature trademarks as a brilliant actor, however silly his role in this movie might have been. -
rollernerd19 April 2021Welcome to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! Queue in intro music**
Today's movie review is the comedy-drama Carbon Copy (1981) starring George Segal (Just Shoot Me alum) who plays a successful, closeted Jewish corporate executive having white-collar problems at his white community home of San Marino, California. Soon he finds his whole world turned on its head when he is confronted with a young illegitimate son he didn't know he had -- who also happens to be of African-American descent, played by my man Denzel Washington - who debuts in his first feature film!!
Firstly, this is not a good movie, it does have some funny parts and although dated a few are not too bad however fails in the major aspects of key issues including racism, segregation and stereotyping. The racist comments made towards Denzel's character are blatant and during this particular ear are quite obviously expected and accepted. In today's politically correct climate, even if the characters were racist, they would probably try to hide it or at least be slightly embarrassed by it. Here everyone expects and accepts racism as the norm. Many of the "jokes" are predicated on the mere fact that Denzel's skin colour is black. For example, in one scene George Segal's character arranges a two-on-two basketball match with a white father and son. He assumes that since his son is black that he must be good at basketball. Things don't go as planned and the comment made after the game...wow. I understand that the movie is meant to shine light on racial bigotry but failed to capture the wrongdoings and warm embrace on equality and unification. The movie for some reason leads towards teaching social economics rather than the problem on hand.
Many of the situations which both characters find themselves in are too absurd to be taken seriously but are not funny either. Yes, as mentioned before here are a few funny moments here and there in the film however they are few and far between. There is quite frankly no balance in the film due to changing topics and not combining it together by cutting to an absurd scene which is meant for humour relief. There is no soul and takes an interesting issue such as a culture clash but doesn't take it anywhere and quite frankly was insulting in many ways and given the fact the film had a predictable formula to work with, it failed to recognise the emotional level of the real problem. Another real problem of the movie to me was the 80's keyboard music - what is the go with that??
A great idea yet poorly executed in an era where these issues should have been invited the audience as problems that need to change, for example, Mississippi Burning. Overall 5.2/10. -
Sylviastel23 May 2010George Segal plays Walter Whitney, a man who has changed his name from Wisenthal to Whitney to fit in with his new life in California. He is married to Vivian (played by Susan Saint James) and works for his father-in-law Nelson (played by Jack Warden). Dick Martin is hysterical as his pot-smoking attorney and friend. Tom Poston has a small role as the minister. This film is about a lot of things. For starters, Walter learns that his ex-girlfriend Lorraine Porter had a son, Roger (played by Denzel Washington in one of his first roles). After all, Walter is shocked to learn that she and him have a son, Roger, a 17 year old African American. Anyway, this news doesn't go well for Walter's life. His father-in-law fires him. He loses his car, his wife, his adoptive daughter, and his place in San Marino society. He and Roger move into a motel and they get reaction regarding their relationship as father-son. Nobody believes him. Still the film has a lot of problems regarding script but a first rate cast also featuring Paul Whitfield as well. Still if you are truly a Denzel Washington fan, you will get through it. There is some negative humor though that it might be considered highly offensive but this film is nearly 30 years old. Walter and Roger take turns in each other's worlds and you wonder if they can ever fit in or find out who they really are. After all, Walter changed his name, his religion and ethnicity, and married Vivian instead of his true love, Lorraine in the 1960s.
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This was Denzel Washington introduction film. Other than that skip it.
Carbon Copy is the film I list at the top, when asked my worst film of all time.
It's full of racism even for it's time of release. Jokes which won't land.
The film had a talented cast but it fell flat. -
TeeJayKay8 November 2006I saw this movie in the 1980s on German TV (in English). Fortunately, I taped it, because I never saw it again -- until 2006 on the MGM cable channel (and now I recorded it on DVD!). In the meantime, I wrote a thesis that dealt, among other things, with integration and denial issues (compare it to Woody Allen's "Zelig", for example!), and I found more quotable poignant and funny lines in this movie than in any other. On top of it, it has all those minor jokes that you probably won't catch the first time around and that make a comedy great. This movie is extremely funny, well written and has great actors, who should really be proud of it. The only thing that surprises me is that with all those big names attached the movie is so frequently overlooked and almost forgotten. If you haven't seen it and get a chance to, by all means, watch it and spread the word. By the way: I won't claim I saw Denzel's potential back then, but when I look back at this movie now, in hindsight, you can detect an Oscar winner in the making. Why didn't I give ten points? Well, I have to admit that the movie tapers off a bit at the end. If it had started more slowly, it would be OK, but the first half is just one funny line after another, and it just doesn't keep up its pace. And maybe the end is too unrealistic -- but then again, what do you expect from comedy? For me, it still works because it has a lot to say, and it does so in a brilliant way.
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BDeWittP24 September 2022Carbon Copy is one of those movies where you may laugh occasionally, but later you realize that you're not proud of what you're laughing at. This movie seemed like it had something to say about WASPs, affluence and racial discrimination, but didn't know really how to say it. The old adage "the wrong execution of the right idea" does indeed do justice to this film.
Carbon Copy is intended to be a comedy, when in truth, it's more offensive than funny. That's because it seems to take racism seriously and not presenting it as a joke. Movies like Blazing Saddles were funny because when they're intended as comedies and poking fun of racism, the material is indeed laughable because we know it's supposed to be funny. When it's presented as a serious situation and the way people think life is supposed to be, it's not going to work in a comedy. The racism portrayed in this movie would have been much more effective as a drama with better writing as a social commentary, but back to the movie.
The movie starts with Walter Whitney (George Segal), whom we learn has later anglicized his name from Weisenthal, living with a wife named Vivian (Susan Saint James) who doesn't show him affection and a stepdaughter Mary Ann (Vicky Dawson) who doesn't show him any respect. Walter lives in the very affluent, white community of San Marino, California. This looks like a place where no one would be able to live if they weren't a white millionaire.
Despite his empty home life, Walter seems content to be in a high paying job, driving a nice car, and living in a mansion. Walter then gets hit right between the eyes with an unexpected shock that changes his life and turns his world upside down, a visit from a seventeen-year-old black boy who tells him he's his son, a bright young man by the name of Roger Porter, played very well by Denzel Washington in his film debut (the only real significance this film seems to have). Walter loved Roger's mother, Lorraine, but seems reluctant to accept his son as he knows it will jeopardize his career status as well as his acceptance in his family and community.
We learn that Roger's father-in-law, played by Jack Warden, in a flashback encouraged Walter to end his relationship with Lorraine to marry his daughter, who is white, or he would not be accepted in the community. This is where the flaws in the movie begin. Why is this information being given to the audience in a scene where Walter is confiding in his lawyer and best friend Victor (Dick Martin) before the scene where he meets his son, rather than after? It seems like the information is being forced on the audience to set up the other scenes, rather than explain it in a logical sequence after Walter meets his son.
Roger has bad news, his mother Lorraine, has just died. Walter seems to accept him only because he sees him as the offspring of the woman he once loved, and not unconditionally because he's his son. The screenplay never makes it clear whether he feels guilty for abandoning the woman he loved or that he wants to get to know his son when they first meet.
Walter, knowing that Roger will not be accepted as his son because of his race, tries to disguise the situation by convincing his wife to "adopt an under-privileged black teenager" so that her friends in the community will see her as compassionate. The plan is to "make it her victory, not your defeat." Walter and Vivian agree that Roger can board with them "only if he stays in the garage." Real hospitable.
At the dinner table, Vivian asks, of all people, her daughter Mary Ann's, if her fiancee's father, who's a respected judge in the community, would approve of Roger. Only then will they agree to allow him to live with them. Vivian later learns that the real reason Walter wants him in their home and adopt him is that he's his biological son, just as Mary Ann is Vivian's biological daughter. Vivian refuses to accept him because he's black.
Walter is thrown out of the house, his car (which belongs to the company he works for) is confiscated, his credit cards are cut, and his father-in-law and boss fires him. All the marital assets are transferred to his wife, and she then wants a divorce. Things really start to go downhill for Roger, he has his belongings thrown onto his lawn, no one in the area will hire him, he moves in with his son to a cheap motel and later a slum apartment, and he finally has to resort to shoveling horse manure just so that they can afford to eat.
Walter's father-in-law and wife later pay him a visit in the run-down apartment, showing respect for his resilience and ability to survive. They agree to take him back only if he returns without his son. Roger later confesses that he only entered Walter's life to cause trouble for him because he was angry that he abandoned his mother. Roger also admits that he was happy when his problems began, and later agrees that they should part ways and return to their own worlds where they belong. Walter later learns to love his son after learning that he is not a high school dropout, but a gifted student pursuing further education, he seems to want to get to know his son rather than seeing him as a distraction. Is this because he has a new respect for him? Or does he just love him because he's intelligent and a good student? This is never clarified either.
The ending, which I will not give away, is neither redeeming nor satisfying because it doesn't seem like the changes in the Segal character's attitude about his son or the people surrounding him have any credibility. Why doesn't the argument with Walter and his father-in-law about his lack of acceptance for non-whites, specifically Roger, have more anger and emotion? It would have been much more effective as longer scene with more clarity and intensity instead of just a scene with a brief quarrel. It cheats the audience out what could have been a great climactic moment in the story.
There are also some questions that go unanswered in the movie. Questions like why would such a smart, educated businessman like Walter have no money saved or assets protected? Why wouldn't he just use a checking account instead of credit cards if he makes so much money? How could he not know he has an illegitimate son?
George Segal gives a very good performance and so does Denzel Washington. Perhaps they gave a better performance than their characters deserve. The director of the movie, Michael Schultz, ironically, is black. Strange. You'd think with all the racial insults and stereotyping in the movie that a black man would stay as far away from the project as possible.
Carbon Copy was released in 1981, even then, after racial jokes on show like All in The Family and shows with black cast members like What's Happening, Sanford and Son, Good Times, and The Jeffersons (quite possibly "four of their own television shows" being alluded to in the movie by Susans Saint James) hit the tv airwaves, I still think the material would have been taken offensively by audiences.
The message this movie seems to convey is that society will not accept you and will not be able to live a comfortable lifestyle unless you're white. Jews, blacks, hispanics, etc., are "not one of us" therefore not accepted in those affluent social circles. This may be true to a certain extent, but when a movie takes it seriously as a true reality, it's not comical. This is another one of those movies which has the potential to be good, if the writing fit the genre. Carbon Copy would have had something to say as a dramatic social commentary film with better writing, instead of intending to send a message as a comedy. It just doesn't work. -
Chrysanthepop11 April 2008After seeing the trailer, I was very excited about this film as it looked like a comedy about a white man suddenly finding out about his teenage black son. The film did start that way but it changes into something else and to something else from there. Thus, it starts as a comedy then switches into a messed up drama. There is no balance in the story and 'Carbon Copy' lacks soul. The audience is presented with culture clashes but none of it goes anywhere. Moreover, there are numerous clichéd moments that only bored me. George Segal and. Denzel Washington do well but not enough to save the movie. I only sat through this hoping that there will be some salvation but alas!