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.

I 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.

While he had appeared on TV, this was Denzel Washington's first movie role. Already 26, here he plays Roger Porter, a teenager, whose single mother had just died, and he was in town to look up his father. His father just happens to be Walter Whitney (George Segal), a well-off business man working for his stepfather. His wife is played by Susan Saint James. Jack Warden is the stepfather.Walter of course is very surprised when this young black man shows up, but when he mentions his mother's name, Walter knows it is true, because he had had a relationship with her, loved her, but social conventions prevented him for marrying her. He was surprised to find he had a son. So, the whole movie is about how Walter and Roger deal with the situations this puts them into.It is not a particularly good movie. Too many of the situations are too absurd to be taken seriously, but are not funny either. Significant only for the first movie role of Washington. The comedian Dick Martin (Rowan and Martin TV show) has an interesting role as a lawyer.SPOILERS FOLLOW. Because of the way Walter's assets are set up, when his wife kicks him out for having a black son he is essentially broke, and he loses his job. He and Roger end up staying in a very poor section of Watts. But the big in-joke of the movie is that Walter thinks Roger is a school drop-out, because of their first conversation when Roger says he is 17, and doesn't need high school. In reality he had graduated early, had already completed his first year in pre-med, and was headed back to college. Walter went with him, the movie ends with them driving East in the battered convertible.

This little known 1981 Avco Embassy release was the film debut for the ever talented Denzel Washington but I certainly wouldn't blame him if he ever wished to forget about its existence. They have to start somewhere after all and Washington started here in this comedy about a middle aged executive (George Segal) who is happily married and has a successful career. He feels as though his life is complete. Then, suddenly, a long forgotten illegitimate son (Washington) from a previous relationship tracks him down and wants to bond with the father he never knew. Comic complications ensue but none of them are really genuinely funny. It would take another three years before Washington would make another film but his great supporting role in "A Soldier's Story" was a sure sign of an excellent film career to come. View this one only as a curiosity piece as to how Washington started out in his film career before he hit it big and long before he got those two well deserved Academy Awards.