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Made in 1981 at 92 minutes this is a strange comedy indeed.It plays like a TV show rather than a movie,that's why I deducted a star.See,this movie has a rough cut to it but it's smooth out for TV so to speak.Oh and it's Denzel's (Roger Porter ) debut as well as Paul Winfield ( Lawyer Bob Garvey ) in a supporting role.
To the story.Walter Whitney (George Segal) married to Vivian Whitney (Susan Saint James) the daughter of his boss Nelson Longhurst ,played I might add,as a almost Stalinist autocrat by Jack Warden in the film's hardest edge by far, considering he's a captain of industry,but I digress.Walter has a bright future but a now boring loveless marriage .Nelson calls him the son he wishes he had and even encourages him to take a mistress as no truly successful executive has a happy marriage!!! Into this walks Rodger who it seems is the son of Walter via a college fling.His mother has died and Rodger thinks Walter should know that,and also that he's his son.From here on the film has a edge of black and white relations,WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) prejudices,jewish self loathing,hard core unemployables,police harassment and more.Still the film tones all this down to PG TV view-ability.I guess getting the message out was worth dumbing it down.
Still some of the scenes have a good bite to them.My favorite is when Walter is down and out after loosing everything because Nelson is trying to break him from accepting Rodger into the all white WASP world they inhabit.( Walter is really a Jew as well
)Anyway,Walter sees a fat white guy and his fat son playing basketball in a park and tries to hustle them saying he has a son and will get him and the will play a father and son game for 20 bucks.Rushing back to the motel they are staying at,he tells Rodger to hurry and come with him.When they get to the park Rodger see's what's happening and tries to tell him but Walter won't let him finish and the game is a disaster.Afterwards Walter laments why does he have the only black son in the world who can't play basketball.That was a truly funny yet cutting scene.On one hand yes it's racial in tone,but more subtle is Walter's true acceptance of Rodger as a son by expressing his disappointment in his shortcoming. There are many laughs and a few tears but a new beginning abet not as lucrative,but ones hopes more filling life for Walter at the end. Of course Rodger is more than we thought he was and again for TV,one wonders what kind of family they might have been had Walter stayed with Rodgers mom all along.I do recommend this film for at least touching these monumental subjects even with a ten foot pole.As always a URL for the trailer at the bottom of the pix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwv655uA_Gw
To the story.Walter Whitney (George Segal) married to Vivian Whitney (Susan Saint James) the daughter of his boss Nelson Longhurst ,played I might add,as a almost Stalinist autocrat by Jack Warden in the film's hardest edge by far, considering he's a captain of industry,but I digress.Walter has a bright future but a now boring loveless marriage .Nelson calls him the son he wishes he had and even encourages him to take a mistress as no truly successful executive has a happy marriage!!! Into this walks Rodger who it seems is the son of Walter via a college fling.His mother has died and Rodger thinks Walter should know that,and also that he's his son.From here on the film has a edge of black and white relations,WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) prejudices,jewish self loathing,hard core unemployables,police harassment and more.Still the film tones all this down to PG TV view-ability.I guess getting the message out was worth dumbing it down.
Still some of the scenes have a good bite to them.My favorite is when Walter is down and out after loosing everything because Nelson is trying to break him from accepting Rodger into the all white WASP world they inhabit.( Walter is really a Jew as well
)Anyway,Walter sees a fat white guy and his fat son playing basketball in a park and tries to hustle them saying he has a son and will get him and the will play a father and son game for 20 bucks.Rushing back to the motel they are staying at,he tells Rodger to hurry and come with him.When they get to the park Rodger see's what's happening and tries to tell him but Walter won't let him finish and the game is a disaster.Afterwards Walter laments why does he have the only black son in the world who can't play basketball.That was a truly funny yet cutting scene.On one hand yes it's racial in tone,but more subtle is Walter's true acceptance of Rodger as a son by expressing his disappointment in his shortcoming. There are many laughs and a few tears but a new beginning abet not as lucrative,but ones hopes more filling life for Walter at the end. Of course Rodger is more than we thought he was and again for TV,one wonders what kind of family they might have been had Walter stayed with Rodgers mom all along.I do recommend this film for at least touching these monumental subjects even with a ten foot pole.As always a URL for the trailer at the bottom of the pix
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