ridiculous rating

Let's be realistic.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

George 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.

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.

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.

I think is a good because it came out when black people were very discriminated against. The movie makes fun of the white population and of their opinion of colored people. Not so good because you can predict what will be the end.