Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Carbon Copy Blu-ray Movie Review

Denzel's Debut

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 25, 2018

Most movie fans know Denzel Washington's first breakout role occurred in Norman Jewison's A Soldier's Story (1984) so they may be surprised that he made his official debut in the relatively unknown father-son buddy comedy, Carbon Copy. Directed by Michael Schultz (Cooley High, Car Wash), the film bequeaths Washington with plenty of screen time but the problem is Stanley Shapiro's screenplay either restrains or hampers the kind of charisma and pizazz that he could have delivered and is so renowned for these days. His performance is still very good and is the central reason to see Carbon Copy. The future double Oscar winner plays 17-year-old Roger Porter, a supposed high school dropout who arrives at the office of Walter Whitney (George Segal), a 41-year-old executive at Unilectron Corp., a mammoth electronics firm. Roger claims that Walter is his biological father from a two-decades-ago relationship he had with a recently deceased woman at Northwestern during the unwed couple's college years. Walter is initially incredulous but the memories start to flood back. Roger is unemployed and wants to stay with the old man he never knew. The prospect of just introducing Roger to his Presbyterian family, however, proves to be dicey for Walter. He's in the middle of a crumbling marriage with his haughty trophy wife, Vivian (Susan Saint James). She's apathetic to any physical intimacy with Walter (her second spouse) as she's much more concerned with her own vanity. Worse, she blindly treats her Guatemalan maid like a slave. The Whitneys live in a comfy luxurious suburban community in San Marino, California but it seems more appropriate that it be set in Louisiana, Mississippi, or another place in the antebellum South since Vivian is so backward. Though Vivian and Mary Ann (Vicky Dawson), the daughter from her first marriage, are flagrantly racist, they formally welcome Roger as a summer guest only to explode when they hear the truth. Walter is much more progressive and when he raises the possibility that Jesus may be black, he's kicked out of the house and fired from his job.

Hi, Daddy! Meet your long-lost son.

The film's second half centers on father and son's attempt to reconnect through semi-humorous riches-to-rags escapades. Thus, it's essentially a conversion narrative that befits the picture's backstory. In order to join the big leagues with Vivian's dad, CEO Nelson Longhurst (played by Jack Warden in a mechanical performance), Walter must relinquish his surname of Wiesenthal to garner socioeconomic mobility in his father-in-law's business. When he's disinherited, Walter tries to make a 180° turn in becoming a "black" father. He and Roger practically become homeless living in dingy motels and a ramshackle in Watts. The jokes are amusing but fleeting at the same time. Walter and Roger try to win a father/son basketball competition with a middle-aged white man and his son (with $5 on the line for the winners) but the scene falls flat. (The playground scenes in He Got Game between Jake and Jesus Shuttlesworth look like they were filmed on another planet compared to this amateur scrimmage.)

Notwithstanding the movie's contrivances, Washington musters a lot of energy when he can, announcing himself as a bright young star and major screen presence. Most all press critics liked what he exuded opposite Segal. In an overwhelmingly negative critique of Carbon Copy in Arizona Daily Star, Jacqui Tully still had this to say: "Washington has an easy air about him that translates well to the screen." The colossal exception among reviewers was Jon Marlowe of The Miami News, who derided the future powerhouse: "The movie's real tragedy is newcomer Denzel Washington as Roger Porter. The kid just doesn't have it. It's that simple. The only thing unique about Washington is that he can stay on a screen so long and have absolutely no effect on your brain at all." It would only be a matter of time until Marlowe would have to eat all of those words up.

Carbon Copy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

MGM released Carbon Copy on R1 DVD in 2004 but I'm glad that I never watched it since the image is cropped on all four sides. Shout! Factory has repaired this with a bright-looking presentation that preserves the originally filmed 1.85:1. Film artifacts have been kept to a minimum although a few flecks appear here and there. Reds and greens have solid density and are nicely saturated in the downtown San Marino scenes. The Whitneys' garden and lawn look very well-maintained (see Screenshot #s 17 and 20). Skin tones stick out as being natural and hues are consistent on the actors' faces throughout. Schultz and his cinematographer Fred Koenkamp change to black and white during a flashback scene in the Longhurst boardroom (#19). The rating for the transfer would be higher had it not been for the erratic changes that occur between not only reel changes, but also wipes and other scene transitions. The grain structure is most unresolved. Several shots in a row will appear sharp only to fluctuate to a thicker texture or heavier grain (see #18, for example). Shout! has used a BD-25 and employed the MPEG-4 AVC encode, which boasts a mean video bitrate of 28995 kbps.

The 91-minute feature comes with twelve chapter breaks.

Carbon Copy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout! has supplied a clean-sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono mix (1570 kbps, 24-bit). Dialogue reproduction is very solid on this restored track. Jack Warden sounds...just like Jack Warden. There were some moments that I did have to turn up the volume higher to hear one actor more clearly than the other. Academy Award-winning composer Bill Conti wrote a multivariate score that alternates between three or four styles: electronica with a blithe tone, baroque, blues, and jazz. It serves the film's changing moods and locales well. Conti and Paul Williams's "I'm Gonna Get Closer to You" as well as Bessie Smith's vocal rendition of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" demonstrate pop and sizzle along the center and front channels.

I watched the film with the optional English SDH and counted just one spelling error. The lyrics for the two ballads display in a nicely readable white font.

Carbon Copy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1:52, 1080p) - a trailer for Carbon Copy that's in rough form and looks culled from an old reel. It's fairly clear but the widescreen image appears either zoomed in or partially trimmed on the edges.

Carbon Copy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Because Carbon Copy didn't make much of a commercial or critical splash, it would seem that it did little to advance Denzel Washington's career. However, biographer Chris Nickle pointed out that TV producer Bruce Paltrow (Gwyneth's father) saw the film and decided to cast Denzel to be in the hit hospital drama, St. Elsewhere. He's also the primary reason to give Carbon Copy at least a cursory look. It's also nice to see Paul Winfield a few years before The Terminator. They're two of the highlights of a would-be social message picture. Carbon Copy is hardly a lite version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the beloved Stanley Kramer interracial romance that it's most often compared to. Still, I'm glad that Poitier's heir apparent/successor is in the film as much as he is. RECOMMENDED TO WASHINGTON'S FAN BASE, although don't grab until it's around $14.99.