Soul Man (1986)

★ 5.2 1h 44m 165 votes IMDb
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A white prospective grad student's affluent family won't pay his way through law school, so he takes tanning pills to darken his skin in order to qualify for an African-American scholarship at Harvard. He soon gets more than he bargained for, as he begins to learn what life is really like for blacks in America.

Soul Man

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Cast

C. Thomas Howell
C. Thomas Howell as Mark Watson Age 59 · Los Angeles, California, USA Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966), usually credited as C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitc...
Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong as Sarah Walker Age 65 · Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Rae Dawn Chong, a Canadian-American actress, has graced screens for decades. Born in Edmonton in 1961, the daughter of comedian Tommy Chong, her heritage reflects a rich mix of African-American, Nativ...
Arye Gross
Arye Gross as Gordon Bloomfeld Age 66 · Los Angeles, California, USA Arye Gross (/ˈɑːri/; born March 17, 1960) is an American actor, who has appeared on a variety of television shows in numerous roles, most notably Adam Greene in the ABC sitcom Ellen..
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones as Professor Banks Died 2024 · Arkabutla, Mississippi, USA James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor. He was described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances on stage and screen,...
Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin as Whitney Dunbar Age 58 · Houston, Texas, USA Melora Hardin (born June 29, 1967) is an American actress known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office, Trudy Monk on USA Network's Monk, and Tammy Cashman on Amazon Prime Video's Transpare...
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen as Mr. Dunbar Died 2010 · Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010) was a Canadian-American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in over one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his...

Audience Reviews

Dan_Tebasco 6/10 Mar 20, 2017
**Soul Man**

Had heard a bit about this movie before I saw it, many times refered to as being racist. In fact COMPLEX MAGAZINE listed it as number 4 on a 'most racist movies' list they made.

Watching it, I must say it's a whole lot less racist than I expected it to be. In fact I wouldn't call it racist at all.

It's about a white guy who gets into Harvard but can't afford to go there so he looks for scholarships that he can take but the only one applicable to him is one designed for African Americans. So he fakes being black (with full blackface makeover and a 80's jerrycurl to match) and gets it.

There is of course a stigma around blackfaces stemming from early 20th century films where white people would dress up as black people and make fun of them and make them look stupid etc.

But to say that this movie is racist for that reason alone is very simpleminded. Cause even though the guy does put on a blackface, there is not a malicious intent behind it. And he does learn a thing or two about racism himself as the movie progresses.

I would probably argue that if anything it's more racist towards whites and perhaps a general white perception of blackness (at least of the time) than it is of blacks. But even that would be a bit of a stretch.

Anyways slightly overthinking it here perhaps, as it is in fact not a too serious movie but a comedy. And as a comedy, albeit it has a bit of a rough start it works pretty good. It's no masterpiece or anything and it could have done with some editing cutting it down by 15-20 minutes or so. But overall a decent and fairly harmless watch that does manage to convey a pretty good message while also gathering up some big laughs ocassionally.

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