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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

the audience applauded

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) is the pampered son of a wealthy family. An intelligent soul, Mark is destined for a four year stint at Harvard Law School, where he and his pal plan on becoming lawyers and being well off for the rest of their lives. A snag in Mark's plan comes when his father's psychiatrist suggests that his father begin to focus on himself rather than the needs of others, which results in Mark's father refusing to pay for his college tuition, playing the old "self responsibility" card. Mark totals the cost of tuition, room, and board for Harvard Law and realizes that he needs $50k to finance the next few years, all but crushing his plans of attending his dream college if he's forced to finance it by himself.Without a lot of options, Mark looks into various scholarships, stumbling upon one that looks good, although the primary qualification is the individual applying need be African-American. In an act of sheer desperation, Mark takes a handful of tanning pills to appear African-American so he can apply for the scholarship. He winds up getting the scholarship, which offers him a full ride to the school and gets him on the fast-track to success. It isn't until he meets a less fortunate African-American woman named Sarah (Rae Dawn Chong), who is in one of his law classes and struggling to balance her college life and personal life.To begin with, the assertion that a film like Steve Miner's Soul Man couldn't be made today is immediately dismissed with the fact that the Shawn and Marlon Wayans' film White Chicks, where two African-Americans impersonated white women, and Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as an African-American gunslinger in Tropic Thunder both exist and were made in the 2000's. Having said that, to assert that Soul Man is at all offensive is another knee-jerk reaction to the film's premise, which is executed in a way that's interesting, if nothing else. In some ways, Soul Man is one of the earliest depictions of class divisions and white privilege in a comedy film, especially one as mainstream as this one was.Consider the scene when a cop is trailing Mark while he is casually driving down the road in his vehicle. When the driver of a parked car suddenly swings their door open, Mark abruptly swerves, which results in the cop immediately pulling Mark over for allegedly changing lanes without a signal. Mark is then charged with being surly to an officer and must spend the following day behind bars, missing his important law test. This very scene illustrates the blatant discrimination in the law; had Mark been white, he almost certainly wouldn't have been pulled over, much less followed by the police officer.Scenes like this, amidst many others including the casual exchange of racist jokes and the cold looks from random pedestrians, really show the kind of discrimination that is so widely seen and discussed in the modern day. However, Soul Man's nearly fatal flaw is its sitcom approach to this idea. Writer Carol Black tries desperately hard to unnecessarily soften the material for a mainstream audience by adding in ridiculous scenes like Mark's parents coming the same time Sarah comes to study with Mark and a sex-crazed yuppie is in Mark's bedroom. In addition, any time Mark shares the scene with his roommate and pal Gordon (Arye Gross), the comedy of the film stalls almost entirely.Soul Man's desire to constantly find a punchline in every scene comes close to making its depiction of white privilege almost entirely moot. However, Soul Man does get big bonus points for not making its statements about casual racism an overblown moral in the film, with scenes of moralizing set to charming orchestration to make the audience feel warm and fuzzy. The scenes are very humbly depicted and morals are quietly communicated throughout, which makes this film sort of a blessing in disguise when it comes to the way it handles loftier emotions. This is the very definition of a film that's a wash, complete with strong social commentary amidst sitcom-style humor and subtle morals communicated through ridiculous situational comedy.Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, and Arye Gross. Directed by: Steve Miner.

C. Thomas Howell comes from a rich family and has been accepted to Harvard, but, when his father expects him to pay for his own college education and won't finance it, Tom goes to drastic measures for a scholarship. It seems that Harvard has, in this movie anyway, a scholarship for the most qualified African-American that comes from a certain demographic. So, of course, he goes black face and gets some soul, brother. I said soul. What actually sounds like a pretty lame, almost offensive, and just plain stupid film turns out in fact to be one of the most thought-provoking 1980s comedies made. Granted, it might be biting off more than it can chew, but this film is genuinely funny and has characters that are three-dimensional due in part to good acting by Tom; Rae Dawn Chong, who plays a student he starts to care for; and teacher James Earl Jones. My two favorite moments in the film are when he tells his parents, "Mom, Dad, I'm black!" and when he tells teacher James Earl Jones, "No sir, I didn't quite learn how it feels to be black, because I could at any time go back to being white." That moment really made the film for me, as it defines the difference between putting yourself in someone's place and actually being them. I see this film, from all the ratings, has a low mean, but I think it deserves better, as it's a very entertaining and funny film, while having moments that speak to the viewer in its indirect and subtle way without being preachy. I would definitely watch this again and would recommend it for those who like comedies with a little soul and substance to it.

White man Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) wants to attend Harvard University but his rich parents won't pay for it. Desperate to get in he turns his skin black (don't ask) and poses as a black man to get a full scholarship. While attending college as a black man he meets beautiful Sarah Walker (Rae Dawn Chong) and falls in love. He also butts heads with Professor Banks (James Earl Jones) who expects him to do better than anyone else cause he's black.There was some controversy when this was originally released. Some people (who never even saw the movie) labeled it as racist and demanded that it be banned. It lead to other people (who ALSO never saw it) overpraising it as others blasted it to pieces. Seriously--if it had been about a black man posing as a white man would there have been such a problem? I don't think so. Such a fuss over what is basically a silly comedy. All the predictable jokes come up and are done in a dull way. The movie is flatly directed and Howell looks pretty ridiculous as a black man. Also Howell DOES try to pull this movie off but fails. The only bright points are Chong and Jones who are great in their roles. This is only of interest to see what people thought was controversial. BTW--I saw this in a theatre in 1986. The audience was white and black. Most of the black people applauded at the end! That should tell you how racist this is.

Ridiculously unfunny 80s switcheroo comedy about a teenager named Mark (C. Thomas Howell) who desperately needs a scholarship to get into Harvard - the only problem is, the one remaining scholarship is open only to blacks. You can guess Mark's brilliant plan, as well as the fate of the entire movie. Funny premise and great co-stars (James Earl Jones, Leslie Nielsen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus) cannot a good movie make. Jokes are wasted and the film is way too predictable.** / *****