Soul Man (1986)

[Damme it ALL 3]

Just watch the trailer and wow. The tag line is "he didn't give up, he got down". This is racist even for the 80's and every review is how it is so overrated and misunderstood. Mind-blowing.

[sillstaw 414]

C. Thomas Howell did an interview with the AV Club recently where he claimed that the movie is anti-racist. Make of his comments what you will.

[Damme it ALL 3]

C. Thomas Howell did an interview with the AV Club recently where he claimed that the movie is anti-racist. Make of his comments what you will.

 

Well, LL Cool J and Brad Paisely said the same thing as well about their song. Most people stand behind mistakes instead of saying "whoopsie daisy, sorry".

[HipGuide 196]

not bad enough. just weird concept.

[seanotron 2307]

The real question is how they got James Earl Jones to do this. HOW DID THIS GET JONESED?

 

Worth noting that infamous contrarian Armond White is a fan of this film.

[Johnny Unusual 525]

Uhh.... wow... Jeez...

 

[wakefresh 689]

This movie is fucking crazy! But to the person who said it was racist even for the 80s, you have to remember that you are talking about an era when Billy Crystal would wear blackface so that he could do a Sammy Davis Jr impression....and not one white person in the room would bat an eye.

[wakefresh 689]

C. Thomas Howell did an interview with the AV Club recently where he claimed that the movie is anti-racist. Make of his comments what you will.

 

It's anti-racist in the ironic sense, meaning that it is actually very racist.

[PatrickSwazysZombie 7]

IMDB OVERVIEW:

To achieve his dream of attending Harvard, a pampered teen poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.

[seanotron 2307]

Def an insane movie, though. And as I said in the previous thread, I really do want to know why JEJ did it.

[wakefresh 689]

Yes, this movie is super crazy in every way. I feel like they need to have Dr. Cornel West on to talk about this movie.

[DerekAldous 23]

Sorry for the alarming topic title, but holy shit how did this movie get made?!

 

Soul Man

 

Synopsis (rotton tomatoes)

 

An ambitious but spoiled rich white kid wins a scholarship to Harvard Law School by pretending to be African-American in this broadly played comedy. After his father cuts him off financially, Mark Watson (C. Thomas Howell) wins a full tuition scholarship to Harvard by claiming to be African-American on the application form.

 

Starring: C. Thomas Howell (from E.T., Outsiders, etc)

 

 

 

 

http://www.rottentom...com/m/soul_man/

[DerekAldous 23]

Oh woops guess I didn't look hard enough to see if this was already a thread. Sorry moderators!

[thestray 361]

The Fogelnest Files talked about this movie with PFT and Jon Daly. If a How Did This Get Made episode were to get made, Jake Fogelnest would be a shoe in I think.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

The Fogelnest Files talked about this movie with PFT and Jon Daly. If a How Did This Get Made episode were to get made, Jake Fogelnest would be a shoe in I think.

Why hasn't Jake been on HDTGM yet? He's perfect for the show -- his love and enthusiasm for weird shit is a perfect match for this podcast. He'd be good for any movie.

[HipGuide 196]

Why hasn't Jake been on HDTGM yet? He's perfect for the show -- his love and enthusiasm for weird shit is a perfect match for this podcast. He'd be good for any movie.

 

How they've not done the Sgt. Pepper movie with him is beyond me.

[wakefresh 689]

Why hasn't Jake been on HDTGM yet? He's perfect for the show -- his love and enthusiasm for weird shit is a perfect match for this podcast. He'd be good for any movie.

 

He was on the Jaws 3 episode.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

He was on the Jaws 3 episode.

Gah.

 

Drugs. Kids, don't do 'em.

[VinsanityV22 500]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4lEkimhYoA

 

I just started re-listening to The Foglenest Files, and they talked about this on Episode 2 with Paul F. Tompkins and Jon Daly (scrub to 11:33 here -- http://www.earwolf.c...orld-of-cinema/ ). Now I want to hear it discussed in length on HDTGM. Any of those guys would be fantastic guest, btw. Later on, they also chat about Howard the Duck, and then HDTGM did that movie.

 

This has all the bonkers you could need! It's an 80's comedy, it has black face, it's got crazy outdated thinking - there's so much to laugh at, and yet, it's not a complete lifeless turd of a comedy. It's not "Deck the Halls". This was a good movie back in '86. I mean, Jake introduces it like, "This is a film from 1986 and I just want to set it up by saying that when this movie came out people liked it!".

 

Other choice quotes from Jake, Paul or Daly:

 

"James Earl Jones agreed to this! If (he) was cool with it, why aren't we!?"

 

"Do you think Sidney Poitier passed"

 

"They could've stopped this so many times (before it reached the public)"

 

"It's the, 'I Pronounce you, Chuck and Larry' of it's day"

 

"That was a movie!"

 

And all that came from JUST THE TRAILER! Imagine what the HDTGM crew could say for the WHOLE MOVIE!!!

 

--

EDIT: Whoever moved this into the pre-existing Soul Man thread, Thank you. I used the Search function, didn't see it, and so I made a new one in error. I apologize. And again, thanks. Sorry for wasting a bit of your time.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

What's amazing is that this might not even be the worst C. Thomas Howell movie. That honor probably belongs to Side Out (1990).

[seanotron 2307]

Also amazing is the fact that Rae Dawn Chong married C Thomas Howell for a hot minute after they made this movie.

[seanotron 2307]

Apparently Rachel Dolezal is attempting a shot-for-shot remake of this movie.

[sillstaw 414]

Apparently Rachel Dolezal is attempting a shot-for-shot remake of this movie.

 

It's like the sequel, and it's the kind of sequel where they felt the need to top the original's insanity. "A guy pretending to be black to get into college? How about somebody pretends to be black, and becomes a leader in the NAACP?!"

[CharlesVanNgo 0]

Hey guys

 

I just started listening to your show 3 weeks ago and I am loving it. I am already half way through your archive and am little depress of how many of these movies I have already seen but the one thing that has bothered me was "how have you not seen Soul Man?" I mean holy foreskin if you want to see how a person end there own movie career in one move just accept a role where you go black face so you can steal a scholarship from black people. Jesus, James Earl Jones lost his black card for a year because of this movie. Anyways you don't need to do this anytime soon but can you do it for it's 30th anniversary on October 24. Just to remind people that there were people / studio that though this was a good idea and green lit this shit show.

 

thanks for the laughs

 

Bad Elvis

 

[CharlesVanNgo 0]

C. Thomas Howell did an interview with the AV Club recently where he claimed that the movie is anti-racist. Make of his comments what you will.

 

 

 

yeah... no.