Reviews (8)

Harmless early 80's racial comedy
Segal is Walter Whitney, an easy-going yet privileged Angelino who is enjoying the easy-going life of an executive reached after years of hard work. A very-pre everything Denzel Washington is Roger Porter, the son of an African American woman who was once the love of Walter's life. When a righteous Walter realizes that Roger is his son, he's a bit shocked, but tries to assimilate him into his family anyway. Unfortunately, Walter didn't consider...anything, and soon he's on the outside, cut off from his wife (Susan St. James) and cozy job, with no choice but to assimilate to Roger's way of life. Soon, the former exec is waiting at street corners for day-jobs, or getting arrested by cops. Through it all (actually most), he's still the same old Walter, feverishly wondering how he'll get back to what he lost.

This was sort of a lost-gem-in-the-rough. The script isn't sure whether to make Walter and Roger rivals (in which each would at least subconsciously be out to prove who's better at living his way) or a true father&son team. The flick starts out with a running gag that Walter is actually a descent guy whose achievements have incidentally led him to be surrounded by incredibly bigoted people (they haven't affected him, but they haven't revealed their own darker side...yet). Once Walter is cast out from Brentwood, that joke disappears, and Segal is trapped in a fish-out-of-water story - consigned to a car without breaks, and a wreck of an apartment. (Other jokes include Walter's disgust when he realizes that his black son can't play basketball). Though weak, it's still fun. If Segal and Washington don't work well with each other, they still bring some fun to the table - especially Denzel Washington's disarmingly cheery outlook, now against the grain of his more recognizable seriousness. "You can teach me to build a model airplane", he suggests, "I can teach you how to pick a lock." Jokes like that should cater to the worst in you, but Washington's delivery reminds you it's all in good fun.

A Terrific Movie
This is a funny wonderful film that can be viewed a thousand times and you never get tired of it!

Fun movie with great chemistry between the two leads
I've always enjoyed the great comic talents of George Segal however what is not commonly known is the fine dramatic skills that he also possesses as seen in such fine dramatic roles as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". "Carbon Copy" came late in Segal's incredibly successful run of comedies through the 1970's and early 80's that included hits such as "The Duchess and the Dirty Water Fox, "A Touch of Class","Who is killing the Great Chefs of Europe", and "Fun with Dick and Jane". This film fittingly involves a comic story with many serious undertones and is an early very fine effort in depicting white and black relations in film.

Carbon Copy", tells the story of a very successful white business executive (George Segal) who appears to have it all, the great house, top job, beautiful wife and all the luxuries that money can buy who one day comes face to face with the son he never knew he had (Denzel Washington in a terrific movie debut). The major problem here is however that the son is not only the result of a previous love affair but black as well which would not sit well with his upwardly mobile lifestyle and snobby family. The resulting situation once his son is introduced to his family has both funny and sad repurcussions as Segal sees his whole world crumble before his eyes and he finds himself out of a job, homeless, with no money, sharing a rundown apartment in a "bad neighbourhood" with his son and being reduced in a very comical scene to shovelling horse manure to earn a few bucks for food. Along the way much soul searching is done by both father and son as they realise the other is not naturally the enemy and that colour should not be something that necessarily should keep them apart.

The chemistry between the two leads, the more experienced George Segal and a young Denzel Washington is terrific and they are in turn very funny together as seen in the scenes when driving in Washington's beat up old car and in the scene when they are booking into the cheap motel for the night, and touchingly dramatic as they slowly discover more about each other and decide to try at a life together as father and son. The rapport between them is terrific and both play off each other to great effect.It is easy to see that Denzel Washington, one of today's finest actors was destined for great things even at this early stage in his career. He is perfectly natural and delivers a refreshingly honest performance as th eyoung black man trying to find his roots. His performance is a mixture of frustration, curiosity and comic ability. He has you alternately laughing and crying which is the sign of true talent indeed. While definately a light comedy "Carbon Copy",does however deliver an important message about race relations and perceptions while not deliberatly pointing the finger at either racial group for being distrustful of the other. Many significant points on how we should view people are delivered in among the great comedy moments in the film.

Being a big George Segal fan there is much to like in "Carbon Copy". While not his greatest film he still displays that wonderful comedy delivery that charmed audiences in the 1970's and 80's. It's only a pity that he didn't continue in films at a later period rather than moving fulltime into television. I highly recommend "Carbon Copy", for an enjoyable hour and a half that will also get you thinking in a subtle way about how people do actually relate to each other. Enjoy the highjinks of white father and black son as cultures collide in "Carbon Copy".

Light hearted clean comedy
This movie was very entertaining! It is a must see for all Denzel Washington and George Segal fans.

A BLAST!!
My family had this video for a few years, and I can truly say that it is one of the best movies I have ever watched. The movie itself is fun, but yet shows the ups and downs of a father son relationship in a prejudiced society.

There are also a lot of funny one liner, like when the main charchter refers to his son as being "Hickory Bronze", the same colour as a car, or when her learns the hard way, that being black does not mean you can play B-Ball.

I great movie for ALL members of the family.
Highly recommended ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Underrated Gem
This is a fabulous, light comedy with a great all-star cast. This is something that deserved to be re-done on DVD. The plot concerns three women who live in Oregon. Jane Curtain is the wife of a wealthy architect. She comes home one day to fine he's run off with another woman, the bank accounts are cleaned out, and he's nowhere to be found. Bills are coming due. Jessica Lange is the wife of a wealthy veternarian played by Richard Benjamin. Her antique store is never profitable and now he has to sue her to please the IRS. She doesn't want to lose the store. Jill St. James is a divorcee with two kids and a deadbeat ex-husband. Her father then moves in with her when her mother takes up with another woman. She's pregnant with her boyfriend and they want to marry, but he has a no-future job, unless he can get the money to buy his boss' hardware store.

All three are friends and all three have something in common: they need money, and they need it now. After some failed schemes to get some, they decide to pull a heist at the local mall.

This is hysterical and tremendously funny. It's nothing deep or life changing, just a lot of intense, non-serious humor, great characters and great situations. Sure, there are some holes and a few scenes don't quite work, but this is something that ought to be in your permanent collection if you like comedies. It's a little dated, but has not lost any of its humor over the years. It's similar to "9 to 5" but I think funnier.

Fun, underatted movie
I've always enjoyed this movie. It's a very funny comedy, with great performances by all the leads. I'm just so glad that older movies are seeing new lights of day on DVD. Great fun.

A wry, neglected comedy
Although the details are dated, _How To Beat The High Co$t Of Living_ is freshly topical, with the economy in a bad way again. The three heroines' problems are, IMO, partly their own fault---but one has to root for their spunky, ingenious heist.

Jane Curtin improvising a striptease to cover her chums' getaway is a real highlight of the disc. She's game, sexy, and believable in her role---a really talented actress. And, for the record, the power is cut off only in _part_ of the mall, not the whole thing---I saw a review of the movie when it came out that didn't understand this point.

THIS is why I am constantly on Amazon.com!
I can't believe this is finally coming to DVD!! I taped it a couple of years ago off of cable, have loved this movie since I saw it in a theater when I was 18.

I skim Amazon.com all the time, looking to see what's coming out on DVD, and nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw this - if you like "9 to 5" and movies like it, this is a gem! Susan St. James, Jessie Lange, and Jane Curtin play women desperate for money for one reason or another - St. James wants to get married to her boyfriend and become respectable; Lange needs the money to keep her from losing her shop, a business that's been steadily losing money that her husband bought for her but now has to get rid of or he's in tax trouble; and Curtin is a divorcee just trying to survive.

The three women, struggling to beat the high cost of living, come across a brilliant idea - their local mall is having a contest, a huge plastic ball in the center of the mall will be filled with money, and you have to figure how much is in it. What the ladies come up with is a plan to enter to ball from underneath, cut through it and use a vacuum cleaner hose to suck out a good chunk of the money out for themelves.

The planning and execution of this caper - using only what resources the ladies can muster up on their own (which includes getting the tools for their crime by stealing them from St. James's boyfriend's hardware store, in a hilarious scene where the kids come along for the ride because St. James's character couldn't get a babysitter) - does not exactly go smoothly.

Of course in this movie, as in "9 to 5" and others like it, the execution of the crime does NOT come off without its share of glitches. But wow, is it fun to watch, enjoyable and light entertainment that will put a smile on your face long after you've seen it, just thinking about your favorite scenes.

A great comedy caper
...The movie includes Jane Curtin, Susan St. James, and Jessica Lange who are feeling the crunch of the cost of living getting higher, while their paychecks stay the same. They notice a promotion at the mall which is holding Thousands of dollars and plan to steal the money. Very entertaining to watch how they plan to pull it off. The movie was first released in 1980, but you could easily remake the movie again today, as once again the high cost of living keeps on rising. ... Read more

Description

High-spirited sequel to The Trouble with Angels, starring Rosalind Russell reprising her role. Stella Stevens stars as a modern nun who convinces the Reverend Mother to take the girls on an unforgettable bus trip to a California peace rally. All-star cast: Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, Susan St. James, Van Johnson and Milton Berle. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Where Angels Go, Boredom Follows
Although this sequel to THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS offers Rosalind Russell reprising her role as the Mother Superior of St. Francis and head of the convent's girls school, WHERE ANGELS GO TROUBLE FOLLOWS is a dismal sequel in which the girls make a cross-country outting--and in addition to playing pranks and flirting with boys also find themselves threatened by various unsavory characters they encounter along the way; meanwhile, the conservative Rosalind Russell strives to check the excesses of the ultra-liberal Sister George (played very stridently by Stella Stevens), whose determination to modernize the Holy Orders seems less progressive than just down right obnoxious.

Unlike its predecessor, the movie never strikes a good balance between comic and dramatic elements and the production values seem more akin to a television movie-of-the-week effort than a big-screen production. Russell is the saving grace of the film, a very young Susan St. James proves very attractive, and several supporting performances (including Binnie Barnes) are quite engaging--but they cannot overcome this film's many inadequacies. Miss it.

Pan and scan attrocity
This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I anxiously awaited its release on DVD. It looks like I will have to wait a while longer until they decide to give us the movie the way it was meant to be seen....in widescreen.

Come on Columbia Home Video, do justice to this and its sister movie "The Trouble With Angels" and release them in "widescreen"!!!! These are such great, vastly underrated movies, it appears even Columbia doesn't think enough of them that they would give them this shabby treatment.

If you get a chance to see them (on Turner Classics), they are WONDERFUL movies....but wait to buy the DVD. Don't buy into these pan and scan attrocities that the movie companies seem determined to thrust upon us.

Sequel lacks the charm of the first movie
I recently acquired a copy of "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows." Being a fan of "The Trouble with Angels," I was intrigued by the notion that someone had made a thitherto-unknown-to-me sequel to it; however, watching it was a disappointing experience to say the least. Rosalind Russell reprises her role as Mother Superior, and--in contrast with the first movie--is easily the most sympathetic character in the film. The activist nun, Sister George (played by Stella Stevens), comes off as a caustic, spoiled little brat, as does Susan St. James's Rosabelle character. Marvel Ann (again played by Barbara Hunter) inspires less antipathy this time around, but only because she was such a curmudgeon in the first movie. Finally, the bit players brought in to lend the film more star power (e.g., Arthur Godfrey, Van Johnson, and Milton Berle) are given painfully stupid roles.

Thus there are no memorable characters, and the basic premise of the movie--the St. Francis girls' hitting the road to participate in a youth rally of some kind--is eminently forgettable. Even the theme song, penned by Boyce and Hart and sung poorly by other people, is extremely annoying.

I will say, however, that it's interesting to see what Hollywood thought was "hip" or "with it" in 1968. The film definitely has historical intrigue from that standpoint.

Now How About a Widescreen DVD?
Wear Angels Go Trouble Follows may not as good as The Trouble with Angels but I do think it's a good movie and I enjoyed it and thought Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens were really good though I wish Hayley Mills and the actress who played her friend were in this too reprising their rolls from the first movie. I would like to own this and also The Trouble with Angels on DVD but I don't want to buy edited pan and scan DVDs, I will just wait until widescreen DVDs are released and until than I will just tape the movies from that classic movie network that shows them in widescreen.

Pan & Scan DVD - how disappointing!
Rosalind Russell is without doubt my favourite actress. What a versatile performer and genuinely good person she was. Roz appeared in many great films (she made 51 films in total), of which only a handful is available on DVD. These include "Auntie Mame", "His Girl Friday" and "Picnic". So, when the release of this delightful film and the film of which this is the sequel, "The Trouble With Angels", was announced as coming soon on DVD I was ecstatic. Coming from Columbia Home Video (who released both "Picnic" and "His Girl Friday") I expected the very best in preparation and presentation.
What a disappointment to learn that both films are to be released in pan and scan versions only. My question is...WHY??? In this day and age where widescreen televisions are so popular and where we have come to expect fully restored versions with plenty of bonus features on DVD Columbia offers what is essentially only part of each film. And, at full price! Additionally, "The Trouble With Angels" is regularly shown on cable TV in a widescreen print so one is available! Roz deserves much better!
I for one will not be purchasing this release. My advice: don't buy only part of this film. Columbia Home Video, if you read this review, do right by Roz and release both these films in their entirety! ... Read more

Description

The saga of the Titanic has captured the world's imagination for almost a century. Its story of greed, loss and survival remains as fascinating today as it did on that fateful, moonless night in April, 1912. Long before James Cameron's blockbuster "Titanic," "S.O.S. Titanic" meticulously recreated the world's most lavish luxury liner and its sumptuous, gala atmosphere during the four-day journey leading to the disaster. The all-star cast includes Harry Andrews as Captain Smith, Cloris Leachman as the unsinkable Molly Brown, Susan Saint James, Ian Holm, Helen Mirren and David Warner. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

"S.O.S. TITANIC" (UK/USA 1979)
If you've seen "Titanic" (1953), "A Night To Remember" (1958) and "Titanic" (1997), but not "S.O.S. Titanic" (1979), you are likely to be disappointed with the latter, but not eveybody is. It is true, "S.O.S. Titanic" is not very accurate in its historical representations of the Titanic story, but the effects (especially the sinking models of the ship) are very good indeed. In my view, the characters are well developed, although (with the exception of the costumes) it feels as though you are looking at life in the late seventies and not 1912. It was the first Titanic movie to be filmed in colour, and I think the producers did a good job: after all, "S.O.S. Titanic" is only a made-for-TV movie. Stars include: David Janssen, David Warner, Cloris Leachman, Susan Saint James, Ian Holm and Helen Mirren. Not at all bad, but not in an accurate, historical sense.

Great Cast wasted by bad script.
I saw this movie recently on an old VHS release, and boy it is terrible. I saw so many wonderful actors wasted on a bad script that looked like it was originally written as an episode of the Love Boat.

It Is Edited!
This movie conveys the feel of ocean travel more than any of the others, including A Night To Remember, which was about the most British feeling movie.

S.O.S. Titanic gives more spotlight to steerage than any of the others, and endless scenes that are absent of music, other than what would have been the tunes of the time, also makes this one effective.

But scenes are cut! Scenes removed are:

*The opening scene of the Carpathian rescue (several of these scenes are spliced onto the end)
*The delightful sauna scene -- "I'll give you, 'Sheharrazade'!"
*Yes, the boot shine lads are deleted!
*Mrs. Harris' fall down the stairs and her standing ovation when she next enters with a cast on her arm (for the record, this did indeed happen, her fall and the cast. I don't know about the ovation).

*The steerage sing along of "Isn't she grand, boys? Isn't she grand?"

*Beesley observes the snoozing librarian and quips "there I sit thirty or forty years on."

*When Beesley jumps to the lifeboat, Fred Barrett asks him why he has his night clothes still with him in his hand, and Beesley laughingly replied "I don't know. I don't know."

*The sinking was longer (I recorded it off onto an audiotape years ago and still have it)

*Mrs. Astor's weeping scene was longer. It's cut here.

Thankfully we do get to see young Mr. Long and his companion, I believe, Jack Thayer, who had both been spying on the ladies sauna, when they jump off the ship.

We also see our boot shine lads debating prayer. "YOu a Catholic? Me neither. What difference does it make now?"

It seems like there was also a longer stretch of a steerage dance that was removed.

The movie is inaccurate in stating that Fireman Fred Barrett perished. It was Fred Barrett who was manning the lifeboat that Laurence Beesley leapt into.

If ever the complete version is released, I would be very interested in obtaining it. As it is, it had been so long since I had seen this movie, I didnt care.

The re-editing job was done wrong or the original movie was done wrong, as we see Helen Mirren observe Ian Holm as he enters the lifeboat, she is already aboard, then we get Mirren talking to architect Thomas Andrews.

It really does look like there has been a severe re-editing job. The scenes of the overturned lifeboats should have occurred after the ship sank, not just before. This is also when David Warner is trying to bring someone into their lifeboat.

For some reason, this is pieced together as taking place just before the sinking.

S.O.S. Titanic
Although a TV movie and looking very much like it, this Titanic picture is quite entertaining and leaves the audience with an accurate emotional impact of the tragedy. The acting, especially from Cloris Leachman as Molly Brown, is most excellent. The script is nicely paced and organized to create high sympathy for the likeable people who died in the sinking of the unsinkable ship. One of the most heartbreaking sequences is when the crying baby is sitting on the wet floor of the Titanic while it's sinking. High quality entertainment.

A good film that was the first Titanic movie I ever saw
I've been a Titanic enthusiast for years, and this was the first Titanic-related film that I ever saw. I'm very glad to see that it has been released on DVD, which I purchased a few weeks ago. I really like the music without voices feature, as the music used in the film is gorgeous at times. If ANYONE can name that slow Irish tune that Gerard McSorley ("Martin Gallagher") and Antoinette O'Reilly ("Irish Beauty") dance their first dance to (April 13), please e-mail me the name of it!! Although not 100% accurate on facts or people, it is still worth the watch. One downside to this DVD has already been pointed out by a previous poster, and that is the fact that several minutes of several scenes have been cut out. There is a scene with those boot cleaners that is axed, as well as a rather stirring dance in steerage on the last night, with the song "The Irish Washerwoman." There are other missing scenes, as well, but those are the main ones that come to mind. Maybe TCM will air the full movie someday, since it used to air all the time on TBS years ago. Anyway, this DVD is worth buying overall! ... Read more