Written by Carol Black, Directed by Steve Miner, produced by Neal Marlens and Carol Black, well-known TV producers
| Starring: | C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, Ayre Gross, James Earl Jones, Julia Louis Dreyfuss, McClara Hardin, Leslie Nielsen, James B. Sikking |
Our boys, C. and Arye, are spoiled rich kids from L.A., both of whom are legitimately admitted to Harvard Law School. However, C.`s parents get weird when they decide it would be a growth experience for their son to pay for school himself. With no marketable skills and no work history, will our hero be able to follow his friend east to Harvard?
He needs a scholarship badly, but the deadlines have almost all passed, and besides, his family is rich, even if he has no money of his own. Arye concocts the plan of applying for a minority scholarship listed in a catalogue. C. puts on skin dye, changes his hair and pretends to be black. Everything but his race remains the same (he thinks). He gets the scholarship and he`s in like Flynn.
Once at Harvard, complications develop however, and the inevitable lessons begin to be learned. While he thinks he`s being sesnsitive, C. realizes just how little he really knows about race relations and class distinctions. He is harrassed by lowlifes and bigotted police, and learns that his fraudulent scholarship came at the expense of poor but intellgent Rae, a single mother and classmate who was the runner up in the scholarship competition. The closer they become, the more guilt C. feels. To top it all off, he is named to the prestigious student judicial board by professor James, an African-American John Houseman, who has become his mentor.
The deception is revealed, but C. is sufficiently contrite and agrees to pay back the grant and generous reparations out of future legal earnings. After a period of anger, Rae accepts his sincere apologies and takes him back-C. is too loving with her and her son to simply toss away.
Comment: admittedly, the blackface routine is bound to offend some, but the entire experience does teach C. valuable lessons, and no one is really being mocked here.
Trivia: Arye was Ellen`s first roommate, back when the show was still good. Cameo by Ron Reagan, Jr. Also, Julia was a star of the major hit TV show Seinfeld.
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