Soul Man

Mark Watson gains admission to Harvard Law School, but his wealthy father refuses to cover the tuition. Learning that a scholarship reserved for Black students is available, Mark takes tanning pills beyond the recommended dose until his skin darkens enough to pass as African American, and he wins the award. At Harvard he falls for Sarah Walker, a Black classmate and single mother who was the intended recipient of the scholarship and works as a waitress to support her studies and her young son. Mark also becomes involved with Whitney Dunbar, the daughter of his racist landlord, while his roommate Gordon Bloomfeld knows the truth about his identity. His parents' unexpected arrival forces him to keep the deception from collapsing.

Soul Man is a 1986 American comedy directed by Steve Miner, the fourth of the thirteen films he directed, arriving between House and Warlock. Carol Black wrote the screenplay, and Steve Tisch produced it through The Steve Tisch Company. C. Thomas Howell plays Mark, with Rae Dawn Chong as Sarah, Arye Gross as Gordon, James Earl Jones as Professor Banks, Melora Hardin as Whitney and Leslie Nielsen as her father. The production cost about 5 million dollars and returned roughly 35 million worldwide, a strong commercial result for a modestly budgeted comedy.

Audience reaction was mixed, with the film holding a 5.8 rating from around 2,800 votes on IMDb and a 5.3 from about 170 votes on TMDB.