Black Mama, White Mama
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Movie Reviews of Black Mama, White Mama
Movie Review: [3.5]--"Let's get down to some serious B&tt-kicking business."
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't understand anyone who says that this is one of the worst exploitation films they have ever seen. Just the title alone gives this cult status and all the ingredients are here for it being an extremely fun film to watch. Yeah I'll admit that women's Prison flicks are terrible. They are all about getting girls naked. BAD action sequences & Horrible acting always plague these movies. They're usually made for teenagers who watch late night SKINemax. Black Mama White Mama on the other hand is fun. It doesn't take it self seriously. It even has drama that is topped off with a dramatic ending.
Cult figure Pam Grier gets her first starring role in this WIP ("Women in Prison"). She plays a convicted hooker who escapes from prison, chained together to another prisoner (a white woman convicted of sedition). The film starts off as any typical 1970s exploitation movie, but it changes gears quickly, becoming a female variation of Kramer's The Defiant Ones (1958). It is a welcome twist to the old formula. Grier is allowed to play a more feminine, gentler role here, and she does a great job with her character. Margaret Markov is effective as Grier's unlikely partner in crime. Fans of Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005) will recognize cult character actor Sid Haig; he is a hoot as Ruben The Cowboy.
Plenty of violence, blood, and sex are combined with a silly subplot about a group of revolutionaries. I thought director Romero did a good job in sustaining the initial momentum, and I liked how the potentially sappy finale remained tough and cruel to the very last second. Morally dubious, but entertaining, and a great showcase for the incomparable Pam Grier. Co-written by Jonathan Demme. This would probably get an NC-17 if released today.
One thing for sure is that you won't ever see a film like this and probably never would. "Black Mama, White Mama" is certainly not a masterpiece but it is worth a look.
Movie Review: Black mama White mama, two hot mamas!
Summary: 3 Stars
Now this be a movie! On an unnamed Carribean Island our heros Grier (prostitute)and Markov (terrorist) are bused into a female prison. Watch female guards get themselves off while watching playful inmates shower. If a prisoner 'plays good' with the head guard they get out of work. Pam don't like having to pull other people's load, gets into a messhal fight with Markov. They are put into the sweatbox together. There is only room to stand, and they must lean their physiques against each other to stand, because the walls are too hot to touch.Later they are chained together for interigation because they both have information on two separate parties (druglords and a terrorist group planning to take over the island). While enroute they escape with the help of a terrorist ambush. While on the run, and chained together, Grier wants to go to one side of the island to get her boat and stolen cash, while Markov wants to go to the other side of the island to get the weapons her terrorist friends need.
High points 1) they dress as nuns while on the run 2) a lot of nudity 3) The rhinestone cowboy Puerto Rican bounty hunter who is as much out of place on that island as is a snowball.
Movie Review: Steamy jungle saga with Pam!
Summary: 3 Stars
Pam Grier is the black mama and Margaret Markov is the white mama in this "homage" (let us not say "rip-off") to the old 1958 Tony Curtis-Sidney Poitier classic The Defiant Ones, in which two escaping prison inmates are chained together, and must overcome their loathing for each other and work together in order to gain their freedom. In this version, director Eddie Romero (of the Blood Island trilogy) has, instead of a black guy and a prejudiced white guy, a black hooker and a revolutionist white girl, which allows for cat-fights and nude scenes, as well as the chase through the Philippine jungle. The two escapees are pursued by the cops, a drug lord, a bounty hunter, and a guerrilla leader, all with their own motives for catching the runaways.
This is another bare-bones DVD from MGM which has only the movie trailer and a scene/language selector for bonus features. (Well, you do see Pam Grier's bare-bones, so that's not so bad!) The image quality is not the best, though. Still, it's worth its price for Romero/Grier/women-in-prison fans.
Movie Review: So bad it's not good !!!
Summary: 3 Stars
Blaxploitation, tough chick cinema, pam grier, 1970s. This is strange movie even for the 70's. I love Pam Grier for mamy reason, two I can think of right now, anyway. It lacked skin, as in all her flicks before, I think this might be one of shortcomins of this one. If you love Pam then it a must have for your collection.Movie Review: Low-Class, Low-Budget and Low on Titillation, a Pointless Women-in-Chains Howler Now on DVD
Summary: 2 Stars
The title pretty much lets you know what you're getting. It's a grade-C howler but not as blatantly funny as I was hoping. Directed by exploitation film specialist Eddie Romero from a story that originally came from Jonathan Demme (long before directing "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia"), this low-budget 1972 action movie was obviously filmed in the Philippines but set in some anonymous third world country. Playing hooker and small-time drug dealer Lee Daniels, blaxploitation superstar Pam Grier plays the first half of the title role, while long-forgotten Margaret Markov is the other half, Karen Brent, an unlikely Patty Hearst-like political revolutionary looking to partner with her comrades to overthrow the oppressive local government. Naturally antagonistic toward each other, they are in a women's prison camp where they wear inexplicably bright yellow mini-skirts as uniforms. Run by a closeted warden and lecherous matron, the prison is just an excuse for a lengthy shower scene and some half-hearted cat-fighting as Lee and Karen are pitted against each other. Of course, they escape but shackled together a la "The Defiant Ones" and continue the cat-fighting until they attack a couple of nuns to steal their habits.
Meanwhile, various groups of unsavory men are in pursuit - the loutish drug lord looking for Lee who stole $40K from him, the rather passive revolutionaries looking for Karen, and the incompetent police (who suffer the humiliation of exposing their privates to the drug lord). Needless to say, everything eventually comes to a head but not before gratuitous nudity by a number of Filipino women, a dog wears Karen's panties and some of the worst of 1970's men's fashion (one beer-bellied revolutionary wears a leather halter top with a straight face). There is a rather sad ending, but what's truly sad is how much of the potential black comedy is missed entirely in this hilariously preposterous exercise. Sadly, Grier is disappointing in this outing because her character is not allowed much to do beyond dealing with all the "jive", while Markov is an Amazonian blonde whom I am convinced is trying desperately to be credible. Since no one displays any talent for acting, the rest of the cast is not worth noting, except balding, bug-eyed Sid Haig, who uses his standard psycho persona as the drug lord. The 2003 DVD contains only the original trailer as an extra.