Review of Mandingo (1975) by Allan C — 18 Aug 2018

I'd actually never bothered to watch this film before and had it in my mind that it was basically exploitation softcore porn, but since it was being shown on Tuner Classic Movies as part of a series they were running on film depictions of slavery, I decided I'd check it out.

However, my first impressions proved correct. Quentin Tarantino once observed that "Mandingo" and "Showgirls" are the only two instances "in the last twenty years a major studio made a full-on, gigantic, big-budget exploitation movie," which pretty much describes this story that's filled with sex and violence for no real purpose other than to titillate.

Perry King plays the oversexed son of plantation owner James Mason. King purchases a slave named Mede (from Mandingo, hence the title) and then has him participate in a series of bareknuckled brawls with other slaves (he's even made to sit in boiling hot salt water to toughen up his skin).

King also buys a sex slave for himself and Mede ends up bedding King's frigid white wife and all sorts of weird sordid Antebellum drama ensures in a very sleazy and tawdry manner that felt quite uncomfortable to watch.

Directed by Hollywood veteran Richard Fleischer ("Compulsion," "Barabbas," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "The Narrow Margin," "Soylent Green," etc.) and features Hollywood royalty with James Mason (who admitted in interviews that he only made the film to make his alimony payments), this film is a real embarrassment for all involved and I feel dumber for having watched it.

However, the TCM guest film critic presenting the series noted that "Mandingo" was the first film to unflinchingly depict the horrors of slavery (the far superior "Roots" didn't come out until two years later), which is probably the only real reason to watch "Mandingo," although my own sense is that the filmmakers' depictions of violence were done more to titillate than to educate.

"Mandingo" does have it's defenders. One interpretation is that it is a thinly veiled allegory for the Holocaust. However, I am not in that camp and would not recommend this film outside of morbid curiosity.

FUN FACT! A before-he-was-famous Sylvester Stallone was an extra in the movie.