Mandingo (1975)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Kyle Onstott (novel)
Jack Kirkland (play)

Release Date:

25 July 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Romance

Tagline:

Expect The Savage. The Sensual. The Shocking. The Sad. The Powerful. The Shameful. Expect The Truth.

Plot:

A slave owner in the 1840s trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.

Plot Keywords:

Slave | Slave Owner | 1840s | African | Racist

Awards:

1 win

Cast

James Mason	...	Warren Maxwell
Susan George	...	Blanche Maxwell
Perry King	...	Hammond Maxwell
Richard Ward	...	Agamemnon
Brenda Sykes	...	Ellen
Ken Norton	...	Mede
Lillian Hayman	...	Lucrezia Borgia
Roy Poole	...	Doc Redfield
Ji-Tu Cumbuka	...	Cicero
Ben Masters	...	Charles
Paul Benedict	...	Brownlee
Ray Spruell	...	Wallace
Louis Turenne	...	De Veve
Duane Allen	...	Topaz
Beatrice Winde	...	Lucy

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | France:-16 | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (video rating) | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (cut) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation - State Highway 75, Geismer, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

Edwin W. Edwards (Governor of Louisiana at the time) was cast as a gambler and several scenes were filmed but excised before release. Upon the advice of public relations staff, Edwards decided the potential damage to his public image when the salacious content of the film was revealed would be too great.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During Mede's first fight in the city, he and his opponent are wrestling on the grass. When they roll over the floor, the grass is moving like a slipping carpet would, revealing it to be a sheet of artificial green, probably lying on the floor of a sound stage.

Quotes:

Mede: I thought you was better than the white man, Masta. But you is just white!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Family Guy: Untitled Griffin Family History (#4.27)" (2006)

Shamefully underrated film.

This unflinching, hard-hitting look at slavery is a severely underrated and misjudged film. That's probably because it sheds light onto a tough, painful subject that many people would prefer to ignore or forget; if you're expecting a "slaves-and-masters-are-all-a-big-happy-family" depiction of the life in the mid-19th-century Southern plantations, then this simply isn't your movie.

"Mandingo" was followed, one year later, by "Drum". They are both far better films than their reputations might make you believe, and they are also handsome, almost sumptuous productions with a far lower "sleaze" quotient than many reviews seem to indicate. They are both worth seeing - preferably as a double bill. (***)