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IMDbPro

Mandingo

  • 19751975
  • RR
  • 2h 7m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
3.8K
YOUR RATING
Mandingo (1975)
An 1840s slaveowner trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.
Play trailer3:17
1 Video
19 Photos
  • Drama
  • History
  • Romance
An 1840s slaveowner trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.An 1840s slaveowner trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.An 1840s slaveowner trains one of his slaves to be a bare-knuckle fighter.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
3.8K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Richard Fleischer
  • Writers
    • Kyle Onstott(novel)
    • Jack Kirkland(play)
    • Norman Wexler(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • James Mason
    • Susan George
    • Perry King
Top credits
  • Director
    • Richard Fleischer
  • Writers
    • Kyle Onstott(novel)
    • Jack Kirkland(play)
    • Norman Wexler(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • James Mason
    • Susan George
    • Perry King
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 75User reviews
    • 54Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 3:17
    Official Trailer

    Photos19

    Susan George and Ken Norton at an event for Mandingo (1975)
    Perry King and Ken Norton at an event for Mandingo (1975)
    Susan George and Ken Norton at an event for Mandingo (1975)
    Perry King and Ken Norton at an event for Mandingo (1975)
    Mandingo (1975)
    Ken Norton in Mandingo (1975)
    Mandingo (1975)
    Mandingo (1975)
    Mandingo (1975)
    Mandingo (1975)
    Mandingo (1975)
    James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, and Ken Norton in Mandingo (1975)

    Top cast

    Edit
    James Mason
    James Mason
    • Warren Maxwellas Warren Maxwell
    Susan George
    Susan George
    • Blanche Maxwellas Blanche Maxwell
    Perry King
    Perry King
    • Hammond Maxwellas Hammond Maxwell
    Richard Ward
    Richard Ward
    • Agamemnonas Agamemnon
    Brenda Sykes
    Brenda Sykes
    • Ellenas Ellen
    Ken Norton
    Ken Norton
    • Medeas Mede
    Lillian Hayman
    • Lucrezia Borgiaas Lucrezia Borgia
    Roy Poole
    Roy Poole
    • Doc Redfieldas Doc Redfield
    Ji-Tu Cumbuka
    Ji-Tu Cumbuka
    • Ciceroas Cicero
    Paul Benedict
    Paul Benedict
    • Brownleeas Brownlee
    Ben Masters
    Ben Masters
    • Charlesas Charles
    Ray Spruell
    • Wallaceas Wallace
    Louis Turenne
    Louis Turenne
    • De Veveas De Veve
    Duane Allen
    • Topazas Topaz
    Earl Maynard
    • Babouinas Babouin
    Beatrice Winde
    • Lucyas Lucy
    Debbi Morgan
    Debbi Morgan
    • Diteas Dite
    • (as Debbie Morgan)
    Irene Tedrow
    Irene Tedrow
    • Mrs. Redfieldas Mrs. Redfield
    • Director
      • Richard Fleischer
    • Writers
      • Kyle Onstott(novel)
      • Jack Kirkland(play)
      • Norman Wexler(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      James Mason admitted in interviews that he only made the film to make his alimony payments.
    • Goofs
      During Mede's first fight in the city, he and his opponent are wrestling on the grass. When they roll over on the floor, the grass moves like a slipping carpet would, revealing it to be a sheet of artificial green, probably lying on the floor of a sound stage.
    • Quotes

      Cicero: I'd rather die than be a slave. You peckerwood! That's tight, you peckerwoods was in oppressed in your own land. We was free. Then you brought us here, in chains. But now we here, you just better know it's as much our land as it is yorn. And after you hang me, kiss my ass!

    • Alternate versions
      The international version of the film (released on PAL region 2 DVD) contains a different cut of the film that runs approx. 5 minutes shorter than the U.S. release but also has many scenes presented in alternate clothed takes. In all 12 scenes were either trimmed or re-edited with alternate shots/angles/takes:
      • Scene where slave is bent over and inspected for hemorrhoids is cut.
      • Scene where the wench is being prepared for her deflowering is presented in an alternate take where her breasts are not exposed.
      • Scene with pregnant wench is shot with alternate angles to obscure nudity. Perry King's full frontal nudity is cut and replaced with a closer shot that reveals he is wearing shorts when he kneels down to pray (It looks like a goof - only a bit of the waistband can be seen at the corner of the frame).
      • Alternate takes of the slave being strung up to be beaten are used to obscure nudity, and many shots of him being beat and left bloody are cut.
      • A few seconds where Perry King's cousin rips off a wench's dress and bends her over to begin beating her is cut to remove nudity. The beating is left intact.
      • The slave market scene is edited to remove the topless wenches on display, and the shot where the German widow sticks her hand into Ken Norton's shorts and "inspects" him is cut short. The second shot with her hand in and then removing it is left intact though.
      • An alternate take is used with a prostitute clothed rather than nude at the bawdy house.
      • A few seconds of a prostitute rubbing on Perry King's crotch is cut.
      • An alternate take is used during the fight at the bawdy house so that a prostitute is seen holding her dress up while she cheers whereas in the original she lets it fall and her breasts be exposed.
      • The entire scene between Perry King and Brenda Sykes in which she asks him if he'll let their child go free is presented in alternate clothed takes. In the original film they are both completely nude. Even the camera angles and setups are the same, only with clothes in the international version.
      • In the scene where Ken Norton fights a man to death one long shot where the other fighter claws his back is cut. Also cut is when Ken bites down on the other fighter's neck, is pulled off, and then bites into his neck again. All the close-ups are cut.
      • The Susan George/Ken Norton love scene is almost entirely missing. Ken Norton's nudity is cut, and then the scene ends in an alternate take when the two go out of frame onto the bed. The original scene went on for much longer and exposed Ken Norton's buttocks and Susan George's breasts. The German theatrical version does not feature any of these alterations and is identical to the U.S. release.
    • Connections
      Edited into Afro Promo (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      Born in This Time
      Music by Maurice Jarre

      Lyrics by Hitide Harris (as Hi Tide Harris)

      Sung by Muddy Waters

      [Played during opening title and credits]

    User reviews75

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    Whoops! Thought this was a camp classic.
    I just saw this film on the big screen (the only surviving 35mm print in the world). I had never seen it on video, so seeing it in a crowded theater was my first experience with the film. As a bonus, the director, Richard Fleischer, the star, Perry King, and Brenda Sykes, who plays King's slave "wench" in the film, spoke before the screening.

    The audience alternated between gasping and roaring with immediately regretted laughter throughout the screening. Nobody laughed for a moment at Susan George's supposedly over-the-top performance. And at the climax -- there were astounded gasps all over the theater. Afterwards, once the applause had died down, the audience filed out, stunned. Everyone looked shell-shocked. I wandered around for a while listening to people murmuring: "I told you guys..." "Best I've seen..." "Totally uncompromising..." "That's how it was..." "Didn't pull any punches..." "Amazing..." "Where did you hear about it?..."

    We had one big advantage over most people who see the film. Most viewers go rent the tape because they read about it in, say, Edward Margulies' and Stephen Rebello's BAD MOVIES WE LOVE (which is how I knew about it). MANDINGO has a huge reputation as a camp classic, so people seek out the video where it can be found. Then they take it home and watch it alone, or with a friend or two, pre-primed to laugh.

    The audience I was sitting with at the American Cinematheque theater had, first of all, read the sober, favorable description in the Cinematheque schedule. Then we'd listened to Fleischer himself talk about how he had refused ten times when Dino de Laurentiis had asked him to film the novel, only to finally accept when he realized how he could do it: "By being totally honest and straight with it." And he was, if you view it without a laugh ready. King and Sykes also spoke calmly and soberly about how hard the shoot was, and how the cast considered it an important film but still had trouble handling the emotions it stirred up.

    Fleischer is hardly a symbolic director, although there's a lot of "found" symbolism in 10 RILLINGTON PLACE, for example. But MANDINGO was an obvious statement of the inhumanity of slave-OWNing, and it constantly used the setting and characters to emphasize the moral and physical disintegration of the Deep South under the self-imposed yoke of the slave culture. That sounds pretentious, but in MANDINGO it's totally straightforward. Moral disintegration leads to moral disintegration. The crime is its own punishment. MANDINGO is an antimatter GONE WITH THE WIND.

    MANDINGO, as Fleischer pointed out, was a huge hit on its initial release. It was also viciously attacked by all but two critics in the United States. (Fleischer admitted that he saved all his reviews, and pointed out mildly that those two reviewers -- who were the only critics to go into the film in depth -- pronounced the film a masterpiece. "I don't know if it's that," he said, "but those two were certainly a breath of fresh air.")

    Because of all the controversy, the film was never rereleased. Nobody at the screening could think of a single time it had been screened between 1975 and August 28, 1999. Perhaps it was screened once or twice, but my point is that essentially no one since 1975 has seen this film with an audience, to feel the reactions of those around the room, to see it on the big screen.

    I think it's really unfortunate that MANDINGO has gotten locked into this "camp" label. The film contains so much depravity that I can certainly see why it was selected as a "camp classic". But that wasn't the intent at all. I've heard this film compared to SHOWGIRLS. But SHOWGIRLS was directed by the bizarre Paul Verhoeven (ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL, BASIC INSTINCT). Of course he was going for camp; he always does camp. But Richard Fleischer? He did 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, MR. MAJESTYK, 10 RILLINGTON PLACE (a real gem), THE BOSTON STRANGLER, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, SOYLENT GREEN. He is one of the most mild-mannered directors alive. He's done bad stuff -- CONAN THE DESTROYER and RED SONJA come to mind -- but in the seventies he was doing his best work. And that would have to include MANDINGO -- to my complete amazement.

    I can't believe how different my experience with this film was from its usual "cult" interpretation. Now I wonder if Otto Preminger's HURRY SUNDOWN is as bad as the Medveds said it was in 50 WORST FILMS OF ALL TIME. I'll have to try to see it for myself.
    helpful•130
    20
    • Don-94
    • Aug 29, 1999

    FAQ1

    • What are the differences between the International Version and the US DVD/BD by Legend Films/Paramount?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 25, 1975 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Bitmeyen Kavga
    • Filming locations
      • Houmas House Plantation - 40136 Highway 942, Burnside, Louisiana, USA
    • Production companies
      • Dino De Laurentiis Company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,433,010
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 7 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
      • 4-Track Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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