"Mandingo" revisited

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I saw Richard Fleischer's Mandingo with a couple of friends at one of the New York repertory cinemas (probably the Carnegie Hall or the Bleecker) in the late '70s. Unavailable on DVD in this country, it's a piece of rank steamy pulp about a slave (Ken Norton), slave-owners (James Mason, Perry King) and inter-racial shtupping (Susan George being a significant participant).

Mandingo had originally opened in '75, but by the time I saw it the cool-cat revisionist attitude had settled in. It wasn't a hoot as much as a howl -- one of the most appalling sexual soap-operas ever made, but also a knowing wallow. It was a cinefile's version of mud wrestling or Tijuana donkey sex made extra-laughable by cheap social criticism. The stamp of "produced by Dino de Laurentiis" made it all the more delicious.

I don't remember laughing or even smirking. (Although one of my friends did.) I don't remember it being a turn-on, even. I've repressed most of the experience (the mind flushes this stuff out as a kind of survival mechanism), but I do remember the repulsion. I've seen my share of exploitation films, but my lingering impression was of a film that truly stunk from the head and the groin.

I was young at the time, however, and I didn't have the perspective to appreciate Mandingo's undercurrents. To hear it from N.Y. Times resident film-dweeb Dave Kehr, Mandingo, to be screened this coming Saturday as part of a mini-Fleischer retrospective at the annual Film Comment Selects series at Lincoln Center, is Fleischer's "last great crime film" as well as "a thinly veiled Holocaust [parable]."

Kehr's auteurist-revisionist view is a classic case of "believing is seeing." Ignore the experience of the film and whatever primal reactions you may have had to it. Consider instead the director's thematic tradition, and focus on the high-minded intent that hangs suspended above the swamp.

"When Mandingo was released, many critics erupted with rage over its aggressively tasteless portrayal of the slave-owning South," Kehr begins, "which seems in retrospect both a desired and appropriate response. More than a portrait of social decadence, Mandingo is Fleischer's last great crime film, in which the role of the faceless killer is played by an entire social system.

"For the French critic Jacques Lourcelles, one of Fleischer's most articulate admirers, the recurring theme of his work is society slipping into decadence. Fleischer's most provocative film on this theme is the still potent Mandingo from 1975 (Feb. 23, Walter Reade Theater), an anti-Gone with the Wind that treats the pre-Civil War South as a swamp of degradation for white masters and black slaves alike.

"Rattling around a tumble-down Tara of peeling plaster and near-empty rooms, James Mason (Captain Nemo in Fleischer's children's classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) presides over a human breeding farm. He is as occupied with finding a suitable stud for his prize female slave as with finding a bride who will give his lame son (Perry King) the male heir he requires.

"The treatment of humans as so much chattel, to be bought, sold and cruelly abused regardless of their social position, makes Mandingo a thinly veiled Holocaust film that spares none of its protagonists. More than a portrait of social decadence, Mandingo is Fleischer's last great crime film, in which the role of the faceless killer is played by an entire social system."

DVD Availabilty Update: Pete Hammond reports he bought a DVD of Mandingo and Drum at Ameoba two years ago. The DVD distributor is Blaxfilm, he says.
Hammond says that copies are available on E-Bay.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 17, 2008 at 10:07 AM

comment #1

George Prager says ...

Poseur alert.

Posted by George Prager at February 17, 2008 12:03 PM

comment #2

Wrecktum says ...

He's kidding, right? Mandingo was exploitation trash gussied up with A-list talent. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Posted by Wrecktum at February 17, 2008 12:09 PM

comment #3

Walter Sobchak says ...

Great piece, Jeffrey.

I can't help but picture Dave Kehr finishing the above mentioned article, pulling it from his vintage typewriter, kissing the pages and declaring "genius!". He then pauses in a moment of clarity, thoughtfully bites his lower lip then mumbles to himself, "shit, I guess I should probably actually see 'Mandingo' before I turn this in, huh".

Posted by Walter Sobchak at February 17, 2008 12:14 PM

comment #4

George Prager says ...

This is why I love HE, a big juicy story about a trashy 70s movie, complete with a personal anecdote and a fop New York Times critic talking out of his ass about a piece of shit movie that everyone knows is not even entertaining enough to be a camp classic. (He should get a job writing exhibit cards at MOMA).

What about DRUM (the sequel)?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=63vvVDJ-wYU

Or the classic SNL parody "Mandingo II"
(No youtube on this, alas, it features Laraine Newman telling Garrett Morris in drag "Pleasure me, you ebony wench" and Bill Murray and O.J. Simpson making out.)

In Andy Warhol's diaries he talks about how much he hates Sidney Lumet, because for about a year he joked that Mandingo was his favorite movie. Lumet, the humorless turd, took him seriously and called him a racist.

Posted by George Prager at February 17, 2008 12:16 PM

comment #5

Walter Sobchak says ...

I should've read that poster before I saw it. I simply wasn't ready for "Mandingo". Sure, I expected the savage, the sensual, the shocking, the sad, the powerful AND the truth. I thought I'd hit everything on the list. Unfortunately I wasn't expecting the shameful.
I look forward to seeing it again expecting all of those things listed. I know that this time I am ready for "Mandingo".

Posted by Walter Sobchak at February 17, 2008 12:19 PM

comment #6

scooterzz says ...

certainly one of the most offensive movies ever made...i will never be able to get the image of james mason's gout scene out of my mind.... it's amazing that this will run at lincoln center without some kind of protest....

Posted by scooterzz at February 17, 2008 12:21 PM

comment #7

mutinyco says ...

The Mandingo ate my baby!

Posted by mutinyco at February 17, 2008 12:39 PM

comment #8

T. Holly says ...

Anything's better than El Cid. I'm hurt, I'm jealous; NY is such a scene -- Mick LaSalle captured it so well in his story. Sergio at TOH defends Fleischer. Who can remember what one's friend did, when they've forgotten themself?

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/02/richard-fleisch.html#comments

Posted by T. Holly at February 17, 2008 12:39 PM

comment #9

Wrecktum says ...

During the 2000 Democratic convention in L.A. the Silent Movie Theater announced that it was going to run Birth of a Nation. (as some kind of tie-in to the convention? Not sure.) The condemnation was swift and strong. Local civil rights groups in L.A. demanded that the theater pull the screening and the NAACP immediately threatened a boycott. The theater (a small, privately owned labor of love) bowed to the pressure and cancelled the performance.

Both Birth of a Nation and Mandingo are vile and racist. But Birth of a Nation is one of the most important movies in the history of American cinema, made nearly a century ago. Mandingo is exploitative trash made relatively recently by A-list talent. Which one should the NAACP be protesting?

Posted by Wrecktum at February 17, 2008 12:45 PM

comment #10

George Prager says ...

"I'll kill the son of a bitch! You tell me who pleasured you for me!"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4WC0F0_57LQ

Posted by George Prager at February 17, 2008 12:56 PM

comment #11

BurmaShave says ...

What the fuck? How can a film on slavery also be a Holocaust parable? This is like when my friend got really drunk and yelled at me about how SIGNS was an allegory about Alien invasion.

Posted by BurmaShave at February 17, 2008 1:07 PM

comment #12

George Prager says ...

"Ken Norton opened MANDINGO."
- D.Z.

"Only a society that hates women could've made MANDINGO."
- Zimmergirl

"I've enjoyed MANDINGO many times, and each viewing reveals singular treasures. It is a testament to James Mason's superior training at the Old Vic that he was able to pull off such a complex character like Warren Maxwell."

-- Ian Sinclair

"Nowhere near as good as SKIDOO."

-- christian

"I love it when rich white latte-sipping liberals condemn a kick-ass movie like MANDINGO. It shows that they don't know dick about the South. Ken Norton rocks hard. Now, I'm off to the Village."

-- NYCBusybody

"Fleischer isn't much of a director, but he did manage to get an above-average performance from Lloyd Bridges in TRAPPED(1949)."

--Mgmax

"I love it when liberals condemn films like MANDINGO and then conveniently forget all the brown people they left for dead in Vietnam and all the millions of brown people they want to leave to the Islamic death squads in Iraq."

-- Dirty Harry

"That's it, I'm done with this site."

-- Craptastic

Posted by George Prager at February 17, 2008 1:32 PM

comment #13

Mr. Muckle says ...

Time for a remake: Mike Tyson, Madonna, Mike Myers, Whoopi Goldberg.

Posted by Mr. Muckle at February 17, 2008 1:38 PM

comment #14

Dave says ...

George, that's grade-A funny.

Posted by Dave at February 17, 2008 1:39 PM

comment #15

Rod32303 says ...

SPOILER MOTHERFUCKING ALERT - When they BOIL Mandigo in a big black kettle near the end of the film? At TWELVE (when I saw this bitch in the 70's in DC, cause it was RARE to find ANY film that had a lead that was black) when I saw this bullshit, I knew it went beyond camp classic (the fuck scenes with King and the hot sister and with George and Norton are themselves, seriously, classic) into just putrid fucking ridiculousness.

Reading that bullshit from Kehr...that's the kind of crap that makes us black folk shake our heads in disbelief and utter the unfortunate, but in Kehr's case, true epitaph, "...crackers."

And the very reason why the NAACP wouldn't boycott this bullshit is because most black folk know this kind of movie KNOWS what it is - bullshit. It's offensive as hell, but it's joke...unlike the precious "Birth Of A Nation," which is always touted as the first important blah blah blah...by white folk.

Just sayin'.

Posted by Rod32303 at February 17, 2008 1:54 PM

comment #16

pm123 says ...

Wow - the anti-intellectual venom is really spewing here. The judgment that it's trash is predicated on the (assumed) belief that Fleischer had no idea he was making something that would offend anyone. What if he made it exactly BECAUSE it would outrage and offend? No, that would force you to entertain the possibility that Richard Fleischer might have been as smart as you guys. Couldn't possibly be, right?... Why is "Dawn of the Dead" a brilliant social critique, but "Mandingo" is trash? Sometimes art is meant to provoke...

Posted by pm123 at February 17, 2008 2:52 PM

comment #17

christian says ...

Nowhere near as good as...HURRY SUNDOWN.

Rod, you're dead on about MANDINGO. But BIRTH OF A NATION is culturally/historically important to show exactly the racist attitude of the day. There's a whole list of offensive work through the century and burying them is to deny history. Anyway.

Posted by christian at February 17, 2008 2:54 PM

comment #18

D.Z. says ...

Wrecktum: Technically, it was 2004, not 2000, when they planned to screen it; and Mandingo didn't lead to more lynchings. Anyway, there was already one shooting there for a petty robbery; there's no need to encourage another riot in this city, too.

Posted by D.Z. at February 17, 2008 3:04 PM

comment #19

BurmaShave says ...

Prager, superb. I miss those guys.

Posted by BurmaShave at February 17, 2008 3:20 PM

comment #20

btwnproductions says ...

I've always found MANDINGO (a staple on cable stations for years) fascinating. I have it on VHS (any copies of the film, or the undistinguished DRUM, on DVD are bootlegs--not that I expect Paramount to be putting out an official version anytime soon). Seventies film doesn't get any more outrageous (or "grindhouse") than the A-list MANDINGO, which as Kehr notes is as clinically filmed as Fleischer's true-crime dramas (and beautifully shot by Richard Kline). It's a Hollywood SALO, and every bit as disturbing in its own way.

Interestingly, the popular source novel was adapted as a Broadway play in 1961, with Franchot Tone in Mason's role (he had his clock cleaned in a divorce and spent the rest of his days scrounging for work in unlikely movies) and, hold on to your hats, Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward in the parts played by Perry King and Susan George. It lasted five performances (the movie, marketed as high-class blaxploitation with those GONE WITH THE WIND-type posters, was a hit).

ROOTS was sort of the MANDINGO antidote. But the film is a genuine shocker, impossible to make today, and difficult to watch. And I prefer it over, say, AMERICAN GANGSTER, a more flagrantly dishonest picture.

Posted by btwnproductions at February 17, 2008 3:26 PM

comment #21

Wrecktum says ...

"Anyway, there was already one shooting there for a petty robbery; there's no need to encourage another riot in this city, too."

You seriously believe that the screening of a hundred year old movie is going to lead to shootings and riots? You believe that's that easy to incite the black population in L.A.? You're treading on dangerous ground here....

Posted by Wrecktum at February 17, 2008 3:41 PM

comment #22

sumo-pop says ...

Hands down, one of the most offensive pieces of shit I have ever seen. Almost impossible.

Posted by sumo-pop at February 17, 2008 3:52 PM

comment #23

corey3rd says ...

What happened to the remake that was being rumored in the late 90s?

Posted by corey3rd at February 17, 2008 4:09 PM

comment #24

nemo says ...

Straw Dogs, Sonny and Jed, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Mandingo -- Susan George was on a hell of a roll in the early to mid 70s.

Posted by nemo at February 17, 2008 5:22 PM

comment #25

nemo says ...

"Straw Dogs, Sonny and Jed, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Mandingo -- Susan George was on a hell of a roll in the early to mid 70s."

Unfortunately it was downhill roll.

Posted by nemo at February 17, 2008 5:53 PM

comment #26

D.Z. says ...

Wrecktum: "You seriously believe that the screening of a hundred year old movie is going to lead to shootings and riots?"

A fucking noose led to a court trial, so...

"You believe that's that easy to incite the black population in L.A.? You're treading on dangerous ground here...."

It was a 25-year gap between the last two riots, and we still haven't made it to the next 25 years without race still being an issue in this city-let alone this country. The last thing we need is to open up old wounds, by re-releasing a movie which creates leads to more wounds.

Do I think that black Angelenos would automatically riot, just because a racist slave movie gets played near their high school? No, but that doesn't mean that at least one of them wouldn't get rightfully pissed off enough to engage in an altercation with the management. This isn't something you take lightly, unless you are willing to take responsibility for whatever consequences emerge. Just ask Theo Van Gogh.

Posted by D.Z. at February 17, 2008 6:59 PM

comment #27

Walter Sobchak says ...

You are (temporarily) my hero, George Prager..... I laffed aplenty...
bastard!

Posted by Walter Sobchak at February 17, 2008 11:29 PM

comment #28

MoroccoMole says ...

The only thing funnier than MANDINGO was the screening of it the American Cinematheque hosted in 1999 in L.A. as part of a Fleischer retrospective. Before the film started, Fleischer and several cast members talked about the film in very lofty terms, as though they had made ROOTS or something.

I'm not sure if they stuck around for the actual screening, which elicited hoots and guffaws throughout the entire running time.

The highlight of that series, for me anyway, was getting to see DOCTOR DOLITTLE on the big screen with Samantha Eggar in attendance. (And yes, I'm reading PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION.)

Posted by MoroccoMole at February 18, 2008 12:05 PM

comment #29