“Mandingo” (1975)
A good part of why “Mandingo” remains a controversial film is that it was produced and distributed by a major American movie studio, specifically Paramount Pictures. The opening credits boast that an elderly James Mason stars in the film, though he only has a supporting role. Still, the fact that the studio could sell Mason’s star power in the first place is a reminder that the film was a major release. Director Richard Fleischer’s adaptation of Kyle Onstott’s novel may seem tame compared to some other films on this list, especially “Goodbye, Uncle Tom.” But Fleischer also doesn’t apologize for his film’s disreputability, as in an early scene where he films a slave’s exposed breast out-of-focus but directly in the foreground during an early bedside conversation. “Mandingo” is basically a racy feature-length soap opera that redundantly concludes that it was impossible for a slave to advance, even if he or she attracted the fickle attention of his/her master. Together with his father Warren (Mason), a doddering, rheumatism-afflicted plantation owner, young and cruel Hammond Maxwell (Perry King) becomes obsessed with his new slave Ganymede (Ken Norton). Ganymede is trained to fight other Mandingo slaves but he soon realizes that he only has a token position of power over other slaves. Within the context of a studio-produced film, relatively graphic scenes, like when a stripped slave is paddled until his buttocks bleed, are still shocking. But “Mandingo” is not otherwise sensational.
“Drum” (1976)
A sequel to “Mandingo,” “Drum” is more titillating than its predecessor because it goes farther in insinuating what was really wrong with slave owners. In “Mandingo,” Richard Fleischer suggests that slave owners’ interest in their slaves was primarily sexual in nature, but never as overtly as the creators of “Drum,” which features a scene where an openly gay older slave owner tries to force his male slave to have sex with him. In fact, in spite of how muddled “Drum” ultimately is, it’s more compelling than “Mandingo” because it’s also more explicitly concerned with presumed sexual promiscuity and deviancy. Ken Norton plays Drum, Ganymede’s 20 year-old son. Drum is predictably fated to not only follow in his father’s pugnacious footsteps, he also learns that there’s no way to enjoy the weird modicum of power that a favored slave is allowed. Warren Oates plays an older but not-much-wiser Hammond Maxwell, Drum’s master and probably the most sexually frank slave-owner in the film. For example, Hammond wants his daughter’s governess to be a prostitute so she herself doesn’t become a prostitute. Realistically, “Drum” is mostly just a strong variation on the themes that were previously sketched out in “Mandingo.” It has a stronger supporting cast, including Pam Grier and Yaphet Kotto, and is certainly less unpleasant. But it’s ultimately more incoherent, albeit fitfully thoughtful.
How many have you seen? Thoughts? Weight in below.
