Is Mandingo a sleazy, lurid melodrama; a camp fest; a "blaxploitation" movie or, as critic Robin Wood wrote, "the greatest film about race ever made in Hollywood?" It is all of these simultaneously I would say.
Mandingo takes place on a run-down Louisiana plantation in 1840, run by Warren Maxwell (James Mason) and his son Hammond, played by Perry King, who marries his cousin Blanche (Susan George) in order to produce an heir. But Hammond prefers his black "wenches" and Blanche prefers the slave Mede (Ken Norton). When Blanche gives birth the child "ain't white" and the baby, Blanche and Mede are killed and Warren is killed by another slave. Mandingo deals with patriarchy, sex, race and their many implications the way no other American film has (few indeed have tried). Slaves are sexually exploited by their owners and families are routinely broken up and sold separately. Mede, the Mandingo, is used to fight other slaves to the death and the white men watching them remind one of the crowds today watching boxing. Norton was a professional boxer who fought Ali three times, winning once, and director Fleischer and writer Norman Wexler keep his dialogue to a minimum, using his physical presence effectively.
Seeing Mandingo today reminds one that, though some things have changed, we still have a long way to go when it comes to race in this country and need to be constantly vigilant about not moving in the wrong direction.
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