Pluskylang Great Film overall

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Mark Turner For young people today it's hard to believe that there was a time when certain movies were made that weren't headed for regular theatrical release so much as for drive-ins that were scattered around the country. While some still remain (and should be treasured) there are few drive-ins these days, enough so that some have no idea what a drive-in was. And yet there was a time when stars were made roughing through the trenches of low budget films only to become big later in life. Such was the case with Pam Grier who found bigger roles later in life after having paid her dues in Blaxploitation films like this one.The story is simple: in some small spot in the Philippines two very different women are sent to a women's prison, one a seemingly upright revolutionary determined to help the people and another a would be harem girl on the outs with her "boss". Neither one takes a liking to the other and are more likely to kill each other than those around them. Never the less, the pair find themselves having to work together when they are handcuffed to one another during a transport and escape still chained together.While Karen (Margaret Markov) wants to rejoin her fellow revolutionaries with information they can use all Lee (Grier) wants to do is get as far away as possible along with the money she stole from her gangster lover. Their trek across county in search of assistance and an escape makes up the majority of this movie. Along the way we get to learn about the ruler of the island, connections to dirty cops and bounty hunters (including the great Sid Haig) who want nothing more than to take on the job of finding these two women. Will they escape? Watch and see.The movie contains everything that was essential to drive-in movies, especially exploitation films, at the time. If you have a women in prison film expect to see gratuitous nudity and at least once a shower scene that allows women to be displayed. Cat-fighting in these films is a must and can be checked off the list for this film. A lesbian guard is almost always in attendance, another check off the list here. And corrupt officials are always to be found, one more check on the list completed.What makes this film work is first off the plot device of two women, one black and one white, chained together who must work together to get where each one wants. The easiest comparison for this is the film "THE DEFIANT ONES" where Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier found themselves in the same situation. While not a rip-off of that film it does use the same device. The other thing that makes it work is the acting ability of all involved. The three main leads, Grier, Markov and Haig, made a living in many low budget flicks in their time. What many may not recall is just how good they were in those films. There are many low budget films with some of the worst acting in them. This isn't one of them.As with most Arrow Film releases (which I always praise) this one is no exception to the rule. They have once again outdone themselves for fans of the film and the genre. The transfer of the film has never looked better. That's always a plus when it comes to films that have more or less been tossed aside and not given their due. Arrow always makes each release look as close to a new film as possible with the best transfers around.As for extras they have done more than many as well in that department. Not only do you get the best looking print of this film to be found as well as one that has had the sound retooled, you get a commentary track with filmmaker Andrew Leavold, and interview with Margaret Markov, and interview with Sid Haig, an archive interview with director Eddie Romero and the trailer for the film. All at a reasonable price. Not only that but the first pressing also includes a booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Temple of Schlock s Chris Poggiali and extracts from the original press book, illustrated with archive stills and posters. Wow! Fans of the movie, fans of Pam Grier and Sid Haig and fans of the drive-in will delight in the release of this film. For me it just showed once again how great a job Arrow Film continues doing and makes me anxious to see each month just what they have to offer.

Boba_Fett1138 Pam Grier is in this but I would call this movie still more exploitation than blaxploitation really.It's a movie filled with some (unconvincing) violence and random nudity and sex. So obviously this is a exploitation flick alright. Now, I have no problem with some nudity and sex in a movie but problem with exploitation flicks is often being that those moments are very random and add nothing at all to the movie its story. It instead slows it more often down because it often focuses heavily on those moments and make them overlong.The first half of the movie is pretty much being a lesbian prison exploitation flick, with attractive female prisoners walking around in tight and short outfits and with female guards, who do more than just eye them. The second half is totally different however. It is way more random than its first half and you would think that the movie would start to focus on the two female prisoners who escaped but are still being chained together but the movie focuses more on the different groups chasing them. And there are a whole bunch of people after them, which perhaps sounds pretty cool but instead more works out as being unnecessary and overly complicated. It's as if the movie tried too hard to create some depth to its story and characters but it really doesn't work out too interestingly.Of course it's being a pretty cheap made and looking movie. Does also prevents from anything in the movie to ever work out above the level of decent. Nothing special about the movie its settings, directing or acting but it all serves its purpose well enough and make this still a watchable movie.Yes, the movie is being regardless of everything still a pretty entertaining one to watch, like often is the case with '70's exploitation pieces. Even though the story is being very random, it still is what makes the movie a fun one to watch because so much random insanity is going on in it. Lots of moments and characters don't even serve a purpose in the movie, once you start thinking about them but you should never think too much about anything going on when watching an exploitation flick in the first place.Enjoyable enough for what it is.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

bkoganbing Imagine an exploitive remake of The Defiant Ones with a black chick and a white chick attached to each other. Set the story on some Caribbean island where the drug dealers rule and the revolution has arrived. And have the black woman be from Huggy Bear's stable of ladies and the white woman be a watered down Patty Hearst and you've got Black Mama, White Mama.In those waning days of the drive-in theater this item must have been a big old hit. All the hot buttons of the Seventies are pushed in this one. Even though they both fill out their clothes better and will get a few whistles from the males in the audience no one is ever going to mistake Pam Grier and Margaret Markov for Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. All right, Halle Berry and Jamie Lee Curtis.Margaret and Pam are prisoners where the guards and the warden look lasciviously at the new fish arriving. Margaret is a rich girl from the state who took up 'the revolution', whilst Pam's your basic high priced call girl who's been servicing the local drug kingpin and grew tired of it and tried to leave the island.Margaret's fellow revolutionaries ambush the bus transporting them from the women's prison to town, but they get lost in the escape. Both have their different agendas, but like Sid and Tony they can't quite agree on whose agenda comes first. Makes for some interesting times as the police, the drug dealers, and the revolutionaries are all looking for these two illfated chain buddies.Just so you don't get any wrong ideas the head of the revolutionaries and Markov's kanoodling partner is named Ernesto played by Filipino actor Zaldy Zshornack. The whole mess was shot in the Phillipines who were getting their own film industry started.Nice location photography in the Phillipines is all that Black Mama, White Mam has to recommend it. But if you're a fan of really bad black exploitation flicks, this is one for you.

Ed Uyeshima The title pretty much lets you know what you're getting. It's a grade-C howler but not as blatantly funny as I was hoping. Directed by exploitation film specialist Eddie Romero from a story that originally came from Jonathan Demme (long before directing "Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia"), this low-budget 1972 action movie was obviously filmed in the Philippines but set in some anonymous third world country. Playing hooker and small-time drug dealer Lee Daniels, blaxploitation superstar Pam Grier plays the first half of the title role, while long-forgotten Margaret Markov is the other half, Karen Brent, an unlikely Patty Hearst-like political revolutionary looking to partner with her comrades to overthrow the oppressive local government. Naturally antagonistic toward each other, they are in a women's prison camp where they wear inexplicably bright yellow mini-skirts as uniforms. Run by a closeted warden and lecherous matron, the prison is just an excuse for a lengthy shower scene and some half-hearted cat-fighting as Lee and Karen are pitted against each other. Of course, they escape but shackled together a la "The Defiant Ones" and continue the cat-fighting until they attack a couple of nuns to steal their habits.Meanwhile, various groups of unsavory men are in pursuit - the loutish drug lord looking for Lee who stole $40K from him, the rather passive revolutionaries looking for Karen, and the incompetent police (who suffer the humiliation of exposing their privates to the drug lord). Needless to say, everything eventually comes to a head but not before gratuitous nudity by a number of Filipino women, a dog wears Karen's panties and some of the worst of 1970's men's fashion (one beer-bellied revolutionary wears a leather halter top with a straight face). There is a rather sad ending, but what's truly sad is how much of the potential black comedy is missed entirely in this hilariously preposterous exercise. Sadly, Grier is disappointing in this outing because her character is not allowed much to do beyond dealing with all the "jive", while Markov is an Amazonian blonde whom I am convinced is trying desperately to be credible. Since no one displays any talent for acting, the rest of the cast is not worth noting, except balding, bug-eyed Sid Haig, who uses his standard psycho persona as the drug lord. The 2003 DVD contains only the original trailer as an extra.