Review: Black Mama, White Mama

We begin in a South American prison (really the Philippines), where tough revolutionary Margaret Markov and tough African-American hooker Pam Grier are subjected to the usual WIP lesbian warden (Laurie Burton) shenanigans and whatnot. The main thrust of the film has Markov’s revolutionary buddies spring her from the prison bus she’s currently being transported to a supermax prison in. Unfortunately, at the time she’s currently chained to Grier. The two women hate each other vehemently, but must work together to evade the authorities, a government-hired henchman/thug (Sid Haig), as well as a sleazy pimp (Vic Diaz) looking for Grier.

 

Extremely loose 1973 Blaxploitation/exploitation retelling of “The Defiant Ones” from AIP, pretty much dispensing with the character depth of the 1958 original. Directed by Eddie Romero (“The Twilight People”, “The Woman Hunt”, “Savage Sisters”) from a script by H.R. Christian (the vile-sounding “Rape Squad”), this Philippines-set B-movie actually doesn’t resemble the earlier film at all outside of the idea of two escaped convicts chained together, one black and one white. It is however a bit more enjoyable overall than AIP’s two Grier-starring women-in-prison films “The Big Bird Cage” and “The Big Doll House”. It’s a pretty interesting film with a higher body count than you might expect, including some pretty prominent characters. Rather downbeat ending, too.

 

Although I did rather enjoy the two lesbian guards/wardens, I was somewhat glad that the bulk of the film plays away from the prison, otherwise this would get a tad too samey as the aforementioned two prison films. It’s a shame that the film removes the majority of the racial element from the film, as it might’ve given the central actresses Margaret Markov and Pam Grier more to chew on. They both show here that they were probably capable of handling it, too. Grier actually ends up taking a bit of a backseat in this one, which is fine because Markov’s revolutionary character is the more interesting of the two and Markov gives a really solid performance. She’s certainly more effective here than in “The Arena”, co-starring Grier. They get terrific support from frequent Grier co-star Sid Haig (wearing a cowboy hat and the ugliest multi-coloured shirt you’ve ever seen), and especially a sleazy Vic Diaz, both of whom almost walk off with the whole film via sheer force of personality. If you’re a Haig fan this film is an absolute must. Even the van he drives is hilarious, and I highly doubt the director gave Haig much instruction. You just let a guy like Sid Haig loose and roll camera. Laurie Burton is also good as the pervy prison warden who peeps on the ladies in the shower (The requisite shower scene coming a mere five minutes into the film. AIP knows what we came here to see, obviously). Here’s an exploitation film where the performances are actually the film’s strong suit. You don’t see that every day. Better-acted and made than the usual women-in-prison film, this one ends up going on the move pretty quickly to focus on the escape aspect largely instead.

 

More interesting than you might be expecting going in, though it delivers the exploitation goods, too. Plenty of boobs (especially in the first half) and some blood too, it’s also pretty fast-paced which is a big plus. A fairly decent financial success, it’s pretty enjoyable stuff, albeit with a quite downbeat and serious tone at times for this type of thing. I just wish Markov’s character more closely resembled Tony Curtis’ racist in “The Defiant Ones”, just as a point of difference from Grier’s character. Still fun, check it out if this is your kind of thing. Obviously inspired by “The Defiant Ones”, the screenplay is based on a story co-written by the one and only Jonathan Demme (director of “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia”).

 

Rating: B-