By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 1, 2024 — I first saw the movie Mandingo when it was released in the 1970s and watching it a short while ago, the raw and unbridled racism depicted in it evoked a great deal of anger and brought back some painful memories of the overt racism that existed when I was growing up in The Bahamas, although not as viciously brutal.
Mandingo is a 1975 American historical melodrama film that focuses on the Atlantic slave trade in the Antebellum South. The film’s title refers to the Mandinka people, who are referred to as “Mandingos”, and described as being good slaves for fighting matches. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis for Paramount Pictures, the film was directed by Richard Fleischer. The screenplay, by Norman Wexler, was adapted from the 1957 novel Mandingo by Kyle Onstott, and the 1961 play Mandingo by Jack Kirkland (which is derived from the novel).
The film stars Perry King as Hammond, the son of cruel slave owner Warren Maxwell (James Mason). Hammond is known to rape the female slaves on his father’s plantation, and his father orders him to marry a white woman to produce grandchildren with no black ancestry. Hammond marries Blanche (Susan George), his cousin, who becomes jealous that he pays more attention to his black lover Ellen (Brenda Sykes) than to his wife, leading Blanche to force the Mandingo fighting slave Mede (Ken Norton) into a sexual relationship with her.
Mandingo received negative reviews upon release. However, retrospectively, the film’s reception became much more favorable. It has been variously seen as a big-budget exploitation film made by a major studio, a serious film about American slavery, examining historical horrors committed against African Americans, or as a work of camp. It was a box office hit,P and was followed by a sequel, Drum (1976), which starred Norton as a different character and Warren Oates as Hammond.
HERE’S A SYNOPSIS OF THE PLOT
In the Deep South of the United States prior to the American Civil War, Falconhurst is a run-down plantation owned by widower Warren Maxwell and largely run by his son, Hammond. Hammond and his cousin, Charles, visit a plantation where both men are given black women out of hospitality. Hammond chooses Ellen, who is a virgin. Both she and Hammond watch as Charles abuses and rapes the other woman, with Charles claiming that she likes it. Hammond asks Ellen if this is true, and she says no. Hammond then sleeps with Ellen.
Warren Maxwell pressures him to marry, so Hammond chooses his cousin, Blanche, who is desperate to get out of her house to escape her brother Charles. It is implied that she had an incestuous relationship with Charles. After their wedding night, Hammond is sure that she is not a virgin—a claim Blanche denies. On their way back from their honeymoon, Hammond returns to the plantation where Ellen is kept and purchases her as his sex slave. Eventually, he comes to genuinely care for her.
Meanwhile, Hammond purchases a Mandingo slave named Ganymede. Nicknamed “Mede”, the slave works for Hammond as a prize-fighter. He is forced to soak in a large cauldron of very hot salt water to ostensibly toughen his skin. Hammond also breeds Mede with Pearl, even though Pearl is a blood relation of Mede’s. Hammond makes a great deal of money betting on Mede’s fights.
Rejected by Hammond, Blanche becomes a slovenly alcoholic who does nothing all day long. While Hammond is on a business trip alone, Blanche discovers Ellen is pregnant. Correctly assuming the baby is Hammond’s, Blanche beats Ellen. Ellen flees, but falls down some stairs, and miscarries. Hammond (who had promised Ellen that her baby would be freed), returns to Falconhurst and discovers Ellen lost the baby. Threatened with bodily harm by Warren, Ellen does not tell him how she miscarried. Hammond gives Ellen a pair of ruby earrings, which she wears while serving an evening meal. Hammond gave the matching necklace to Blanche, who becomes enraged to find Ellen being publicly favored by Hammond.
Hammond leaves on another business trip, taking Ellen with him. A drunken Blanche demands that Mede come to her bedroom. Although the other slaves attempt to stop him, Mede does as he is ordered. Blanche says she will accuse Mede of rape if he does not have sex with her, so he is forced to spend the night with her, which he does on several occasions.
Hammond returns to the plantation. A great deal of time has passed since Hammond and Blanche’s marriage, and Warren Maxwell is eager for a grandchild. Sensing that the marriage is troubled, Warren locks Hammond and Blanche in a room together and refuses to let them out until they reconcile. They appear to do so. A short time later, Blanche announces she is pregnant, but when the baby is born, it is clear the child is mixed race.
To avoid a scandal, the child, on doctor’s orders, is allowed to bleed to death from its umbilical cord. Sickened at Blanche’s sexual indiscretion, Hammond asks the doctor if he has the poison he uses on old slaves and horses. He pours the poison into a toddy for Blanche. An outraged Hammond then seeks out Mede, intending to kill him. As Hammond attempts to force Mede into a boiling cauldron of water, Mede tries to tell him that Blanche blackmailed him into having sex with her.
Hammond shoots Mede twice with a rifle and the second shot throws Mede into the boiling water. Hammond uses a pitchfork to drown Mede. In a fit of fury, the slave Agamemnon picks up the rifle and aims it at Hammond. When Warren calls him a “crazy nigger” and demands that he put the gun down, the slave shoots and kills Warren. As he runs away, Hammond kneels helpless next to Warren’s lifeless body.
SOURCE: Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia
