L'Enfer des Mandingos

¨Steve Carver's Drum¨ (1975) is another sleazy sequel stars a good cast: Ken Norton, Warren Oates, Pam Grier, Yaphett Kotto, Isela Vega, made to cash in on the already exploitive ¨Mandingo¨ (1975). Exploitation film concerning the tangled loves and hates of a family and their slaves. It's the mid-nineteenth century Louisiana, exploring the declining years of a slave-breeding family, whose slaves are treated not so much like animals as humanoids, their physical intimacy with the master-race is total. Falconhurst, a run down plantation, is owned by Hammond Maxwell (Warren Oates, the same role as Perry King), who walks with a limp due to a childhood accident. Drum (Ken Norton) has been born to a white prostitute (Isela Vega) and an African-american slave, who raises him with her black lesbian lover. Drum grows up as whorehouse servant but is forced to bare-knuckle-combat with another slave named Blaise (Yaphet Kotto) for the entertainment of a white effeminate/gay slaveholder, a Frenchman named Bernard DeMarigny (John Colicos). Hammond often visits the brothel run by Marianna (Isela Vega), in fact his sexual experiences are confined to slaves and prostitutes. Marianna then introduces him Augusta Chauvet (Fiona Lewis) to work as a housekeeper at the Southern plantation. Drum and his friend Blaise, another bare-knuckle fighter, are eventually sold to plantation owner Hammond Maxwell and are both taken to his house to work. As the hunk Ken Norton is the slave who becomes himself a dutiful, long-suffering servant faithful to his white master. Regine (Pam Grier) is purchased by Maxwell as well and is taken to Falconhurst for his own personal desires as a bed wench. Maxwell's got an out of control daughter Sophie (Cheryl Smith) with raging hormones. And Hammond ultimately chooses Augusta for his wife. Meantime, the nasty plantation owner Warren Oates develops once again his old obsession for the female slaves, as well as his hot teen daughter for the bulky male Mandingos. "Mandingo lit the fuse - "Drum" is the explosion !. The white men wanted the white men wanted a stud to breed slaves- The white women wanted mush more..It scalds. It shocks. It whips. It bleeds. It lusts. It out-Mandingo's "Mandingo"! Expect The savage. The sensual. The shocking. The sad. The powerful. The shameful. Expect all that the motion picture screen has never dared to show before !. Expect the truth. Now you are ready for "Drum" !.

Overheated Southern-fried tale of slavery in the Deep South based on the novel by Kyle Onstoff. The tedious, emasculated stereotype of the Deep South circa 1850, with its stoic slaves and demure southern belles, is effectively exploted here. The film contains violence, lots of nudism, fierce fights and bad taste at at its best. Successfully captures the mood of the old pre-war South while emphasizing the horror and immorality of slavery. However, being an inferior sequel , that's why various aspects remain unfocused and much of the blame rests with the clumsy and chaotic storyline fashioned from Kyle Onstoff's postboiling bestseller: an introductory sequence takes ordinary cruderies , while 'Mandingo' was scrupulous in making of the roles themselves, and gives them the status of voice-over, thereby fatally altering the auidiences's relationshp to what is on the scream. Cameraman Lucien Ballard's 's highty evocative pictorialisation of the Falconhurst domain adds a great deal.

Stars Warren Oates as the proud and villainous slave owner, heavyweight boxer Ken Norton does his second film (the first one was Mandingo in a diffrent role) as the slave who makes his master money with his boxing prowess and Fiona Lewis plays the ambitious and vengeful lady. All of them give usually overacting to show this exaggerated story that's basically a Victorian melodrama with more than an echo of the Brontes. They're accompanied by a fine support cast, such as: John Colicos, Isela Vega, Paula Kelly, Royal Dano, Lillian Hayman, Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith and Brenda Sykes. The motion picture was unevenly directed by Steve Carver. This director utilises violence and the real sexuality behind slavery to mount a passable slice of American Gothic which analyses , in appropriately lurid terms, the twists and turns of a distorted society. Filmmaker Carver is an expert on action/thriller genre such as ¨Capone¨, ¨Big Bad Mama¨, ¨Steel¨, Drum¨ and directed two successful hits for Chuck Norris as ¨Lone McQuade¨ and ¨An eye for eye¨. His last films have been failed as ¨The wolves¨, ¨Dead center¨ and this ¨River of death¨ . Rating : 5/10 average . Too ridiculous for the complexity to be worth watching .

The original Madingo is a little better but not too much, it was starred by James Mason, Perry King, Susan George, Brenda Sykes and Ken Norton. Where he performed Mede, similarly, actress Brenda Sykes, plays Ellen in the first film and Calinda in the second. However, actress Lillian Hayman portrayed the same role, Lucrezia Borgia, in both films. This ¨Mandingo (1975)¨ is one of a large number of 1970s and 80s productions about slavery, made both cinema and TV, along with: ¨Roots¨ (1977) based on Alex Haley's novel; ¨Slavers¨ (1977) by Jurgen Goslar; ¨Ashanti¨ (1979) by Richrad Fleischer; ¨Drum¨ (1976) by Steve Carver, ¨Huckleberry Finn¨ (1974) by J. Lee Thompson; ¨Goodbye uncle Tom¨ (1971) by Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi; ¨Uncle Tom's Cabin¨ (1977) by Al Adamson that's really a retreaded of the film ¨Uncle Tom's Cabin¨ (1965) by Géza von Radványi; ¨Mandinga¨ by Mario Pinzauti; ¨A Woman Called Moses¨ (1978); ¨Raíces: the next generations¨ (1979); ¨The Fight against slavery¨ (1975) by Evan Jones; ¨Master of Dragonard Hill¨ (1987) and ¨Dragonard¨ (1988) by Gérard Kikoïne .

'Drum' is the kinda sorta sequel to 'Mandingo', a movie that tried to walk a fine line between being a "serious" drama and a silly but fun exploitation movie. The director this time around is Steve Carver who made the trash classics 'Big Bad Mama' and 'The Arena', and he doesn't even attempt to disguise the Drive-In feel of this one. Ken Norton once again stars but plays a different character than in 'Mandingo'. Warren Oates plays Hammond Maxwell who Perry King played in the first movie. The idea that they are the same man is totally ridiculous and unbelievable, but once you can get over that hurdle you are in for a good time. Oates is outrageously amusing but without resorting to the hamminess that James Mason brought to 'Mandingo'. He is simply a joy to watch, as an uncouth but charming slave owner, and is the number one reason to hunt down this movie. Oates terrific performance more than makes up for Norton's dull turn. Also very good is Yaphet Kotto ('Blue Collar') as Drum's friend turned enemy Blaise, also one of Oates' slaves. Kotto is excellent (as usual) and it's a pity he wasn't the star instead of Norton. Fiona King ('The Fury') plays Oates' wife to be and is entertaining, as is Rainbeaux Smith ('Caged Heat') as Oates slutty daughter (a similar role to Susan George's in 'Mandingo' but much more enjoyable). Also noteworthy is John Colicos ('The Postman Always Rings Twice') as a very evil and camp slave owner who vows to kill Drum who spurns his salacious advances. The impressive cast also includes blaxploitation legend Pam Grier ('Black Mama, White Mama') who sadly doesn't have all that much screen time, and Oates 'Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia' co-star Isela Vega, who doesn't have much more. 'Drum' is pure exploitative trash and proud of it. If you take it in that spirit and not as a serious study of racism in 19th century America you'll enjoy it immensely. Especially when watching Warren Oates in one of his most enjoyable and underrated performances. This movie is essential viewing for all Oates fans.

I got a copy of it from one of those "avant garde" type video shops that pride themselves in having the hard to find stuff.

You can see this movie without having seen the pre-quel,"Mandingo" and not lose much understanding, since they make almost no references to what happened in the first movie. In fact, the plantation owner's white daughter was not in the first movie, so it really doesn't follow at all (she was in the novel "Mandingo"). Those who thought Mandingo was trashy will really be howling when they see this one....Warren Oates and the woman playing his daughter play for laughs in the middle part of the movie...(that actress went on to make X-rated movies and then dropped out of acting altogether by the mid 80s). John Colicos plays an evil homosexual....I like the overdone white trash talk though (" OH PAW! You ain't gonna marry that uppity bitch!) Great camp. Ken Norton acts like a mannequin most of the movie.....(" He might kill Blaize...or even worse, castrate him" - said with a totally expressionless face). And the dinner conversation is hilarious. ("Son I gonna give you Regine. How long you figger it take you to knock her up?). (" Miss Augusta, you jes got to get used to the fack that Falconhurst is all about n****r fornicatin'. If'n my n****rs stop fornicatin', we stops eatin'.)

Regine: You likes big titties, don't you Mistah Maxwell?

Hammond: Oh you knows I likes big titties.

Regine: Well Miss Augusta, she got BIIG titties.

And I repeat - this is supposed to be a serious movie.

The movie is in that "so bad it's good" category. Check it out, if you have a hankerin' for that genre.

For those who don't know: MANDINGO and DRUM are both adaptations of books from the Falconhurst plantation series of novels by Kyle Onstott and, later, Lance Horner. There were several books in the series; thus far I've run across about five or six of them!

DISCLAIMER: let me state right now that I am black and can totally understand how people are easily offended by these films. The thing is these films feature such sheer, unadulterated exploitation and overripe acting/dialogue that hardcore bad movie addicts will have a hard time NOT finding these films majorly entertaining! I flat-out admit that both MANDINGO and DRUM are among my favorite guilty pleasures, and I view them both as what would happen if John Waters could have gotten away with making a really sleazy soap opera set on a plantation. Some of the dialogue is so ridiculous that it's nearly impossible for me to take these films seriously at all, although the rape and torture does bring one back to the wretchedness of the situation.

Anyway, I don't know where those of you who claim that DRUM is not a sequel to MANDINGO got that idea. Warren Oates is playing the same character that Perry King did in the first film, only this story takes place about fifteen years later. He even makes veilled references to what happened at the end of MANDINGO, specifically the fates of Ken Norton and Susan George. In other words, PAY ATTENTION! And if you think this is exploitativve, go back and watch the uncut version of ROOTS again. Sure it's more "legit" than MANDINGO and DRUM, but it is every bit the exploitative soap opera that they are. For the real flavor and excellence of ROOTS, read the book.

After reading all the reviews about this film, I was expecting either a sleaze-fest or a camp-fest (or both), but I was pleasantly (?) surprised. Although there are undeniably exploitational elements here (incest, castrations, torture), the director doesn't really linger over them. Nobody would mistake this for a thoughtful study on the mistreatment of black slaves in early 19th-century America, but it's a surprisingly well-made film, and the recreation of the period is just fine. The major weakness of "Drum" is that the male lead, Ken Norton, simply can't act; thankfully, Warren Oates and Yaphet Kotto certainly can. Pam Grier is wasted, however, and Colicos is positively ludicrous as a gay slave-trader. (**1/2)