MovieChat Forums > Mandingo (1975) Discussion > Interesting and exciting.

Interesting and exciting.

posted 12 years ago by omfgitsrohit
2 replies | jump to latest

Mandingo, a brutal exploitation film about a slave owner who trains his slave to be a mandingo. It's not complex but it feels genuine and is fun to watch. But Tarantino's taken so much from this film, as seen in Django Unchained. Candie's clothes, his sister's character and their incestuous relationship, Stephen's limp, the sets, the locations, the mansion, the hotbox, even the slave auction scenes that was cut out of the film. Cinematography's excellent too but what impressed me most was the hypnotic score, very unique consisting of African instruments that I don't seem to able to recognize. The story isn't very unique and the character arcs aren't very involving, but, from a distance, this is interesting and exciting. Tarantino complained that this was one of two instances a major studio made a big-budget exploitation movie, but cut out most of the ugly parts out of his own Django Unchained. This ugly, dystopian world dehumanizes n!ggers and hence, feels far more genuine. 8/10.

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[–] omfgitsrohit 12 years ago

It's also campy and funny. I couldn't stop laughing during a scene where a slave owner puts his feet on a n!gger cub to cure rheumatism.

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[–] olliemankz 9 years ago

I agree. I hadn't thought about the score, but I think you're right there also. Probably perfect.

Tarantino remaking this film is the last thing I would want to see; he's a bit too sensational. This movie was sensational, and the plot, of white marrieds finding peace in the arms of blacks, was sensational ... but underscored a gritty realism. Also, having read up a little on the main character in Twelve Years a Slave and not being too impressed with him, I felt when I watched that movie and again when I rewatched Mandingo that Mandingo was far more honest and compelling. Not that the slaves' mistreatment in Twelve wasnt accurate but the movie felt pretentious. I know Mandingo was an exploitation piece, and yet it just has something true about it that makes it a classic.