Black Mama, White Mama
| Black Mama, White Mama | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Eddie Romero |
| Produced by | John Ashley Eddie Romero |
| Written by | H.R. Christian Jonathan Demme |
| Starring | Pam Grier Margaret Markov |
| Music by | Harry Betts |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 19, 1973 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Language | English |
Black Mama, White Mama is a 1973 women in prison film with elements of blaxploitation, starring Pam Grier and Margaret Markov, and directed by Eddie Romero.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The action opens in a woman's prison, located on an island in the South Seas. Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) is the girlfriend of the island's biggest pimp and drug dealer, and she just ran off with $40,000.00USD of his money. Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) is a leading member of the local anarchist group. Lee and Karen are two of the newest inmates at an all-woman's penitentiary.
It's not too long before the Warden ships the pair off to another facility - where they are stopped in route by a group of Karen's fellow revolutionaries who are keen to free her. During the big gun battle, things go horribly wrong - the federals find reinforcements, the revolutionaries run, and Lee and Karen flee chained together. So begins their flight across the island. Each girl wants to go different directions - with Karen wanting to overthrow the government and Lee wanting to leave the island with her money - but they can't unlock their chains. Eventually, the two put aside their differences long enough to save their skins from the ogreish and murderous whoremaster. Meanwhile, hunting the pair is the lecherous Ruben (Sid Haig) a displaced cowboy.
[edit] Cast
- Pam Grier — Lee Daniels
- Margaret Markov — Karen Brent
- Sid Haig — Ruben
- Lynn Borden — Matron Densmore
- Zaldy Zschornack — Ernesto
- Laurie Burton — Warden Logan
- Eddie Garcia — Captain Cruz
- Alona Alegre — Juana
- Dindo Fernando — Rocco
- Vic Diaz — Vic Cheng
- Wendy Green — Ronda
- Lotis Key — Jeanette
- Alfonso Carvajal — Galindo
- Bruno Punzalan — Truck driver
- Ricardo Herrero — Luis
[edit] Trivia
- Several Volkswagen Country Buggies are used in the film; these were based on the VW Beetle chassis originally for the Australian market. The Country Buggy was locally produced in the Philippines as the Sakbayan using VW powerplants sourced from either Brazil or Mexico.
- Part of the story involves a prison break with Grier and Markov escaping while chained together. This is partly an homage to the 1958 classic The Defiant Ones, with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis.
- An advertisement for the film including the tagline, "Chicks in chains... and nothing in common but the hunger of 1,000 nights without a man!"[1]
[edit] References
- ^ "Black Mama, White Mama". The Baltimore Afro-American. UPI (Baltimore, Maryland): p. 18. May 26, 1973. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dLs9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=4SsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=188%2C29726005.
