Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

gkeith_1 Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. Hilarious. This film is so funny. The nuns outfits are twin penguin / Siamese twin paper dolls. The two women on the run manage to attack and whack their aggressors. They win. Put aside their hatred after beating each other up some more. They outwit a lot of people. The buses are cute. Karen gets killed in the end. I did not like that. This knocks my ten down to a nine. I am a film critic and movie reviewer. This film I call a tragicomedy. It was insanely stupid, yet I had to watch the whole thing without waiting for the recording to finish.

gavin6942 When two trouble-making female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight their way across the wilderness, igniting a bloody shootout between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries.From a story by pre-fame Jonathan Demme, this is partly an homage to the 1958 classic "The Defiant Ones", which structured the same type of situation for its leading characters, played by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. Then we bring on director Eddie Romero, who was an actual Filipino director who worked primary in the Tagalog language. Well done, AIP, for not bringing in your own guy.There were a number of jungle revolutionary films in the early 1970s, starting with Jack Hill's "Big Doll House" (1971), also starring Pam Grier. Actually, Grier was the queen of 1970s Filipino jungle women-in-prison films, also appearing in Hill's "The Big Bird Cage" (1972), plus Gerardo de León's "Women in Cages" (1971). Grier really made her name in these type of films before transitioning to "Foxy Brown".Grier's co-star Margaret Markov also appeared in "The Hot Box" (again written by Jonathan Demme). She starred opposite Pam Grier again in "The Arena" (1974). She never quite reached the level of Grier because during the making of the latter she started dating producer Mark Damon (who had risen to fame through Roger Corman); the two later married and Markov retired.The Arrow Video disc features an audio commentary with filmmaker Andrew Leavold, director of "The Search for Weng Weng". He loves to recommend the documentary "Machete Maidens Unleashed", and I would second that if you want to see how "Black Mama" fits into the whole Filipino action film cycle.We also have new interviews with stars Margaret Markov and Sid Haig. Markov covers the entire breadth of her career, even spending time discussing Rock Hudson and Gene Roddenberry on "Pretty Maids All in a Row" (1971). Haig had many films in Philippines, so he has a few tales to tale. We are treated to a previously unseen archive interview with director Eddie Romero. (Exactly why an interview would have been filmed and not used, I don't know.) What is missing? An interview or commentary from David Sheldon, as on the disc for "Sheba Baby". Sheldon has contributed by far the best audio commentary in years, and we really need more of those from him.***

sonya90028 The plot for Black Mama White Mama, revolves around two female inmates, at a women's prison in the Phillipines. One Black, and one White. These two women, are thrown together in the prison. Pam Grier is Lee Daniels Lee is incarcerated in the hellish women's prison, for dancing as a harem girl. Lee's boyfriend owes her part of his profits, from his drug-dealing activities. Lee is mainly interested in breaking out of the prison to get hold of her beau's drug money, so that she can leave the Phillipines and assume a better life. Margaret Markov plays Karen Brent, a white women from a privileged background, who is also a revolutionary. Karen has joined a group of revolutionaries, determined to change the corrupt Phillipino political system. She's captured by Phillipino authorities, and held as a political prisoner.The story-line takes-off, when Karen and Lee break out of the prison they were in together. The two of them also happened to be chained together at the wrist. As they flee, they also fight with each other, because they have different goals to pursue. Naturally, they hate being chained together. But they also realize that they must put aside their differences, to help each other survive while they evade capture.If this film seems very similar to The Big Bird Cage, it's because much of the cast in the two films is the same, as well as their location in the Phillipines. Roger Corman, has always had a consistent stable of actors, that he used in all of his 70s B movies. Besides Pam Grier, Sid Haig, Roberta Collins, Claudia Jennings, Betty Anne Rees, and William Smith, were also among the many actors that were frequently cast, in Corman's AIP films.Like The Big Bird Cage, Black Mama White Mama, relies on too much gory violence to be palatable. Pam Grier conveys her usual tough chick persona in this film, and shows her competence as a female action heroine. Margaret Markov is less effect, in her portrayal of the revolutionary Karen. She just seems to fragile and well-coiffed, to be a dedicated political guerrilla. Except for Sid Haig, as the colorful Ruben, the rest of the cast is forgettable.This film has little entertainment value, unless excessive, heinous acts of violence are your thing. Only the performances by Pam Grier and Sig Haig, make this film worth watching.

bkoganbing Imagine an exploitive remake of The Defiant Ones with a black chick and a white chick attached to each other. Set the story on some Caribbean island where the drug dealers rule and the revolution has arrived. And have the black woman be from Huggy Bear's stable of ladies and the white woman be a watered down Patty Hearst and you've got Black Mama, White Mama.In those waning days of the drive-in theater this item must have been a big old hit. All the hot buttons of the Seventies are pushed in this one. Even though they both fill out their clothes better and will get a few whistles from the males in the audience no one is ever going to mistake Pam Grier and Margaret Markov for Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. All right, Halle Berry and Jamie Lee Curtis.Margaret and Pam are prisoners where the guards and the warden look lasciviously at the new fish arriving. Margaret is a rich girl from the state who took up 'the revolution', whilst Pam's your basic high priced call girl who's been servicing the local drug kingpin and grew tired of it and tried to leave the island.Margaret's fellow revolutionaries ambush the bus transporting them from the women's prison to town, but they get lost in the escape. Both have their different agendas, but like Sid and Tony they can't quite agree on whose agenda comes first. Makes for some interesting times as the police, the drug dealers, and the revolutionaries are all looking for these two illfated chain buddies.Just so you don't get any wrong ideas the head of the revolutionaries and Markov's kanoodling partner is named Ernesto played by Filipino actor Zaldy Zshornack. The whole mess was shot in the Phillipines who were getting their own film industry started.Nice location photography in the Phillipines is all that Black Mama, White Mam has to recommend it. But if you're a fan of really bad black exploitation flicks, this is one for you.