Synopsis
MANDINGO lit the fuse... DRUM is the explosion!
A mid-19th century mulatto slave is torn between his success as a pit-fighter and the injustices of white society.
1976 Directed by Steve Carver
A mid-19th century mulatto slave is torn between his success as a pit-fighter and the injustices of white society.
Warren Oates Pam Grier Ken Norton Isela Vega Yaphet Kotto John Coliscos Fiona Lewis Paula Kelly Royal Dano Brenda Sykes Cheryl Smith Lillian Hayman Alain Patrick Clay Tanner Lila Finn Henry Wills Donna Garrett Harvey Parry May Boss Ilona Wilson Monique Madnes Eddie Smith S.A. Lewis Harold Jones Maurice Emanuel Larry Williams Adina Ross Jeannie Epper Bob Minor Show All…
Mandingo II - A Revolta dos Escravos, Die Sklavenhölle der Mandingos, Violencia negra, Drum, l'ultimo mandingo, L'enfer des mandingos, Барабан, 神龙猛丁哥, طبل, 드럼, Mandingo II: A Revolta dos Escravos
Placed in a vacuum, it would be very hard to recommend anybody put themselves through the experience of watching Drum. But when considered within the context of Hollywood’s shameful history of whitewashing the Antebellum South, a film like this begins to seem sadly, painfully necessary.
We’re farther away from Gone with the Wind and its technicolor dreamscapes of Knights and their Ladies Fair than any sane person would ever want to be. But it’s a place where millions of people lived—some willingly; many forced. Drum strips away the cinematic varnish applied to such Old Hollywood epics; revealing the once romanticized slave masters for the deeply cruel vulgarians that they were.
In one particular scene, men and women arrive at a…
An exploitation film about slavery that spends an hour and a half whetting our appetite for bloodlust and then a gorgeous fifteen minutes during which many a white devil gets what he/she deserves.
MANDINGO — for all its justifiably unpleasant conviction — was a massive downer. This sequel could be seen as delayed catharsis for its predecessor. There’s action, and even humour; although how appropriate those are to the subject matter will vary by audience. It has one foot in Blaxploitation’s tone and approach.
Ken Norton returns as a different slave, but once again owned by Hammond Maxwell of Falconhurst. Warren Oates plays this older version of Max, bringing a goofy charisma. His daughter Sophie is a salacious hellion: exposing herself to the male slaves and constantly trying to molest them. Her father has a new fiancé threatening to bring some propriety to the house, much to Sophie’s vexation. Sophie and Oates’ arguments…
"Give me Blaxploitation! Sexploitation! Gaysploitation! No, that's not enough. I want Jocksploitation! Southsploitation! Slavesploitation! OATESPLOITATION! If it can be sploitated, I want it sploitated! And don't settle for sleaze. Sleaze is for teenagers! I won't stop filming 'til we've achieved full-on REPUGNANCE!"
Like Mandingo, the portrayal of the "peculiar institution" in Drum is a pretty lurid one that's obsessed with sex and violence. It opens in a scene where some women who are white are half naked while others look like southern belles, a mingling of prostitutes and respectable women in a bordello in New Orleans that's about to present a fist fight between two "bucks" played by Yaphet Kotto and Ken Norton for the enjoyment of the South's "gentility". Others have noted it's definitely slavesploitation but probably not that far from the disgraceful truth either. With Warren Oates as a slave owner who makes his money not by selling cotton but by breeding his slaves on his plantation and then selling…
Day 30: Sequels!
The "sequel" to Mandingo, although the two films do not share a whole lot in common. Just enough to make it connect, but these are two totally different films for sure.
I'll shamelessly link my review of Mandingo here. It may be my favorite exploitation film I've seen. It was one of my favorite films I watched last year. I cover everything about it in that reveiw.
While Mandingo showed the viciousness of men, particularly against slaves but also against women in general, Drum never reaches (or attains for) that level of depth.
We get the continuing adventure of slave owner Hammond Maxwell. In Mandingo, this role was played fantastically by Perry King, a character…
Drum contains everything I like in 70's movies: Pam Grier, Rainbeaux Smith, Warren Oates, Yaphet Kotto, squiby over the top violence, and big-budgeted political incorrectness in the guise of a blaxploitation flick. All that was missing was a little extra orange in its fake-blood recipe.
I'd actually go so far as to say I liked this more than the tonal mess that is Django Unchained. They both are strikingly similar, but I think Drum plays out its revenge fantasy in a much better way.
Note: I have not seen Mandingo, which this movie is evidently some sort of sequel to.
Good unclean fun of the "slavesploitation" variety, although there are a few too many scenes that make it unclear if the filmmakers knew that's what they were doing. Making up for any tonal problems though is the terrific cast, including Warren Oates (!), Pam Grier (!!), and Yaphet Kotto (!!!). See it if for no other reason than to hear Warren Oates say the line "you know I loves big titties."
Nowhere nearly as good as Mandingo as it's missing the over played soap opera hysteria. Drum is cheaper and dirtier but doesn't feel as special, it's just standard pure exploitation trash. That said there is a certain charm to be had yet ultimately it's more often boring than not. Warren Oates and Yaphet Kotto do a lot of the heavy lifting yet more Pam Grier was most definitely needed (although you could say that about every film).
More incendiary than Tarantino would ever dream of being. (Also more nuanced?) Rainbeaux Smith is amazing as Warren Oates's sex-pot daughter. Some laugh-out-loud funny moments. Oates: "I likes big titties."
How much do you want to know about me? Would you like a slice of my life - evidence of my youth. A mind uncontained and examined. Ive been nothing more than not enough, to live a satisfactory life would be fantasies of the impossible. Over-examined and underappreciated, yet truth be told, there have been much worse lives lived.
To what is to end and where we begin. I'm happy to have been.