Originally Posted by Carlos_E
A Mandingo would be a strapping young buck of a Black man. :lol:
Did a net seach and came up with two reviews of the film Mandingo.
Whatever plot there is in this yarn about plantations and slavery, forget it. Mandingo will always be remembered for having a strapping black buck going full-on with a white woman, namely heavyweight boxer Ken Norton and the sassy Susan George. This was heavy duty stuff at the time that was bound to bring out the racist in many white viewers. Never mind that Perry King got his groove on with a black woman--it just didn’t have the same visceral effect. (This might not have been the case if they had cast George Kennedy; then again, George Kennedy f ucking anybody would be a shocking sight.) I also recall the startling slave-trading scene, where a powerful-looking Norton has his privates groped by a slave-owning granny. Dino De Laurentiis (who also produced Lipstick, Flash Gordon and King Kong among many others) was behind this one, and seeing his name in the 70’s assured one of a campy good time. Mandigo also deserves credit as a period piece leading the way for Alex Haley’s profoundly important 1977 mini-series, "Roots". But, buddy, Mandingo ain’t no "Roots".
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Based on the hugely successful novel by Kyle Onstott, Mandingo takes the audience beyond the sentimentalized South of other films with uncompromising honesty and realism to show the true brutalizing nature of slavery, which made victims of both owner and slave. Heavyweight boxer Ken Norton makes his screen debut in the title role, with Perry King (Possession of Joel Delaney) as his white owner, friend, and nemesis.