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Black Mama, White Mama

Play trailer Poster for Black Mama, White Mama R 1972 1h 27m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 2 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) is a black girl busted for prostitution. Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) is a white girl arrested for her involvement with a local revolutionary group. The two women meet in jail and, despite their mutual animosity, are chained together for transport to a maximum security prison. Their bus is ambushed en route, however, and the pair manages to escape together. Chased by bounty hunters, crooked police and revolutionaries, they struggle to get along and get away.
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Black Mama, White Mama

Critics Reviews

View All (2) Critics Reviews
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com Hardly a feminist manifesto, and not exactly revolutionary as far as Grier's problematic characterizations in Blaxploitation cinema, Black Mama, White Mama contains intriguing gender dynamics and subversively coded power plays. Rated: 2.5/5 Oct 8, 2020 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jun 19, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Brent A 10% rating ... Was going through a Pam Grier phase & stumbled on this atrocious film. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Fairly standard women-in-chains flick. While not doing much unique, it's still a fun piece of sleazy exploitation. It's got a much darker and more abrupt ending than these usually get. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/21 Full Review delysid d Im suprised to see this has such a low score. I thought this was a great film and my favorite of its kind. Its about 2 women who escape from jail handcuffed together, one is black and one is white, but theyre both Mamas, both are involved in some kind of rebel activity of some kind. Great music Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/28/17 Full Review Audience Member While it's paint by numbers within the genre, It's still a fun and enjoyable piece of exploitation cinema. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member There's some fun to be had, but for the rest of the running time it just plods along. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member This film blew away my expectations. Part of the appeal is admittedly its 70s "vibe." I mean, who today would use the term "mama" in this hip, sexy context? And no, neither woman appears to be a mother either. This is a mix-up of women behind bars, blaxsploitation, and the racial element from The Defiant Ones. Yet, it's even more than, and highly entertaining as well. This movie features two great female leads, both determined to overcome long odds as well as each other. It's also got four competing groups: corrupt politicians, leftist revolutionaries, thuggish bandits, and some sort of Pilipino mafia. Believe it or not. A plausible case could even be made that this is a political film, but that's just a 70s element thrown in for drama. Of course, there's a women's prison lesbian element and an element of women being abused by criminals and the system too. It is an exploitation flick at heart. As others have claimed, this isn't Pam Grier's best work, but watch it for pure fun anyway. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Black Mama, White Mama

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) is a black girl busted for prostitution. Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) is a white girl arrested for her involvement with a local revolutionary group. The two women meet in jail and, despite their mutual animosity, are chained together for transport to a maximum security prison. Their bus is ambushed en route, however, and the pair manages to escape together. Chased by bounty hunters, crooked police and revolutionaries, they struggle to get along and get away.
Director
Eddie Romero
Producer
John Ashley, Eddie Romero
Screenwriter
H.R. Christian, Jonathan Demme, Joe Viola
Production Co
American International Pictures (AIP), Four Associates Ltd.
Rating
R
Genre
Action
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 13, 2017
Runtime
1h 27m
Sound Mix
Mono
Aspect Ratio
35mm
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