Bad Movie Club: Black Mama, White Mama


1973 women in prison movie

Rating: 6/20 (Libby: 9/20; Fred: 3/20; Jeremy: 4/20)

Plot: One of a round-headed big-wig's sluts and a blond revolutionary are imprisoned in a women's penitentiary on an unnamed island. After they get in a little bit of trouble, they're chained together. While being transferred somewhere else, those revolutionaries attack. They escape, and have to work together to survive.

Libby really wanted a women's prison movie. Any movie with Pam Grier, the titular black mama, is probably worth watching, and she doesn't disappoint here. Neither does the titular white mama, Margaret Markov, an actress I don't know but who seemed to be in only women's prison movies. Here, the gals are as scantily-clad as they're supposed to be in a movie of this caliber. There's also the obligatory shower scene, this one especially wacky since it features a masturbating female prison guard peeking through a hole at naked women who have just been put in what appears to be a harsh prison atmosphere but aren't so upset about it that they can't laugh about spraying each other with a hose. Markov later puts her panties on a dog, probably because she's a genius, which lead to my favorite line in the movie where the head revolutionary, after he recognizes the under garments, is asked if he recognizes them by sight or smell. If you don't like to see women's skin as much as me (or apparently Libby), this has plenty of shoot-'em-up scenes and explosions and weird-colored blood. And it's got Sid Haig with a psychedelic ride, a cowboy hat, and the kind of mustache I wish I could grow. Look at him!


Look at him again!


Look at him!


That last one's a borderline classic scene where he checks out some guys' junk, apparently because the makers of the movie decided the movie wasn't long enough and needed another scene. Haig also gets a sex scene--heavy on the foreplay which, in this case, means that it's actually all foreplay--with a pair of women who I'm guessing weren't paid any money to be in the movie but were instead paid in getting to see Sid Haig roll around in his tighty whities. Haig's Ruben gets all the best lines. And yes, I realize that I've spent most of this review of a women's prison movie talking about Sid Haig which probably means something. But scroll up there and look at Sid Haig again, and I think you'll understand. This isn't the greatest women's prison movie or anything. In fact, only the exposition takes place in the prison. However, the two leads and Haig and even the round-headed guy make it worth the time if you're a fan of the genre.

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