The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt that patriotism meant blind fealty to the idea of America’s rightful dominance over global politics or culture, and certainly not to its alleged preferred status on God’s short list of favored nations, or that allegiance to said country was a license to justify or rationalize every instance of misguided, foolish, narrow-minded domestic or foreign policy.
In 2012, when this piece was first posted, it seemed like a good moment to throw the country’s history and contradictions into some sort of quick relief, and the most expedient way of doing that for me was to look at the way the United States (and the philosophies at its core) were reflected in the movies, and not just the ones which approached the country head-on as a subject.
In 2012, when this piece was first posted, it seemed like a good moment to throw the country’s history and contradictions into some sort of quick relief, and the most expedient way of doing that for me was to look at the way the United States (and the philosophies at its core) were reflected in the movies, and not just the ones which approached the country head-on as a subject.
- 7/2/2017
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
The United States is “my country, right or wrong,” of course, and I consider myself a patriotic person, but I’ve never felt that patriotism meant blind fealty to the idea of America’s rightful dominance over global politics or culture, and certainly not to its alleged preferred status on God’s short list of favored nations, or that allegiance to said country was a license to justify or rationalize every instance of misguided, foolish, narrow-minded domestic or foreign policy.
And now more than ever we seem to be living in a country poised at the edge of some sort of transition, with all the attendant tension and conflict and intense conviction that can be expected on either side of the chasm that prevents us from a true state of national togetherness. Just last week we celebrated a Supreme Court decision that finally offered legality (and legal protection) to the...
And now more than ever we seem to be living in a country poised at the edge of some sort of transition, with all the attendant tension and conflict and intense conviction that can be expected on either side of the chasm that prevents us from a true state of national togetherness. Just last week we celebrated a Supreme Court decision that finally offered legality (and legal protection) to the...
- 7/2/2015
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Mandingo, a 1975 movie based on the best-selling period potboiler by Kyle Onstott about sexual shenanigans between masters and slaves on the Falconhurst slave-breeding plantation, was savaged by critics who saw it as nothing but degrading, big-budget exploitation. Roger Ebert called it “racist trash”, a “piece of manure”, and “excruciating to sit through”. Mandingo certainly had it all; brutal violence, interracial sex, rape, infanticide, lynchings, and abundant nudity including full-frontal shots of it’s male star, boxer Ken Norton. But of course it was a huge hit and inspired a brief run of “slaverysploitation” films such as Passion Plantation (1975 aka Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle ) and the cleverly titled Mandiga (1976). Mandingo was overwrought melodrama to be sure, but it’s a model of subtlety compared to its official sequel, the more lascivious Drum, a mean-spirited trash epic from 1976 that would never fly in today’s politically correct climate. Despite its spaghetti western trappings,...
- 12/12/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
One of the most gruesome scenes in Quentin Tarantino's new blaxploitation western "Django Unchained" involves blackhearted plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) presiding over a Roman-style bare-handed battle to the death between his hulking champion slave Samson (Jordon Michael Corbin) and a much less fortunate slave opponent.
After all the eye gauging and head hammering was through, we wondered if this betting "sport," known within the movie as "Mandingo Fighting," was based on true accounts of pre-Civil War Mississippi or if Tarantino made it up out of whole cloth.
This is, after all, the same Tarantino who let Eli Roth machine gun Hitler in the face for "Inglourious Basterds," so the level of historical accuracy is about on par with what we'd expect from a guy who didn't graduate from high school. That's not meant as a dig on the auteur, of course, as the man has perhaps one...
After all the eye gauging and head hammering was through, we wondered if this betting "sport," known within the movie as "Mandingo Fighting," was based on true accounts of pre-Civil War Mississippi or if Tarantino made it up out of whole cloth.
This is, after all, the same Tarantino who let Eli Roth machine gun Hitler in the face for "Inglourious Basterds," so the level of historical accuracy is about on par with what we'd expect from a guy who didn't graduate from high school. That's not meant as a dig on the auteur, of course, as the man has perhaps one...
- 12/25/2012
- by Max Evry
- NextMovie
Mandingo, a 1975 movie based on the best-selling period potboiler by Kyle Onstott about sexual shenanigans between masters and slaves on the Falconhurst slave-breeding plantation, was savaged by critics who saw it as nothing but degrading, big-budget exploitation. Roger Ebert called it “racist trash”, a “piece of manure”, and “excruciating to sit through” and Mandingo certainly had it all; brutal violence, interracial sex, rape, infanticide, lynchings, and abundant nudity including full-frontal shots of it’s male star, boxer Ken Norton. But of course it was a huge hit and inspired a brief run of “slaverysploitation” films such as Passion Plantation (1975 aka Black Emmanuelle, White Emmanuelle ) and the cleverly titled Mandiga (1976). Mandingo was overwrought melodrama to be sure, but it’s a model of subtlety compared to its official sequel, the more lascivious Drum, a mean-spirited trash epic from 1976 that would never fly in today’s politically correct climate. Despite it’s...
- 12/23/2009
- by Tom
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
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