Black Mama White Mama

Eddie Romero's "Black Mama, White Mama" aka "Chained Women" of 1972 is a stylish and funny 'Women in Prison' exploitation flick full of the usual ingredients like violence, catfights and shower- and lesbian scenes. The movie's highlight is, of course, the great Pam Grier.

Locked up in a brutal prison camp on a tropical island, blonde revolutionary Karen Brent(Margaret Markov) and former black prostitute Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) are constantly having beef with each other. Chained together by the sadistic lesbian prison wardens, the two escape from a con transport. Chased by henchmen of the drug-lord who used to have Lee locked up as a harem-girl, gangsters and the police, the two fugitives have different destinations. While Karen has to find her guerrilla friends, Lee must reach a boat with a case full of cash. On the run, the two have quite some fights, but since they are chained together, they have to get along.

"Black Mama, White Mama" is pretty violent and a typical exploitation flick, lots of shootouts, occasional torture, many catfights and naked breasts. The acting in this movie differs. Pam Grier is great as always, and so is sexy Margaret Markov as Karen. Sid Haig's performance as Ruben, a slightly insane gangster in a cowboy outfit, is another highlight in "Black Mama, White Mama" and makes the movie a lot funnier. The rest of the acting is nothing special, typical B-movie performances, some better some worse. A fan of Pam Grier and lover of blaxploitation classics like "Coffy" as well as films like "Jackie Brown", I found "Black Mama, White Mama" very entertaining. Not one of Pam Grier's best movies, but better than most 'Women's prison' flicks, this is a violent and fun film and definitely worth watching.

Hellcats/The Hot Box duo Viola and Demme next paired the winning combination of Pam Grier and Sid Haig in yet another prison film, Women In Chains/Black Mama White Mama. Blonde revolutionary Margaret Markov and sworn enemy Grier, who thinks Markov's revolution is "jive-ass", bust out of prison chained together in a 70s gender reversal of The Defiant Ones. They continue to bitch and scratch each other as they head across the countryside (at one point dressed as nuns!) to meet up with Markov's bandit buddies. Sid Haig is the comedy relief in a cowboy hat as the lead bandit, and in one scene has two naked women riding him like a horse. Haig continued to work with Pam in Coffy and Foxy Brown, and was much later cast by Tarantino in a fitting touch as the sympathetic judge across from Grier in Jackie Brown.

Prostitute Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) and revolutionary Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) are prisoners who don't get along. They are chained together on a transport to maximum security when Karen's friends try to free her. The two women manage to escape while the revolutionaries battle with the police. The women dress up as nuns and bicker with different plans. Captain Cruz wants them Dead or Alive and recruits gang leader Ruben (Sid Haig).

It's blaxploitation. It's sexploitation. It's a B-movie beyond a doubt. There are lots of boobs. The girls are bad mofos and one of them is Pam freaking Grier. Their uniforms are short. There are surprisingly funny moments like the dick measuring. It's not winning any awards although it's not trying to be that. It does what it intends to do. The title is ridiculous and perfectly memorable. All in all, it is better than it has any rights to be.

Wow, this one just about defies description! Although the filmmakers seem to take the project a bit too seriously, our stars (Pam Grier and Margaret Markov) seem to be enjoying themselves. There's sadistic female guards, showers, a prison break, shootouts between revolutionaries and police. This film really typifies the genre.

Despite some of the dire happenings (blood flows like water) the film has a light-hearted feel. It's pure entertainment material, and doesn't pretend to be anything else. The heroines, Grier and Markov, really are the shining lights of this piece. One wonders how they could roll in the mud and catfight their way cross-country without mussing their uniforms. Talented women, they are. A funny note, at least in my opinion, is that Grier's character wears black underpants, and Markov's white.

See it, enjoy it, have a good giggle.

"Black Mama, White Mama" has something for everyone. Everyone, that is, who walks directly to the "Action/Adventure" section upon entering their local video store. First, it starts out in a woman's prison in some random South/Central American country. Second, the suggestions of lesbianism that this setting offers are set into hyper-warp by the chaining together of the two rivals for the lead, Pam Grier and Margaret Markov, while they wear nothing but skimpy prison tunics. They go on the run together while the film makes various unnecessary-yet-entertaining visits to all of those on their trail: Grier's former pimp, government agents after Markov, and, last but not least, Sid Haig's delightfully flamboyant "cowboy" character. This is a video that's not necessarily fun for ALL, but rather, a video that's fun for all who keep video stores in business.