The Unseen #23: Black Mama White Mama

Why’d I Buy It?: It’s a Roger Corman Women in Prison movie, written by Demme, shot in The Phillipines (AKA the place you go when you don’t have enough money or dignity to make a movie in America) starring Pam Grier and Sid Haig in what basically amounts to the sleaziest possible remake of The Defiant Ones.

Why Haven’t I Watched It?: I just recently picked this up at a closing Hollywood Video, so in all fairness I watched this basically ASAP.

How was it?: This is one filthy fucking movie.



Things start out rapidly with Grier and White Mama being shipped to a Phillepino prison. The movie doesn’t waste any time jumping straight to a shower scene. Then ups the ante by having a lesbian guard masturbate while she watches them.

Yeah its that kind of movie.

Anyway the Lesbian guard has Grier brought to her quarters, with none of the staff minding because apparently you’re allowed to do that (Its not even like she’s the warden). Grier isn’t down with this turkey’s jive, so the guard starts smacking her around with a leather glove shrieking orgasmicaly.

Yeah its that kind of movie.

Somehow this leads to a rivalry between Grier and White Mama and its not long before their tearing out their clothes and getting disciplined by being sent to the box. Where they’re stripped and forced to writhe their sweaty naked…

Like I said, its that kind of movie.

Anyway, it turns out White Mama belongs to a revolutionary group (Because it’s the seventies) and the prison, apparently vested with the authority to do its own counter terrorism missions decides to use the Mama’s as bait to draw out the revolutionaries. Which they do. Resulting in a massacre which leaves virtually all the prison guards dead and the audience wondering if perhaps this could not have been planned out better.

But the actually cops and army show up driving off the revolutionaries, and leaving the Mama’s to escape and cross miles of harsh terrain. Which they do with style.

THIS IS THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF THE MOVIE. I haven’t even gotten to the part where they start beating up Nuns yet.

So everyone is after the Mama’s including Sid Haig. Haig is in proto Captain Spaulding mode, as a foul mouthed CW obsessed gangster who loves fucking around with cops and double teaming his business partner’s fair daughters, almost as much as he loves chasing Pam Grier. All whilst rocking a handlebar mustache and hanging with Doberman Pinchers. I kind of fucking love him in this movie.



The film is Skeevy to the point of actually being skuzzy. You might feel the need to take a shower afterwards, but you won’t hate yourself in the morning. Everything from its bizarre grim ending, wall to wall nudity and violence, and righteousness of Pam Grier seem teleported in from another dimension where everything is awesome.

Black Mama White Mama is everything you could ever want from an exploitation film. Copious amounts of violence and nudity, a bevy of jaw dropping “I can’t believe I just saw that in a film that’s not snuff” moments, all topped with a fuck it attitude towards convention that is genuinely invigorating.