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Poster for Mandingo

Mandingo

Expect The Savage. The Sensual. The Shocking. The Sad. The Powerful. The Shameful. Expect The Truth.

1975 · 2h 7m · R Drama, History, Romance
Directed by Richard Fleischer

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Overview

Warren Maxwell, the owner of a run-down plantation, pressures his son, Hammond, to marry and produce an heir to inherit the plantation. Hammond settles on his own cousin, Blanche, but purchases a sex slave when he returns from the honeymoon. He also buys his father a new Mandingo slave named Mede to breed and train as a prize-fighter.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
31%
Tomatometer
Rotten

Until this moment we cannot be certain that the movie is going to employ every cliche of antebellum melodrama.

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine
Fresh

Viewed with fresh eyes, it can credibly be seen as revisionist history of a particularly savage kind.

Sam Adams, AV Club
Rotten

Mandingo is racist trash, obscene in its manipulation of human beings and feelings, and excruciating to sit through.

Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com
Rotten

Embarrassing and crude.

Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh

One of the most neglected and underrated Hollywood films of its era.

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

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