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Black Mama, White Mama
[MGM]
1973; color
Directed by Eddie Romero
Starring: Margaret Markov, Pam Grier, Sid Haig, Lynn Borden, Zaldy Zshornack & Laurie Burton
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While many exploitation film fans first associate Eddie Romero with Brides Of Blood, Mad Doctor Of Blood Island, or whatever the name of the third movie in the Blood Island trilogy is, I would argue that Black Mama, White Mama is his most famous work. (Interestingly, star of Brides Of Blood and many, many other BMB-esque films John Ashley also co-produced BMWM with Romero.) Although it's often lumped in with the blaxploitation genre (probably because Pam Grier is the co-star and she was / is one of the most memorable stars of the era) it starts off more like a standard Women In Prison flick; and thus features the standard array of sights we've all come to expect from this genre - aggressive lesbian guards, routine group showerings, and ridiculously skimpy prison attire - in the first fifteen or so minutes. However, once the quick tempered prostituting / drug dealing "black mama" (Pam Grier) and the curiously passive revolutionary "white mama" (Margaret Markov) are chained together as punishment, it almost becomes more like a buddy flick starring Mel Gibson. Or maybe more like that movie where the racist guy has his head implanted on Rosie Grier's body. (No relation to Pam Grier by the way; at least as far as I know.) Anywhoo, shortly after they get shackled a well timed ambush derails their prison van's path and it's off into the sunset Grier and Markov go. Of course, unlike when this happens in romantic comedies this doesn't signal the beginning of a happy ending. (Cause, what would be the point of that?) Rather it sets the stage for the ladies to encounter one unpleasant obstacle after another. Don't get too worried about this foxy odd couple though, as they are able to meet and beat every challenge with an appropriate amount of lying, scheming, and, as the Kommandant so aptly put it, el kabonging their way from sleazy scene to sleazy scene. Despite their initial dislike of each other, and each woman's complete lack of interest in the other's ultimate goal (Grier is trying to get to the money she's stashed so she can escape the island and live elsewhere in non-whoring luxury and Markov is trying to help her revolutionary friends arm themselves for… um, the revolution I guess), they develop a mutual understanding and, dare I say it, take a liking to each other. But not in the way I'm sure many audience members were hoping. Eventually their escape does manage to reunite Markov with her man-friends and Grier with her money but in the end, there's no happy ending in sight for one of these ladies. I'll let you find out for yourself whether black mama lives and white mama dies in a hail of bullets, or vice versa.
—Bunny
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