Redundant and unnecessary.

People are voting emotionally.

Admirable film.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Black Mama White Mama starts out as a women in prison exploitation movie. Early on we see the naked female prisoners in the shower naked while a lesbian warden spies on them and gets aroused.The film is presumably set in an unnamed Latin American country but filmed in the Philippines. Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) is a prostitute who ripped off her pimp and Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) is a militant revolutionary who escape chained together when they are being transferred to a maximum security prison.The chained up pair bicker but are pursued by the army led by Captain Cruz who enlists the help of a loose cannon cowboy (Sid Haig). Karen wants to meet up with her rebel friends while Lee wants to get her money and escape.The film has elements of blaxploitation but I found it too listless even silly at times and the acting was rather mediocre.The film has a story credit to Jonathan Demme, future best director Oscar winner but the story here is too boring.

When two trouble-making female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight their way across the wilderness, igniting a bloody shootout between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries.From a story by pre-fame Jonathan Demme, this is partly an homage to the 1958 classic "The Defiant Ones", which structured the same type of situation for its leading characters, played by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. Then we bring on director Eddie Romero, who was an actual Filipino director who worked primary in the Tagalog language. Well done, AIP, for not bringing in your own guy.There were a number of jungle revolutionary films in the early 1970s, starting with Jack Hill's "Big Doll House" (1971), also starring Pam Grier. Actually, Grier was the queen of 1970s Filipino jungle women-in-prison films, also appearing in Hill's "The Big Bird Cage" (1972), plus Gerardo de León's "Women in Cages" (1971). Grier really made her name in these type of films before transitioning to "Foxy Brown".Grier's co-star Margaret Markov also appeared in "The Hot Box" (again written by Jonathan Demme). She starred opposite Pam Grier again in "The Arena" (1974). She never quite reached the level of Grier because during the making of the latter she started dating producer Mark Damon (who had risen to fame through Roger Corman); the two later married and Markov retired.The Arrow Video disc features an audio commentary with filmmaker Andrew Leavold, director of "The Search for Weng Weng". He loves to recommend the documentary "Machete Maidens Unleashed", and I would second that if you want to see how "Black Mama" fits into the whole Filipino action film cycle.We also have new interviews with stars Margaret Markov and Sid Haig. Markov covers the entire breadth of her career, even spending time discussing Rock Hudson and Gene Roddenberry on "Pretty Maids All in a Row" (1971). Haig had many films in Philippines, so he has a few tales to tale. We are treated to a previously unseen archive interview with director Eddie Romero. (Exactly why an interview would have been filmed and not used, I don't know.) What is missing? An interview or commentary from David Sheldon, as on the disc for "Sheba Baby". Sheldon has contributed by far the best audio commentary in years, and we really need more of those from him.***

Pam Grier is in this but I would call this movie still more exploitation than blaxploitation really.It's a movie filled with some (unconvincing) violence and random nudity and sex. So obviously this is a exploitation flick alright. Now, I have no problem with some nudity and sex in a movie but problem with exploitation flicks is often being that those moments are very random and add nothing at all to the movie its story. It instead slows it more often down because it often focuses heavily on those moments and make them overlong.The first half of the movie is pretty much being a lesbian prison exploitation flick, with attractive female prisoners walking around in tight and short outfits and with female guards, who do more than just eye them. The second half is totally different however. It is way more random than its first half and you would think that the movie would start to focus on the two female prisoners who escaped but are still being chained together but the movie focuses more on the different groups chasing them. And there are a whole bunch of people after them, which perhaps sounds pretty cool but instead more works out as being unnecessary and overly complicated. It's as if the movie tried too hard to create some depth to its story and characters but it really doesn't work out too interestingly.Of course it's being a pretty cheap made and looking movie. Does also prevents from anything in the movie to ever work out above the level of decent. Nothing special about the movie its settings, directing or acting but it all serves its purpose well enough and make this still a watchable movie.Yes, the movie is being regardless of everything still a pretty entertaining one to watch, like often is the case with '70's exploitation pieces. Even though the story is being very random, it still is what makes the movie a fun one to watch because so much random insanity is going on in it. Lots of moments and characters don't even serve a purpose in the movie, once you start thinking about them but you should never think too much about anything going on when watching an exploitation flick in the first place.Enjoyable enough for what it is.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

An island under a totalitarian government. The island has certain areas run by very wealthy pimps who even service members of their government from time to time. A small band of rebels plan to overthrow their government but need arsenal that a beautiful revolutionary can get them if she can reach a specific city where her contacts are. Getting there will be a problem when a successful escape suffers a snag..she's shackled to another prisoner, prostitute Lee Daniels(Pam Grier). The revolutionary is Karen Brent(..the stunning Margaret Markov). Lee has a destination herself..a boat awaiting her to leave the island with an associate of ruthless pimp Vic Cheng(Vic Diaz). The film ultimately features the adventures of Lee and Karen, with nothing but a long shirt and panties, as they journey through the jungles of the island, avoiding capture as a manhunt for them is under way. The "minister"(..the political figure who rules over the island, never seen)wants the prisoners captured dead or alive because Karen could be a very vital key in endangering his powerful grip over the island. Capt Cruz(Eddie Garcia)enlists the aide of pimp cowboy Ruben(Sid Haig)and his army of cronies to find them, a hefty award for the capture if they succeed. Vic also, along with his goons, plan to intercept Lee if she attempts to escape on her friend's boat. Ernesto(Zaldy Zshornack)is the leader of the revolutionary group who seek after Karen.I'll be honest, it sure wasn't difficult to enjoy a film which features Pam Grier and Margaret Markov running through one perilous situation after another in nothing but a long shirt. Their disguises as nuns is hilarious. Lots of various groups shooting at each other, each leader attempting to get after Lee or Karen, or both. Haig as a grinning pimp in a cowboy costume obviously steals his scenes. While the revolutionaries desire to fight their corrupt and powerful government, Ernesto and company find themselves instead squaring off with both Haig and Vic's regime before all is said and done. Grim conclusion has one prisoner succeeding while another's fate is sealed when she attempts to help the other. I had thought, at first, it might be another sleazy women-in-prison film as Lee and Karen become objects of desire for a lesbian security guard(..the delicious Lynn Borden who even has a scene where she gets all hot and bothered watching her prisoners bathe!), but soon the plot shifts towards two escapees running for their life, evading capture. Karen has one very clever method of escaping the scent of dogs through the use of her panties.It seems director Eddie Romero desires to initiate the same element of fun associated with Jack Hill's popular cult films. I haven't seen them(..the Women's Penitentiery movies)but it seems to feature familiar faces and aspects recognizable in Hill's output before this film. I can't claim to have seen a great number of these films featuring Grier as a prisoner(..with Sam Haig popping up in some colorful part), but I enjoyed this one for what it was.