Mandingo

SATURDAY NIGHT SINEMA | FREE FOR MEMBERS

When this slave-sploitation/bare-knuckle fighter classic first premiered, “critics foamed over its ‘trashiness’ and ‘immorality’… yet its excesses invariably reveal the caustic truths of social critique. No character in the film is pure, and yet none is free: All are part of a self-perpetuating cycle that taints slave and master equally.” (Slant) No wonder it was a key influence on Tarantino’s Django Unchained.