The Mack

A movie I have to admit I was, and still am, very ambivalent about. I've enjoyed some of the blaxsploitation movies of the early 1970's-- particularly anything starring Pam Grier. Given the context of the times during which they were made and released and all that had transpired regarding the cinematic portrayal of blacks in the decades previous to their release (Butterfly McQueen, Hattie McDaniels, Stepin Fetchit, etc.), they were among the first close-to-mainstream movies to feature, as they often did, a smart, strong black hero...often a smart, strong black female hero. Unfortunately, they were exploitative movies to their core, often conceived of and controlled by rich white men, and they often pandered to the most negative stereotypes about blacks (and whites) imaginable. "The Mack" has a different, grittier look about it. It was filmed on the mean streets of Oakland, CA, and they look dark, nearly empty, and grim (Black Panther Huey Newton was supposedly peripherally involved in ... Read more