Day 216: Magnum Force (1973)

Dirty Harry is a true American Icon of badasses in the world of cinema and sadly I have only seen the first film in the series. So, I figured what better place than here to see the next film in the series Magnum Force which sees Clint Eastwood (The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly) returns as police officer Harry Callahan.Some officers on the force dressed as a motorcycle cops are taking out all of the scumbags in the city of San Francisco vigilante style and that is upsetting the police force including Harry. After being off homicide for a while, Harry is put back on and is tasked with figuring out who they are before they take out any more undesirables. The film also stars Hal Holbrook (Men Of Honor) as Lt. Briggs, Mitchell Ryan (Electra Glide In Blue) as McCoy, David Soul (Starsky and Hutch) as Davis, Tim Matheson (The West Wing) as Sweet, Kip Niven (New Year’s Evil) as Astrachan, Robert Ulrich (Spenser: For Hire) as Grimes, Felton Perry (Dumb And Dumber) as Early Smith, Margaret Avery (Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins) as prostitute, Tony Giorgio (Foxy Brown) as Palancio, and the film was directed by Ted Post (Beneath The Planet Of The Apes). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 45: Black Mama, White Mama (1973)

So, besides the fact that I like to watch critically acclaimed films, action/martial arts films, I also like to watch what was called Blaxploitation films. These were films made during the Exploitation/Grindhouse era that featured predominately African American casts. Today’s film is not only a Blaxploitation film, but it’s also a women in prison film called Black Mama, White Mama. The film stars Pam Grier (Foxy Brown) as Lee Daniels, a former harem to a drug kingpin in the Philippines who is forced to team up with a revolutionary named  Karen Brent (Margaret Markov) when they escape from a women’s prison while chained to each other. They’ll have to make it to a boat that is waiting for Daniels or meet up with a team of revolutionaries before they are caught by the kingpin or the police. The film also stars Sid Haig (The Devil’s Rejects) as Ruben, Lynn Borden (Dirty Mary Crazy Larry) as Matron Densmore, Zaldy Zshornack (Hotline) as Ernesto, Laurie Burton (Perfect) as Warden Logan, Eddie Garcia (The Devil’s Daughter) as Captain Cruz, Alona Alegre (The Black Dragon) as Juana, Wendy Green (The Big Bird Cage) as Ronda, and the film was directed by Eddie Romero (Beast Of The Yellow Night).

If you are expecting an Oscar worthy film from Black Mama, White Mama then you might want to move on from this review. The only award this film may get from me a Cheeseball Cinema Award for Gratuitous Boob Shot Scene. Like all Women in Prison (women in chains as it also known) films, there is always a shower scene with multiple women and they always end up fooling around (see picture to the left for example). This is practically soft core porn and that is why they were played at Grindhouse theaters. Of course, Pam Grier was sexy in the film and she did a good job with Margaret Markov who played the rich girl turned revolutionary. There is plenty of action in the film as far as corny fight choreography from the women, but some a couple of cool shootouts as well. The one question I always have with all these films is what are they doing in the Philippines? I know that it’s probably a cool place to visit, but why is there a women’s rehabilitation center run by white people on an island supposedly run by a Filipino drug kingpin?(According to the film). These are things that never make much sense to me, but then again I guess we can suspend our beliefs for the film. You have to take these films for what they are worth and I am just a fan of anything cheesy or great. That is why I watch these films when I get the chance to. So with all that being said, I am going to grade the film based on the Cheeseball Cinema scale. On a scale of one being close to an A-List Hollywood film and five being the cheesiest film of all time, I am going to give this one a 3.2 for a final grade.