The Mack

Synopsis

This old 1973 classic introduces Goldie (Max Julien), an ex-con who takes pimping to the highest level. Coming out of jail, money's not right, so instead of following in his radicalized brother's "pro-black" civil rights movement ways, Goldie becomes one of the most revered and envied pimps.

Review

This movie is something to crack up about now in 2010…but if you take the decades into account ,The Mack has some good dialogue, classic lines and scenes which included The Players Ball. Hey, you can find a Players Ball going on till this day. Some may be for Halloween, but it’s still a Players Ball. This movie started the tradition. Even though The Mack seems like a comedy today, it actually has some very dramatic moments and probably was real good back in 1973. Wow –1973. That’s a lot of water under the bridge.

The synopsis that Netflix provided for this movie is a tad bit misleading. It pretty much said that Goldie (Max Julien), an ex-con turned pimp, was cleaning up the streets. Now I do not see or feel in any way, shape or form, Goldie, a pimpologist was trying to clean up the streets. Now come on. I know his brother a pro-black civil rights radicalist was. Perhaps Goldie was cleaning the streets of his enemies and competition. Now that sounds more like it.

My version of this film is that Goldie was in jail for 5 years, got out, and jumped into the pimp game so he could make some major money. He became one of the most admired pimps by the hookers and others in the game. All the while he had to battle with haters such as 2 racist cops and competing pimps. Now, Goldie loved his momma and did help out the youngins in the community. He may have been a pimp, but he had a soft spot. However, if you got that twisted, he would make you recognize you were sadly mistaken. With the help of his trusted sidekick Slim (Richard Pryor) he did his thing.

Goldie had swagger even in his flashy bellbottoms. He was a business man. Homeboy had to have his percentage. He was a nice guy, but yet, made his statements in less than law abiding ways. He possessed that je ne sais quoi of pimps and some admired him while others hated and envied him. You know if you are at the top of the pimp game, there are always going to be peeps gunning for you and ready for your fall. In his case, that would be other pimps and the shady racist cops.

I don’t know what happened to Max Julien. I thought he did a great job as Goldie. He was a good actor. I don’t understand why he wasn’t in more films or programs? He wasn’t ugly, he commanded the camera and The Mack is a classic, which had to bring him notoriety back then. Perhaps he just didn’t want it as bad as the next man.

This movie set the tone for many blaxploitation films to follow. These crazy classics brought about so many stereotypes it's hilarious. They had the white cops crooked and shady as can be. They didn’t have to do their characters so wrong. Those cops did not like black folks. Heck, in those 70’s black movies there was always some warped and racist white cop. And you know, there definitely had to be a pusher, pimp or a ho tricking on the ave. Yes, Blaxploitation to the nth degree. As negative and stereotypical as the movie or characters could be, I can’t stop watching them. They are funny as heck. Of course the NAACP didn’t find them funny at all. I do get why. That’s just going to have to be in another post. Not enough time to get into that here.

Oh, and I can’t forget to talk about the clothes. Mmm mmm mmmm! Goldie was running around a corner in a cape trying to shoot someone. The clothes were horrendous. I just kept thinking “Nooooo , tell me folks didn’t dress like that.” Just watch the pimp cookout and tell me what you think.

For 1973, the film was promising. It had a pretty good score by Willie Hutch. The dialogue was solid and funny at times. There’s one classic line that some of today’s rappers (Snoop) use and that’s the line Goldie said to another pimp… "You know the rules of the game, your b%%& just chose me. Now we can handle this like you got some class, or we can get into some gangsta s&^%." I was cracking up when I heard it.

The acting had some highs and lows. There were some very noticeable fake scenes. One, was when a couple of pimps were at the barber shop to get their fros just right, and one of the barbers was pretending to cut dudes hair and I can’t believe how fake it looked. You know how when little girls pretend like they are drinking tea at a little tea party or something and we all clearly know there isn’t anything in the cup. That’s exactly how it looked and seemed. Come on now. Throw a wig up on the brotha and cut that.

You can’t get much better than The Mack when watching this genre of films.

My Rating ~ 4 Reels

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