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Black Mama White Mama

Black Mama White Mama is a 1973 film from the USA, directed by Eddie Romero, running 87 minutes. reelscum files it under blaxploitation and women in prison.

Poster for Black Mama White Mama
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Year
1973 · 1970s films
Country
USA
Runtime
87 min
Director
Eddie Romero
Updated
29 Oct 2026
Obscurity
cult (41/100)
Also known as
Chained Women · Chains of Hate · Hot, Hard and Mean · Women in Chains

Defined in the glossary: Blaxploitation, Women in prison

The Defiant Ones with Pam Grier, shot in the Philippines by a Filipino who actually knew the terrain.

Two women chained together on a prison transport, one a hooker and one a revolutionary, break loose when the convoy is ambushed and spend the rest of the film legging it across the Filipino backcountry while everyone in the province tries to kill them. It is The Defiant Ones with the Sidney Poitier role rewritten for Pam Grier and the Tony Curtis role for Margaret Markov, and it moves. The draw is the man behind the camera: Eddie Romero directing on his own turf rather than a Corman unit flown in for six weeks, working from a story co-written by a young Jonathan Demme.

Sid Haig turns up in a cowboy hat as a bandit having the time of his life.

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The cycle in depth

  • Blaxploitation, 1971 to 1975

    Melvin Van Peebles caught gonorrhea on his own set, filed a workers' comp claim, and bought more film stock with the settlement. Four years later the studios had mined the audience out and moved on.

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