The Mack
The Mack is a 1973 film from the USA, directed by Michael Campus, running 110 minutes. reelscum files it under blaxploitation.
- Year
- 1973 · 1970s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 110 min
- Director
- Michael Campus
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (54/100)
- Also known as
- The Mack and His Pack
Defined in the glossary: Blaxploitation
Half drama, half documentary of 1970s Oakland. The real players are in it.
Half crime drama, half documentary of 1970s Oakland. A man out of prison rises through the pimp hierarchy while his militant brother pushes him toward the community instead, and the film's real texture comes from shooting on real streets with real local figures, including the actual Players' Ball.
It is rougher and more ambivalent than the studio blaxploitation films, conflicted about the life it depicts, and it became hugely influential on hip-hop decades later. Richard Pryor provides manic energy as the sidekick.
More sociological document than genre film, and richer for it.
Trailer
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No legal stream, rental or purchase that we could find in the usual regions. For films this obscure that is common, and availability changes, so it is worth checking again later.
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Written about
- 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.
Filed alongside
Sugar Hill
Revenge via Haitian zombies. The best of the blaxploitation horror crossovers.
J.D.'s Revenge
A dead 1940s gangster possesses a mild law student. Blaxploitation crossed with the supernatural.
Ganja & Hess
An art film that was sold as a vampire picture. Recut and buried for decades.
Detroit 9000
A biracial cop pairing hunts jewel thieves in Detroit. Tarantino re-released it for a reason.
Three the Hard Way
Brown, Williamson and Kelly against a plot to poison the water supply.
Abby
The blaxploitation Exorcist. A minister's wife is possessed by a sex demon. Warner Bros sued.
Trouble Man
Cool to the point of refrigeration, scored by Marvin Gaye the one time he ever bothered.
Dolemite
Technically inept and completely irresistible. Boom mics in every other shot.
Truck Turner
Isaac Hayes in front of the camera for once, and Nichelle Nichols swearing.
Scream Blacula Scream
The rare sequel that adds Pam Grier and a shred of dignity.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
The most political film the blaxploitation boom made, pulled from cinemas and buried for thirty years.
Willie Dynamite
A flamboyant pimp fights to stay on top as everything closes in. Sharper and sadder than most.