The Mack enjoys its hallowed place in the exploitation cinema pantheon because it is so openly transgressive and so celebrates its male anti-hero and the misogynistic ethic that informs him. As a document of how pimps view themselves, it perhaps has some anthropological value. And the film certainly values pimps and serves as the prototypical example of the "it's hard out here for a pimp" genre that openly stomps on the worth of women and asks us to sympathize with someone because at least he's trying to get rich (even if doing so by turning women, through mental and physical brutality, into his chattel property).
The poor guy just wants to get rich via the exploitation of others and here are all these people - corrupt cops, tricks that don't know their place, white gangsters, his brother trying to rid the streets of drugs and prostitution, and other pimps with less game - that keep standing in his way. Why can't people understand he's just trying to make his own way in this world?
Max Julien stars as Goldie, who gets out of jail and decides to become the mack (pimp) of all macks and to get rich. He becomes very successful - perhaps the most interesting scene is when he is depicted as sort of a cult leader that brainwashes prostitutes into giving their minds and bodies to him. But as he becomes successful everyone seems to get jealous and so ultimately he's forced to give up the game (or at least give it up in Oakland). He does so by throwing some change at one of his prostitutes that betrayed him (symbolically asserting her worth as a human) and killing some cartoonishly corrupt cops before skipping town.
As a film, it is incompetent technically (the kind of incompetence you see jabbed at in blaxploitation parodies). Story-wise, it is all over the map and nearly incoherent at times. Beyond that, the film is a repugnant piece of trash.
In The Mack's world, pimps are really heroes. It's a convenient fantasy, one adopted by many as a way of finding an excuse for adopting the pose of the anti-hero. It is, however, ultimately just a fantasy that doesn't hold up to the glare of light.
The documentary aspects of the film might be more interesting if the filmmakers weren't so dedicated to blinding the audience to the downsides of this situation. The rants about the system being stacked against and needing to make something for one's own self might resonate more if there was a shred of self-awareness in Goldie or in the filmmakers, who seem to find it all too convenient to do the stacking against others.
No matter how hard I try, I can't turn this film into a critique of the downsides of capitalism. It is instead a celebration of the very worst of it - all wrapped in an incompetently filmed package. That it has been so influential remains a depressing fact of life.
Screened on Warner Archive Instant.
I'd never try to defend this film from a moral standpoint but it's fascinating as a time capsule. I also really love the performances from Don Gordon as the strangely introspective racist cop (the scene where he philosophizes to a quietly terrified prostitute is my favorite moment in the film) and Richard Pryor, who shows a really underrated skill for drama here.
ReplyDeleteFYI, if you want to see a more skillfully made and morally complex film along the same lines, check out the Iceberg Slim adaptation TRICK BABY (it's about con men instead of pimps but has the same downbeat, "mean streets" vibe to it).
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the scene with the cop and prostitute was forced on the director by the producer.
DeleteI certainly accept that it has some anthropological value. On the other hand, I know that folks such as Elvis Mitchell and the film's director have tried to convince people that the film is a cautionary tale and a critique of capitalism. As my review suggests, I think that is utter bullshit.