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Hammond and his cousin, Charles, visit a plantation where both men are given black women out of hospitality. Falconhurst is a run-down plantation owned by widower Warren Maxwell and largely run by his son, Hammond. The movie is set in the Deep South of the United States prior to the American Civil War. The film was a box office hit, and was followed by a sequel, Drum (1976), which starred Norton as a different character, and Warren Oates in the role of Hammond originated by King in Mandingo. The film has also been subject to criticism for its perceived use of racist stereotypes in its characterization of its black slave characters. It has been variously seen as a big budget exploitation film made by a major studio, a serious film about American slavery examining historical horrors committed against African Americans, or as a work of camp.
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Retrospectively, the film's reception changed, with more recent reviews being much more favorable. Mandingo received negative contemporary reviews upon release. Hammond is known to rape the female slaves on his father's plantation, and his father orders him to marry a white woman to produce grandchildren with no black ancestry, leading Hammond to marry Blanche ( Susan George), his cousin, who becomes jealous that Hammond pays more attention to his black lover Ellen ( Brenda Sykes), than to his wife, leading Blanche to seduce the " Mandingo" fighting slave Mede ( Ken Norton). The film stars Perry King as Hammond, the son of cruel slave master Warren Maxwell ( James Mason).
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The screenplay by Norman Wexler was adapted from the 1957 novel Mandingo by Kyle Onstott, and the 1961 play Mandingo by Jack Kirkland (which is derived from the novel). Produced by Dino De Laurentiis for Paramount Pictures, the film was directed by Richard Fleischer. The film's title refers to the mandinka people, who are referred to as "Mandingos", and described as being good slaves for fighting matches. Mandingo is a 1975 American historical melodrama film which focuses on the Atlantic slave trade in the Antebellum South, breeding of slaves, use of black slaves in fighting matches, and interracial relationships between white slave masters and black slaves.