Drum (1976)

Touches You

Crappy film

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I found Drum a much more entertaining movie than Mandingo. It's got tasty nudity, saucy women, and an oversexed spoilt teen girl, where yes we see her.... It is unintentionally funny, where a lot of it, we owe to robotic Ken Norton, where again, casting people, producers, have made the mistake of putting him in the lead. He's a poor performer, surrounded by good ones, no one better than Oates, where I also liked the ruthless homosexual slaver, while Grier was really good, as was Oates's wife. Yes Drum, has sleaze slipping in, as it comes across as a cheap movie, and brief telling tale of the heartlessness of the cold hearted slavers, which on the video cover, it actually says as for selling purposes, it makes no attempt to show what the slavery trade was really like. The slavers are not any less heartless, than the ones depicted in other films. Tarantino really cut the apple to the truth with Django Unchained. Later on in the film we really meet a nasty slaver. And yes, we have two bucks, Norton and Kotto fighting, who become friends until the wicked teen daughter tries to put the hots on Kotto, where soon, yes, another castration is in the waiting. I'll be honest, Drum, is not a good film, but it is bloody entertaining to hell, with a climax I must say, I appreciated, but more so at the fact, that Oates let Drum go. I must say, Oates adds amusement as much as Norton, only the latter can't act. He's better suited in a ring, than in front of camera. Don't let there be a third lead for such a limited Norton, if only to add amusement. But on the other hand....

The most interesting thing about DRUM are the fight scenes (of course), but there are far too few (and they're far too short) to hold one's attention for long. Once again we have Ken Norton playing, well, Ken Norton. The filmmakers toss in just about every tawdry twist they can conceive, but it doesn't necessarily make the movie any more watchable; it's bottom-of-the-barrel exploitation for the sake of bottom-of-the-barrel exploitation, nothing more. More's the pity: Norton showed some potential as an actor. As a fighter, he made the most of a golden opportunity when he broke Muhammad Ali's jaw in their first fight. Although Norton didn't come close to winning the second or third fights (all 3 are on YouTube; check them out for yourself), he gave a good account of himself. Boxers gave him trouble (Ali, Jimmy Young and Larry Holmes handily out-boxed him), as did real punchers (George Foreman, Earnie Shavers, and Gerry Cooney all but decapitated him en route to easy knockout wins and he passed on a rematch with Foreman and heavy hitters like Ron Lyle and Joe Frazier were never on his list of folks to fight). He's gone, now, but he's in good company. As boxing trainer/commentator Teddy Atlas recently put it: "They've got a heck of a stable Up There."

Drum (1976) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Considering how much I hated Mandingo I was really expecting to hate this sequel but it actually wasn't too bad. A white woman has an affair with a slave and gets pregnant. Twenty years later the child, Drum (Ken Norton), is sold to a slave owner (Warren Oates) where he trains other slaves to do various jobs. Everything is going fine until the slave owner's young daughter starts exposing herself to the slaves and eventually she cries rape even though she's the one doing the stuff. This here leads to an incredibly violent ending where the slaves stand up against their white owners. Director Steve Carver is best known for his exploitation films like Big Bad Mama and various other blaxploitation flicks but he does a very good job here and unlike the previous film, this one here actually tries to tell a story and manages to get some good performances by Norton, Oates and Pam Grier who plays one of the bed whores. The exploitation level is trimmed down in this film, which is one reason why it works better, although the ending crosses a very close line but thankfully doesn't cross it. Lesser direction would have probably gone for cheers when the slaves revolted but Carver does a great job in keeping things low and doesn't go for the cheap exploitation.

This was one of the worst films of 1976,and the sequel to one of the most successful,if not eyeopening and explicitly violent films of 1975 was basically in a class by itself. Since it is very hard to top the original,since in this installment it is more deliriously fever-pitched than the ending of Mandingo--in which a plantation master is shot and his main slave gets boiled in oil--but the sequel,"Drum",the mangy installment to Mandingo certainly tries. This is in fact a sort-of-a sequel to 'Mandingo',a movie that tried to walk a fine line between being a "serious" drama and a silly but fun exploitation movie that really pushed the envelope with its extreme subject matter. "Drum",went beyond the expectations of what its precessdor did and even went farther that its limits could go. Again,producer Dino DeLaurentiis is behind the second installment,but this time instead of director Richard Fleischer(who directed "Mandingo"),the man behind the director's helm this time around is none other than the king of the "B" movie/drive-in trash flicks,Steve Carver. This was in fact the same director who made the trash flicks which consisted of action dramas("The Arena",1972),("Big Bad Mama",1974), biographical dramas("Capone",1975),tales based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe("The Tall Tale Heart",1971),the action flicks starring Chuck Norris("An Eye For An Eye",1981),("Lone Wolf McQuade",1983),the Lee Majors action/espionage flick("Steel",1980),works based on the novels by Alistair McLean("River Of Death",1989),teen comedies("Jocks",1987), and horror flicks("The Wolves",1994),in which all can be viewed with a acquired taste. In all sheer entertainment value. In "Drum"(1976),the film has a disguise for being a Drive-In feel but it doesn't act like one,and it shows in some of the outrageous scenes. Again,Ken Norton returns as the son of Mandingo,and plays a different sort of character than he did in the first one. Also on board in this installment is Warren Oates,who plays Hammond Maxwell,who Perry King played in the first one. As the story goes,the late slave-owner's son follows in his father's footsteps and purchases Drum(Ken Norton),and Blaise(Yaphet Kotto) from bordella hostess Marianna(Isela Vega). Marianna is actually Drum's mother,although her slave-mistress and lesbian lover Rachel(Paula Kelly) in fact brought up the boy. Thrown into the package to Hammond is Drum's girlfriend Regine(Pam Grier),who was purchased to satisfy the the carnal urges of Mr. Hammond. However, Augusta Chauvet(Fiona Lewis)setting her sites on Hammond has other plans. Drum is such a perfect specimen of slave that neither man nor women cannot keep their hands off of him. And rest of it gets really ridiculous and in other words,unbelievable in some of the scenes which pushes the envelope more further into detail than its precessdor. Its looks very stoic until the climactic slave revolt breaks out towards the end of the film,guaranteeing more blood and carnage than 'Mandingo' ever hope to provide. This is pure exploitative trash and it is very proud of not turning away from the material. The main reasons to see this film is due to the starring presence of Warren Oates in his most enjoyable and underrated performances. A must for all die-hard fans of Warren Oates.