The Arena (1974) Movie Review

The Arena (La rivolta delle gladiatrici, Naked Warriors) is a 1974 exploitation sword-and-sandal film directed by Steve Carver (Big Bad Mama), produced by Roger Corman (along with the Italian company Rover Film) and written by the couple of John William Corrington and Joyce Hooper Corrington. It stars blaxploitation queen Pam Grier, Margaret Markov (who also paired up with Grier in Black Mama White Mama), Lucretia Love, Paul Muller and Daniele Vargas. The film was remade in Russia for the direct-to-video market in 2001 under the same title by director Timur Bekmambetov.

In Brundisium, during ancient Roman times, slave girls are captured and taken in by the fiendish Timarchus who organizes deadly events at the local colosseum, involving gladiators fighting for their lives. When Timarchus pits female gladiators against each other, the women are now in peril and a revolt is planned in order to survive together.

Taking advantage of the women's-lib movement and the recent success of several of his women-in-prison films, Roger Corman made this small but effective little film that took the core concept of the prison genre and mixed it with some good old European peplum action in Roman times, slightly based on Spartacus. The result is a very fruitful and refreshing take on the subgenre with a very rich story. 

It was shot by Joe D'Amato, who gives the movie a very dynamic visual flair with a lot of very solid shot compositions, rapid zooms that accelerate the tension, swift camera movements and careful lighting that adds a very elegant flavor to the crummy and limited sets. The typical limitations in budget and resources are well handled by the crew and the director in order to make it look and feel more expensive than what it already is.

Since this is essentially a historical version of the women-in-prison genre but transported into a period setting, it has the very basic themes of revolution against the oppressive forces of society, focusing on the struggles of women and/or slaves against the dominant order that forces them to fight among each other for their entertainment. Predictably, the film ends with a slave revolt and the women fighting their way out of their shackles.

The different conflicts the writers gave to the characters are quite solid and they all add to the story and it's theme in a very real way, often the script puts the spotlight on the effects the savage gladiator fights have on the people who suffer through them and how certain groups of people are so desensitized or brought up believing it is natural and normal, ideas that are challenged by the wiser or less conformist characters. Pam Grier's character is also put in a very interesting moral dilemma when she is in the arena, which affects her relationship with other slave gladiators.

With a magnificent final battle, a sense of doom and misery all throughout, without ever feeling like a cheap or dumb scenario, the film achieves a very legitimate feel and flavor due to the filmmakers creating a sound storyline with deeper characters and issues than usual as well as a better pace and dramatic organization of the story than average.

Very recommended low budget exploitation affair with some nice battles and a captivating story.

Black Mama White Mama (1973) Movie Review

Black Mama White Mama is a 1973 exploitation action movie that belongs to the subgenre of Women In Prison films. Distributed by American International Pictures and produced by John Ashley and Eddie Romero (The Woman Hunt, Savage Sisters), who also directed the film, it was one of several action flicks produced by American filmmakers but shot in the Philippines. Director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Caged Heat, Crazy Mama) wrote the original concept for the movie with his partner Joe Viola (Bionic Woman, The Hot Box, T.J. Hooker, Cagney & Lacey) and it was basically a female remake of The Defiant Ones (1958), tackling subjects such as women's liberation, racial tensions and left-wing guerrillas. Eventually, screenwriter H.R. Christian developed the film from there. Nowadays it is considered a fundamental piece on Blaxploitation cinema, low budget genre cinema and Women In Prison cinema.

Lee Daniels (Pam Grier) is a prostitute transported to a tropical women's prison where she meets Karen Brent (Margaret Markov), the girlfriend of a revolutionary guerrilla leader. In the can they suffer the wrath of lesbian authoritarian guards and the harassment of fellow prisoners. There's a certain tension between the two and their clashes made them end up in the hot box as punishment. When Karen's boyfriend, and his rebel soldiers, intercepts a bus transferring the girls to a maximum-security prison, the girls end up on the run chained together. Now they must fight to survive as the authorities and a gang hired by the army to hunt them are on their tail.

A surprisingly thoughtful and precise exploration of the sociopolitical climate, the film uses the metaphor of "chained together by the man" to its full exploitation and narrative potential. The sordid thrills one can expect are here but they don't degrade the film as they add to the filthy environment and the overall analogy of oppression and abuse but in a playful and entertaining way that helps to explore these ideas. A good marriage of an outrageous tone that's well handled to be sober and focused on its development.

Some supporting actors also add to the film, an example is the joyful Sid Haig with his humorous but fitting attitude and demeanor. Pam Grier plays a very grounded character that gets rid of any type of stereotype or exaggeration, not unlike her usual roles but slightly more rough and grungy. Markovis also does a serviceable job as the white girl.

The sleaze factor isn't as increased as in some of the other Women In Prison movies from the Philippines. However, the goods are delivered when the time comes and the pacing in the first act is almost unrelenting as the narrative focuses on the pair of girls, but once they get loose in the jungle and other subplots start forming the film kind of drags. Eddie Romero's direction is as functional and even as dry as always, but at several points this simple style achieves an intense and clear exactness that drives the film forward with good rhythm.

A very recommended exploitation film with a relevant theme and all the hardcore stuff in grindhouse films you expect.