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Mandingo (1975)

1975 American historical melodrama film

Released
7 May 1975
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Boxing film
Director
Richard Fleischer
Screenplay
Norman Wexler
Producer
Dino De Laurentiis
Music
Maurice Jarre
Cinematography
Richard H. Kline
Editing
Frank Bracht
Starring
James Mason, Perry King, Paul Benedict, Ken Norton, Debbi Morgan, Sylvester Stallone, Susan George, Lillian Hayman
Running time
126 minutes
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Based on
Mandingo
Set in
Louisiana

Mandingo is a 1975 American historical drama film directed by Richard Fleischer and produced by Dino De Laurentiis for Paramount Pictures. It is adapted by Norman Wexler from Kyle Onstott's 1957 novel and its 1961 stage adaptation by Jack Kirkland. The film stars James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Richard Ward, Brenda Sykes, and Ken Norton in his film debut. It concerns the Atlantic slave trade in the Antebellum South.

In the film, cruel slave owner Warren Maxwell (Mason) orders his son Hammond (King) to marry a white woman to produce grandchildren with no black ancestry. Hammond marries Blanche (George), his cousin, who becomes jealous that he pays more attention to his Black lover Ellen (Sykes) than to his wife, leading Blanche to force the fighting slave Mede (Norton) into a sexual relationship with her. The title refers to the Mandinka people, who are referred to as "Mandingos", and described as being good slaves for fighting matches. The word is also used as a pejorative to describe a hypersexual Black man.

Cast

More films directed by Richard Fleischer

External links

Facts from Wikidata Q745753 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.