Ken Norton

In Memory of Ken Norton, boxer/actor, I did a double feature last night I watched the films, Mandingo and Drum. I had never seen Mandingo until about 5 years ago. Drum has two significant reasons as to why it is a part of my collection. (We'll get to that in a minute.)

Before Django Unchained these films spawned controversy. Mandingo starred Perry King as Master Harmond and Brenda Sykes as Calinda. It was an okay film. Ken Norton was typed cast as a slave that would be used as a stud as well as a boxer.

I used to think Mandingo was the name of the character, but technically its the plantations wish to own a Mandingo warrior.

Recently author James McBride was on Tavis Smiley promoting his new book which is a satire on slavery.
Comments were made about Django Unchained, which I have not seen yet. It is Quentin Tarantino doing what he does. He makes fun of a time in history.

In the film Drum which is a much better film in my opinion than Mandingo. I used to think Drum was the sequel, but its almost as if Drum is a prequel to Mandingo. It's the same plantation, but Drum is born as a result of a white woman having sexual relations with one of her slaves. So that the woman isn't scorned, Drum is said to be the son of her female servant and lover. Drum is not the son of the character in Mandingo.

Once again Ken Norton gets to box, but he gets to act a little more along side Yaphet Koto, Warren Oats, Paula Kelly, and Pam Grier who for some reason went by Pamela Grier in the credits.

This brings me to the reason that Drum is a part of my collection. This is the first R rated film I saw with my father in a movie theater. I had turned 18 and for my birthday we decided to spend some time together. I really wanted to see the film because Pam Grier was in it. Now of course it wasn't my first R rated film. It was a little uncomfortable for my father, but we got through it.

Drum was filmed in New Orleans during my senior year of High School. I had contemplated skipping school one day so that I could see Pam Grier, but I didn't want to have to deal with the consequences from my mother. I still haven't met Pam Grier or come close.

With all the talk of the flooding in Colorado, I thought there might be something on her, but so far nothing. Which means her ranch is no where near the devastation which is a good thing.

If you want to see Ken Norton check out the two films. If you just want to see an interesting film, Check out Drum. It is based on a book of the same name.

Thanks for stopping by. Keep and open mind and do come back again.