Compare and contrast a film like this to 12 YEARS A SLAVE or even DJANGO UNCHAINED and you'll see the startling shift in cinema over the past 45 years. Back then in the Blaxploitation era, studios were just waking up to the value of catering to African American audiences as well as others curious about other kinds of stories than their own. The 70's also gave us the Mondo genre of fake documentaries including the surprisingly good GOODBYE UNCLE TOM created more as a shock piece. It did however give us an era of renewed interest in the history of American slavery though mainly for exploitation vs. educational purposes. The resulting films would vary widely in quality all the way from the groundbreaking "Roots" miniseries to films such as this which celebrated the grit and sleaze just as much as they shamed it.
Steve Carver certainly graduated from the Roger Corman school of film-making, not letting 5 minutes go by without nudity, violence, or lots of severe uncouth language that would result in the actors being cancelled and de-platformed off of social media today. Just imagine if John Colicos or Warren Oates were alive and on Twitter today? Then we'd get a window into all kinds of their political opinions until someone dug up one of their many hilariously profane and socially unacceptable lines from this film and used it against them.
The modern media landscape makes the fact that films like this even exist even more refreshing in an age where GONE WITH THE WIND comes with a disclaimer at the start. There's absolutely nothing heavy-handed in its message and it tells a simple story about the tough life of a slave who had to cope with the fact that he lived in relative luxury as a house servant vs. many of his peers in the fields. Ken Norton's performance comes off as stilted, awkward, and lacking in range in many scenes but it gives his character a likable everyman quality. Yaphet Kotto of course acts circles around him, as does Warren Oates, and Carver manages to get us to like them as well. This is no easy feat in a film dealing with such dark subject matter. Things move along pretty quickly at the start and finish and ultimately deliver a lot more action and violence than expected.
My main complaints are that DRUM lulls and loses focus through the center portion and there's a lot of obvious goofs in the editing such as the re-use certain shots and several characters who die multiple times. The body doubles used for Kotto and Norton during a punishment scene don't quite match them either, with Kotto suddenly in much better shape and Norton in far worse. Watch for one of the best knife fights of the 70's where we really get a good sense of how sharp the blade is, plus some surprisingly realistic depictions of 1850's fashion and architecture. Sure the sets looks like sets but they allow for some interesting staging and fight choreography.
Overall I'd give this one a strong recommendation for fans of 70's shock cinema, grindhouse, and exploitation up there with something like HELL UP IN HARLEM or THE RISE AND FALL OF IDI AMIN. The ending especially brings us 10 minutes of outrageous insanity up there with the best of Tarantino (who certainly watched this and kept much of it in mind for DJANGO UNCHAINED).
Steve Carver certainly graduated from the Roger Corman school of film-making, not letting 5 minutes go by without nudity, violence, or lots of severe uncouth language that would result in the actors being cancelled and de-platformed off of social media today. Just imagine if John Colicos or Warren Oates were alive and on Twitter today? Then we'd get a window into all kinds of their political opinions until someone dug up one of their many hilariously profane and socially unacceptable lines from this film and used it against them.
The modern media landscape makes the fact that films like this even exist even more refreshing in an age where GONE WITH THE WIND comes with a disclaimer at the start. There's absolutely nothing heavy-handed in its message and it tells a simple story about the tough life of a slave who had to cope with the fact that he lived in relative luxury as a house servant vs. many of his peers in the fields. Ken Norton's performance comes off as stilted, awkward, and lacking in range in many scenes but it gives his character a likable everyman quality. Yaphet Kotto of course acts circles around him, as does Warren Oates, and Carver manages to get us to like them as well. This is no easy feat in a film dealing with such dark subject matter. Things move along pretty quickly at the start and finish and ultimately deliver a lot more action and violence than expected.
My main complaints are that DRUM lulls and loses focus through the center portion and there's a lot of obvious goofs in the editing such as the re-use certain shots and several characters who die multiple times. The body doubles used for Kotto and Norton during a punishment scene don't quite match them either, with Kotto suddenly in much better shape and Norton in far worse. Watch for one of the best knife fights of the 70's where we really get a good sense of how sharp the blade is, plus some surprisingly realistic depictions of 1850's fashion and architecture. Sure the sets looks like sets but they allow for some interesting staging and fight choreography.
Overall I'd give this one a strong recommendation for fans of 70's shock cinema, grindhouse, and exploitation up there with something like HELL UP IN HARLEM or THE RISE AND FALL OF IDI AMIN. The ending especially brings us 10 minutes of outrageous insanity up there with the best of Tarantino (who certainly watched this and kept much of it in mind for DJANGO UNCHAINED).