(Programming Note: I know I was making August Al Adamson month, but since I still have a good chunk of movies left on Severin’s Al Adamson box set left to watch, I figured I’d extend it through September. I'll try to watch them all before The 31 Days of Horror-Ween kicks off in October, although I kind of doubt I’ll be able to wade my way through them all by then.)
Dobie Gray (the pop singer known for such hits as “The In Crowd” and “Drift Away”) stars as Beauregard Jones, who in the pre-title sequence guns down a drug kingpin, his goons, and some dirty cops atop a tall building. We then flashback to Vietnam where Beauregard and his buddy Joe (Dennis Safran) go AWOL and set out on separate paths. In Spain, Beauregard gets in hot water when he helps a sexy senorita evade some hitmen from the Syndicate. Meanwhile, in Rome, Joe comes into possession of a hot diamond and quickly gets in over his head. Eventually, they decide to take off to Canada together, but fate has other plans.
Mean Mother is a weird mother. It’s one part Italian crime picture and one part Blaxploitation actioner. Legendary schlock producer Sam Sherman got a hold of a flick called Run for Your Life directed by Leon (“Kill ‘em off ski”) Klimovsky that he couldn’t sell. So, he gave the one and only Al Adamson a call and had him film new scenes with Gray and turn it into a black action movie so they could cash in on the Blaxploitation craze. Despite the fact that Safran appears in both narratives, the two halves never really gel as the whole thing feels like it’s been Frankensteined together.
Based on the evidence supplied here, Dobie is a much better singer than actor. Safran is even worse, but the ladies in the cast are engaging. Former Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi appears in the Klimovsky portions of the film. She looks great and gives a decent performance, although it’s hard to grasp what she sees in the bland Safran. (I wonder if she ever realized her scenes would someday wind up in an Al Adamson Blaxploitation flick?) The ever-sexy Marilyn Joi shows up in the Adamson sequences and makes the sluggishly paced scenes worth watching. We also get a bit by the sultry Robyn Hilton (Mel Brooks’ secretary in Blazing Saddles) as a bombshell in a bikini who unsuccessfully tries to waylay Gray during a roadside ambush.
The Run for Your Life segments are indifferently edited into the action, which is often poorly staged. The pre-title sequence isn’t bad though. You can see why Adamson frontloaded it into the picture because it’s easily the best thing the movie has to offer (Joi and Hilton’s nude scenes notwithstanding). It quickly settles down from there and becomes something of a chore to sit through, mostly on account of the constant shifting back and forth from the Klimovsky footage to the Adamson stuff.
Another problem: Beauregard really isn’t all that… mean? He’s the hero and all, but he really doesn’t do anything particularly bad to justify the title. Maybe he had a mean mother growing up and that’s why he turned out to be such a good guy.
I’m a big fan of the Blaxploitation genre. Even lesser Blaxploitation fare can be enjoyable for the dated fashions, low production values, and the bad acting. Mean Mother, unfortunately, is just plain bad.
AKA: Run for Your Life.
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