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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
TOTAL BOOTLEG - RIPOFF - BEWARE!, July 3, 2007
This review is from: Drum (DVD)
Blax Films is a totally illegitimate bootlegging operation and their product is 'mastered' from inferior VHS tapes of films to which they have no legal rights to (for example, "Drum" is currently in the MGM library). Thus the bottom-of-the-barrel picture quality of their discs. Note, too, their laughably bad screen capture cover art. Puh-leaze! Could you be any more lame? Amazon should be ashamed for even carrying garbage like this, and the legitimate rights owners for the movies that Blax Films rips off should sic their lawyers on them, hunt them down and sue them into the poorhouse!
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
[2.5]--Drum is a guilty pleasure, February 6, 2008
This review is from: Drum (DVD)
I enjoyed this film to an extent. Now, the only reason why I bought this disc was because my girl Pam Grier was in it. However, its not "Roots" but it's actually decent flick. Although Warren Oates receives top billing, you may wonder where he is for the first half hour, as most of this is taken up with Drum's unpleasant encounters with DeMarigny (Colicos way over the top and in possession of an offensive accent). When Drum wins the fight with Blaise he is awarded his own woman, but he shouldn't get too comfortable because the aggressively homosexual DeMarigny has designs on him, and when spurned vows revenge. This means Drum, appropriately played by wooden boxer Norton as if he'd much rather be somewhere else, has to be relocated by Marianna to work for Oates' plantation owner Hammond Maxwell, especially after Rachel has been murdered by the Frenchman.
The highlight of the movie is the dialogue of Warren Oates who plays the Ignorant Country Hick Plantation Owner. He is hilarious and would say things like "I found you in a Ho house and you aint even a Hoe". One thing about the film is that at least you couldn't say it was exploiting the African Americans in the cast, who are portrayed as sympathetic in the main - a pity you couldn't say the same for the women in the cast, who are treated as if the best they can offer the story is to take their clothes off. Over half the actresses disrobe for the camera, which exposes the true intentions of the filmmakers, and the most thankless role goes to Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith, as the daughter of Maxwell who is determined to get one of the slaves into bed. But even Fiona Lewis, as the prospective next Mrs Maxwell, has a gratuitous bath scene and of course the naked view of Pam Grier in her master's bedroom.
So basically, if you're looking for an examination of the last years of the slave trade in America, you will be disappointed, but if you're after sexploitation, then that's what Drum is really all about.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Beware! Bootleg DVD, August 18, 2009
This review is from: Drum (DVD)
I should have read the reviews here before purchasing this DVD. I suppose I should have also questioned the fact that I just bought the recent official DVD of "Mandingo", released by Legend Films and to which "Drum" is a sequel. Legend has apparently made a deal to release a library of films from Paramount Pictures. I should have asked myself why "Drum" is released by Blax Film instead of Legend Films; now I know why.
One side of this DVD contains a basic conversion transfer from videotape in pan-and-scan format. The print quality is horrendous. On the same side is also a menu item, simply labeled "Extras". When you select this option, you're treated to a string of extras, including preview trailers and an animated short, but they are not selectable independently via chapters; the bootlegger merely recorded these extras as a single bonus feature.
Although I was initially pleasantly surprised to discover that this DVD contained both full screen and widescreen versions of the film, my excitement was short-lived when I discovered that the letterboxed version, located on the other side of the DVD, includes embedded Japanese subtitles! This version was obviously transferred from a Japanese laserdisc. I do give the Japanese laserdisc industry much credit because it released so many American-made movies, and many in widescreen format, that were never made available (in any format) domestically. I certainly purchased my share of imported Japanese laserdiscs before the advent of DVDs. But if I wanted to buy the Japanese laserdisc release of this film, I would have done just that. I'm willing to put up with hard subtitles for movies that I know will never see the light of day in any other format; however, I'm hoping the previous release of "Mandingo" indicates the future release of "Drum" in an official remastered version.
At any rate, caveat emptor!
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