''Drum'' is a 1976 American film based on the 1962

Kyle Onstott Kyle Elihu Onstott (January 12, 1887 – June 3, 1966) was an American novelist, known for his best-selling novel '' Mandingo'' (1957), which deals with slavery on an Alabama plantation with the fictional name of Falconhurst in the 1830s. The boo ...

novel of the same name. It was released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

and is a sequel to the film '' Mandingo'', released in 1975. The film stars

Warren Oates Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah, including ''The Wild Bunch'' (1969) and ''Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'' (1974). A ...

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress and singer. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star (although, there are some who dispute that claim and believe Cheng Pei-pei actually holds that distinc ...

, Ken Norton, and was directed by Steve Carver.

Plot

Drum has been born to a white prostitute, who raises him with her black lesbian lover. Drum grows up to be a fighter and is often forced to bare-knuckle-box other slaves to the brink of death for the entertainment of the owners, one of whom is a gay Frenchman named Bernard DeMarigny. DeMarigny wants to sleep with Drum, but his advances are rejected by the slave and DeMarigny vows revenge against Drum. Drum and his friend Blaise are eventually sold to plantation owner Hammond Maxwell, and are both taken to his plantation to work. Regine is purchased by Maxwell as well and is taken to the plantation for his own personal desires as a bedwench. After arriving at Maxwell's plantation, Regine is set up in the bedroom above Hammond. Augusta Chauvel, Maxwell's fiancé is jealous and has other plans for Regine. Maxwell's daughter Sophie wants to sleep with Drum, but he won't for fear of being killed. Sophie also attempts to sleep with Blaise, and after being rejected, tells her father that Blaise has raped her. Blaise is put in chains and Maxwell decides that he must be castrated for the alleged rape. Meanwhile, a dinner party has been arranged to celebrate the engagement of Maxwell and Chauvel. DeMarigny has been invited to attend the celebration and the guests end up discussing the best way to castrate a slave at the dinner party. While the party is taking place, Drum frees Blaise from his chains and there ends up being a violent uprising from the slaves at the engagement party. DeMarigny shoots Blaise during the fighting and Drum in turn grabs hold of DeMarigny's privates and rips them off. Both slaves and slavers are killed during the battle, but Maxwell and Chauvel are all saved by Drum. In appreciation for saving his family, Maxwell sets Drum free.

Cast

as Hammond Maxwell *

as Regine * Ken Norton as Drum *

Isela Vega Isela Vega Durazo (5 November 1939 – 9 March 2021) was a Mexican actress,Televisa ...

as Marianna *

Yaphet Kotto Yaphet Frederick Kotto (born Frederick Samuel Kotto; November 15, 1939 – March 15, 2021) was an American actor known for numerous film roles, as well as starring in the NBC television series '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999) as ...

as Blaise *

John Colicos John Colicos (December 10, 1928 – March 6, 2000) was a Canadian actor. He performed on stage and television in the United States and Canada. Career Colicos was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a Greek father and a Canadian mother. In 1957 he app ...

as Bernard DeMarigny *

Fiona Lewis Fiona Lewis (born 28 September 1946) is a British actress and writer from Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.Profile
, bfi.org.uk; acc ...

as Augusta Chauvel * Paula Kelly as Rachel *

Royal Dano Royal Edward Dano Sr. (November 16, 1922 - May 15, 1994) was an American actor. In a career spanning 46 years, he was perhaps best known for playing cowboys, villains, and Abraham Lincoln. Dano also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronic L ...

as Zeke Montgomery *

Lillian Hayman Lillian Irene Hayman (July 17, 1922 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress and singer. Career Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Hayman graduated from Wilberforce University with a BA before she began her career in the Broadway theatre. Sh ...

as Lucretia Borgia *

Rainbeaux Smith Cheryl Lynn "Rainbeaux" Smith (June 6, 1955 – October 25, 2002) was an American actress and musician who appeared in a number of mainstream features, exploitation and horror films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She made her feature debut ...

as Sophie Maxwell * Brenda Sykes as Calinda *

Clay Tanner Clay Tanner (February 3, 1931 in Clay City, Indiana, USA as Allen Honaker – December 22, 2002 in Hernando, Florida, USA) was an American actor. He began his career with roles in various TV productions such as '' Bonanza'', '' The Fugitive'', ...

as Mr. Holcomb * Lila Finn as Mrs. Holcomb

Production

Development

The film was initially being directed by

Burt Kennedy Burton Raphael Kennedy (September 3, 1922 – February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever." Biography Kennedy was born in 1922 i ...

, but he was replaced due to creative differences with the executive producer,

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian-American film producer. Along with Carlo Ponti, he was one of the producers who brought Italian cinema to the international scene at the end of World War II. He ...

. Carver then took over as director with only four days of preparation, the film's print made use of material filmed by both Kennedy and Carver. According to a 2020 interview with Carver, Burt Kennedy had only shot the opening sequence in Puerto Rico. Embarrassed by the script, Kennedy walked off the picture. Carver stated that "a lot of the actors followed him off of the picture". Carver then had to recast several roles and brought on "Pam Grier, Royal Dano and Brenda Sykes and several others".

Release

Home media

A restored edition of ''Drum'' has been released on DVD and blu-ray by

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art house films, ...

(2014), which includes an audio commentary by director Steve Carver.

Reception

Critical response

Vincent Canby of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote: "Life on the old plantation was horrendous, I agree, but movies like this are less interested in information than titillation, which, in turn, reflects contemporary obsessions rather more than historical truths."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drum 1976 films 1970s action drama films 1976 LGBT-related films American sequel films American action drama films American LGBT-related films 1970s English-language films Blaxploitation films Films based on American novels Films set in the 19th century Films set in New Orleans Films shot in Louisiana Films about interracial romance Films about race and ethnicity Films about racism in the United States Films about American slavery United Artists films Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Films directed by Steve Carver 1976 drama films 1970s American films