Alfreda's Cinema presents The Mack

“I'm gonna be the meanest mack who ever lived—they're gonna talk about Goldie like they used to talk about Jesus!” John “Goldie” Mickens vows in The Mack, a 1973 crime drama by director Michael Campus. Released from jail in Oakland, Goldie (Max Julien) finds that his mother still wants him to go to church and his brother is a Black militant. Fixated on success, the only thing he can do to raise himself up in the world is pimp.

More than 50 years later, The Mack is celebrated as the best and most memorable crime picture of the Blaxploitation genre by experts like Quentin Tarantino. Endlessly quotable, Campus’s portrait of pimping is glamorized with as much seriousness as possible. Julien tops an incredible ensemble featuring a rare dramatic performance by comedian Richard Pryor, alongside Carol Speed, Juanita Moore, and Roger E. Mosley.

The Mack is a defining film in a genre that faces widespread resistance to preservation, a crippling reality for films from the 70s Blaxploitation boom. Michael J. Dennis, Reel Black’s founder, archivist, filmmaker, and distributor, joins us to reflect on the genre’s scarcity in restoration.