Edgar Allan Pooh . . . but Warner Bros. answered to a Higher Purpose when it courageously released THE MACK as an extreme early warning to We Americans of (The Then) Far Future concerning our upcoming Times of Trial IF the USA stubbornly persisted into another century with an outdated and totally discredited Policy of Prohibition. Warner Bros.' always prophetic film distributors try to warn Americans that it's not enough to legalize mass consumption of booze in all 50 states. That alone has not brought peace to U.S. streets. Furthermore, promoting all manner of gambling, including the so-called "Numbers Game" (aka, Powerball or MegaMillions) will not put much of a dent into the violence rocking Main Street, either. Even dropping the War on "Reefer Madness" cannot soothe the roiled waters of the USA's Civil Unrest. No, Warner's uncannily accurate Cassandras clairvoyantly contend, what Profiteth a Nation to foster all of the other Vices, when it senselessly prohibits "the World's Oldest Profession"? Warner depicts THE MACK's hero "Goldie" bravely paddling against the tide of holier-than-thou waters as he stoutly fights to make Oakland's streets safe for working girls. For his troubles, cops beat Goldie's mom to death. Never forget that Warner warned us with THE MACK that Prohibition will doom as all!

MartinHafer THE MACK is a film about a true anti-hero, as a "mack" is a pimp. When Goldie gets out of prison, he's determined to be the #1 pimp--no matter what gets in his way. His brother, however, is full of Black pride and urges Goldie to do something positive with his life. Unfortunately, Goldie is more than willing to make it big off his own people--and, while the film presents both messages, the overwhelming message through the first 90% of the movie seems to be that Goldie's way is the right way! Over the course of the film, it was very interesting to see the evolution of Goldie. At first, he seemed like a nice guy--sort of a "pimp with a heart of gold"--a social worker pimp, of sorts! However, over time, he becomes harder and badder and colder--so that you really can't like him or justify his life.At the same time, two crooked and racist White cops are shown throughout the film. Their job, it seems, is to make life tough for Goldie and prove to the audience that White cops are devils--and they do a good job of this! They are the stereotypical blaxploitation cops--even going so far as killing the only good cop (a Black one, naturally) in the film.Eventually, Goldie becomes so big, so violent and creates so many enemies you aren't sure which one will eventually kill him--the Fat Man, the two psycho cops or one of the other pimps. This leads to some amazing action--though you are left rather cold because every single one of them are dirt and it's hard to care at all about them. Heck, I just wanted to see them all die! The bottom line is that for the genre, this is a pretty good film but has rather horrible values. Unlike more positive films like HAMMER, COFFY and FOXY BROWN, this one tends to glorify, to a degree, a societal leech. If you like this style film and want to root for a low-life, also try SUPER FLY.FYI--Years ago, when I watched I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA, I laughed at Fly Guy and the section on the "Pimp of the Year" competition--not realizing that character was taken straight from THE MACK.

chalik360 All the quotes that youve heard in rap music regarding the pimping lifestyle is from this film. From Too $hort, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Nas, Raekwon, theyve all used snipets of this film.This is defintely a great movie if you are a fan of the 70s films. Willie Hutch delivers a slammin score and the acting is phenomonal! Richard Pryor does his usual "free-style adlib" acting, while Max Julien plays the lead role. I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

Edsel Hegmon I never seen the Mack when it first came out, but when I was 13 , and I seen it at the Southern Theater in Columbus. I was shocked how the movie evolved. First he's released from prison after 5 years, and then his old flame(Carol Speed who was good) became one of his girls, and the two crooked cops that put him in the prison in first place harassing him, and killed his mother, and then kills a rival pimp with dynamite in the mouth, and then he shoots battery acid into the "Fat Man" after all this he winds up on top in the end despite all of the tragedy he went through. I don't know why Max Julien didn't do more movies than he did, but he's still a great actor. Richard Pryor does a great job as Goldie's sidekick Slick. I can see this movie many times over, because it was that good. If you get a chance buy this movie, it's available anywhere.