Mahogany (1975)

(On Cable TV, June 2022) It’s a disservice to insist that a film should work on all cylinders before finding some value to it. Mahogany, in telling us about a black female fashion model/designer trying to succeed in a tough business in the company of difficult men, is almost a big pile of episodic nonsense, flitting from one dramatic happening to another. This is a film that advances its story by having characters drive fast and die in a crash, freeing their spouse to get close to someone else. But Mahogany is not meant to be a story: It’s about getting Diana Ross to look terrific in high-end fashion outfits (including a few that she designed herself) and getting in a weirdly contrived romance with Lady Sings the Blues screen partner Billy Dee Williams (but only after the wild photographer played by Anthony Perkins is out of the picture… and the French count as well, since this is that kind of film). It’s a film about gloss and fleeting moments, but not necessarily a strong story that makes sense. As such, it often works better than you’d think. Ross is almost always a pleasure to look at, and the film can string along a few pretty sequences. They’re not necessarily strung along in a way that makes sense, but that’s Mahogany. From a historical perspective, there’s something more interesting to say about Mahogany being a film by a black director (Motown founder Berry Gordie!) featuring two leading black performers – especially given its place alongside middle-period Blaxploitation and prior to the genre-killer that was The Wiz. It portrays black characters engaged in activism and being successful in their own fields and, as such, suggests a different 1980s for black film if The Wiz hadn’t been such a flop. Today, you can’t really call it a good movie – but it’s certainly worth a gleeful look for the costumes, Ross, a big unabashed mid-1970s period feel and bizarre plotting turns. Mahogany does not fire on all cylinders… but it’s fun enough based on what does work.