Mahogany (1975)

One simple question, people: Do you know where you're goin' to? And furthermore, Do you like the things that life is showin' you? These questions are posed in the unavoidable theme song (a huge Seventies hit) from Mahogany, a splashy, diva-sized vehicle for Diana Ross. Miss Ross was hot off her unexpected and critically approved starring role in Lady Sings the Blues when she embarked on this musical, a rags-to-riches saga of a Chicago girl who dreams of being a fashion designer but becomes a supermodel instead. Original director Tony Richardson was replaced behind the camera by Motown founder and puppetmaster supreme Berry Gordy, who knew something about turning Ross into an idealized vision of femininity (for more on their relationship, check out the fictionalized version in Dreamgirls).

Ross looks a little overwhelmed by the plot machinations, which take her from the orbit of a regular-guy activist (Billy Dee Williams) into the glam world of European fashion--the latter courtesy of a cranky, unstable photographer played by Anthony Perkins. Perkins is sky-high fun in this thing, as though he suspected the movie was in trouble and decided to let the tics and nerviness fly. These days Mahogany is treasured either as a fond childhood memory or as a ripe camp-fest, and that's probably about where it belongs. Still, it looks positively restrained next to the other big diva musical of the same historical moment, Barbra Streisand's 1976 A Star is Born. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

 Just As I Remember It
The DVD version of MAHOGANY was just as I remember when I first saw it back in 1976. It would have been nice if they had some outtakes or a documentary of how the movie was developed and made. It would also have been nice to see the sketches of the garments that Diana Ross designed for the movie. I am happy to say that this movie was the catalyst for my career as a Fashion Designer. October 21, 2007

 Love Beats All
I've always loved this movie, mostly for the fashion and photography. It's a good story line about striving to achieve your dreams despite the odds and others trying to talk you out of pursuing your dream. Tracy Chambers (played by Diana Ross) reached her dream but gave it up for the love of "Billy Dee Williams" without flipping a coin. October 8, 2007

 Elusive jazz song in this movie!
Of course, I love this movie and I have for years, but this review is more of a question: does any fan of "Mahogany" know the title and / or artist of the jazz song that plays when Ross first comes to Rome and heads to Perkins' apartment? The song plays as she is coming up the elevator and gets louder when he answers the door. This song, or what I heard of it in this movie, is what turned me on to jazz, but I don't know anything else. It is a bebop style song; some have suggested it may be Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, or Art Pepper. Noone knows for sure. It is not on the soundtrack. Please help!! I love this song. If anyone knows anything about it, please drop me an email at: shagadenise@yahoo.com.

Denise Floyd

P.S. Be sure to check out my new book, "Tales from the Boudoir," available here on amazon! :-) October 1, 2007

 FINALLY!
Even though Diana Ross didn't do that many movies, the ones she has done are classics! I hope 'Out of Darkness' comes out on DVD. I might do a backflip on that one! September 15, 2007

 A milestone in Bad Cinema that will leave you wet with hysterics!
"Flash that baby grand of yours you call a smile," Diana Ross coos at Billy Dee Williams in Mahogany, the one about the goody-two-shoes ghetto girl who becomes a supremely jaded jet-set celebrity (gee, Diana, anyone we know?). You can guess what you're in for from the opening scene, when top clothing designer Ross (yes, named Mahogany) receives a standing ovation from the fashion press (!) for a parade of dresses that are kimonos trimmed with lit neon tubes. (Talk about your Method acting: to get into her role, Ross personally designed every costume in the movie, which is one thing, but took credit for it, which, once you've seen them, is another thing altogether.)

Early on, Ross is happy so she dons a rainbow-hued gown and dances among bare white department store mannequins; later, Ross is sad, so at a Roman orgy she drips hot white candle wax onto her tawny bare skin.

This film (with a line of dialogue that instantly entered the annals of kitsch back in '75: "Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with") was the beginning of the end of Ross's brief movie career (The Wiz polished her off). It had no less than three directors: one died during production, one was fired, one came in late but took all the credit (no one really came out ahead).

Anthony Perkins gives a loopy kick to his line readings as "Sean," a control-freak fashion photographer who makes, then wants to break, Ross; he literally tries to drive her crazy, trapping her in a speeding sports car as he shoots photos of her hysterical fear, until the car crashes. From her hospital bed, Ross coolly eyes the 8 x 10 blow-ups of her face in terror, muttering dryly, "Sean wanted to see death -- and he did." (If you miss that throwaway line, Perkins just seems to... disappear.)

Ross reforms before the end credits roll, so the social climber gets a social conscience -- and Billy Dee Williams, too.
September 11, 2007

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