mahagony

[daviddh]

I remember hearing that BG fired the director of this film
not sure how far they were in filming. does anyone remember anything about this situation.
does anyone think the film may have been different if they kept the original director. just curious .

[PeaceNHarmony]

I remember hearing that BG fired the director of this film
not sure how far they were in filming. does anyone remember anything about this situation.
does anyone think the film may have been different if they kept the original director. just curious .

The original director was Tony Richardson, a native Brit known for his direction of 'kitchen sink' British dramas in the early 60s. such as 'Look Back in Anger'. 'A Taste of Honey', and 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' [[all personal faves of mine!) Certainly Richardson would have made a more realistic, grittier film. Perhaps that's why Gordy fired him? Rumours abound ... BG was just a tad of a control freak, one hears ...

[sansradio]

Legend has it that Gordy and Ross clashed with Richardson over his racial insensitivity; he was, by most accounts, patronizing and supercilious to the largely Black cast and crew. The last straw occurred during the shooting of the scene where Tracy confronts her late-night stalker in the Chicago streets. IIRC, Gordy and Richardson got into a heated argument over the casting of the actor playing the stalker. Gordy gave Richardson the heave-ho, took over without missing a beat, and the rest is history.

With that being said, who knows what kind of results Richardson would have accomplished? He certainly had a solid track record as a director. With all of its flaws, though, Mr. Gordy's directorial debut definitely satisfies and resonates on several levels for me. It solidified Miss Ross as a bona fide Joan Crawford-style movie star for the era [[albeit briefly) and gave Hollywood audiences a major taste of Black big-screen romance.

[nomis]

Ufortunatley Gordy taking over as director destroyed Motown making films starring Ross..after she endured repeated takes of the fountain scene she stormed off set to her dressing room after slapping Berry in the face and knocking his sunglasses off infront of the crew..he followed her to the dressing room and told her if she left Rome without filming the rest of schedule he would "wash his hands of her"..she walked.he did that. apart from dealing with a phone call over her fee for "the Wiz" Berry had nothing to do with her film career ever again [[and very very little to do with the rest of her recording work for Motown)

[Ozmo]

I remember seeing Mahogany on it's initial release and being very disappointed. I thought it was a huge letdown after Lady Sings The Blues. Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I purchased the DVD thinking that maybe I had misjudged it in my youth! Unfortunately I still found it to be a terrible film with the performances of both Diana Ross and Anthony Perkins particularly grating, bordering on the hysterical. I recall that there was much publicity at the time of Diana Ross' involvement in the costume design for the fashion show segment. To my eyes the finished results were so awful I wondered why anyone would want to take credit for them!
Clearly Diana Ross showed in Lady Sings The Blues that she had what it takes to be a major presence in film. Sadly in my opinion that potential has never been realised.

[RanRan79]

I don't think anyone can say for sure how different the movie would have been with Richardson directing. It's possible that it would have been better overall because of his experience, but experience does not always make the best director.

[RanRan79]

Mr. Gordy's directorial debut definitely satisfies and resonates on several levels for me. It solidified Miss Ross as a bona fide Joan Crawford-style movie star for the era [[albeit briefly) and gave Hollywood audiences a major taste of Black big-screen romance.

When was the next time we got a big screen Black romance couple after Mahogany? Ross and Williams really did have great chemistry.

[RanRan79]

I remember seeing Mahogany on it's initial release and being very disappointed. I thought it was a huge letdown after Lady Sings The Blues. Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I purchased the DVD thinking that maybe I had misjudged it in my youth! Unfortunately I still found it to be a terrible film with the performances of both Diana Ross and Anthony Perkins particularly grating, bordering on the hysterical. I recall that there was much publicity at the time of Diana Ross' involvement in the costume design for the fashion show segment. To my eyes the finished results were so awful I wondered why anyone would want to take credit for them!
Clearly Diana Ross showed in Lady Sings The Blues that she had what it takes to be a major presence in film. Sadly in my opinion that potential has never been realised.

I wasn't born yet, so it was quite some time after it's original release when I got around to seeing the movie in it's late night television showings. I loved Lady Sings because of the acting, the singing, and the story itself. I loved The Wiz because of the singing and the story. Mahogany fell a little flat for me. Even now when I watch it I'm at full attention from the beginning until Tracy leaves for Europe, and then I tune out until she comes back to Chicago. The Europe scenes are all about fashion and modeling and I'm not into that. Unless it's a comedy about fashion, I stay away from movies with a huge emphasis on the subject.

I think Ross' performance was fine during most of the movie, but there was a couple of scenes in the middle that I thought she could've worked on. As I said before I'm not into women's fashion, but to my disinterested eyes I'm quite impressed with what Diana came up with. She should have had her own clothing line.

In the end I agree Ozmo that her film potential was never realized. How could it be when she took 15 years between films, and even then she came back with a made for TV movie. I realize music is her lifeblood, but perhaps instead of all the "attention" [[for all the good it did) she gave to her music career in the 80s and 90s- particular after 1984- she should have concentrated on acting. I think it would have served her better.

[reese]

If I sit down to watch a Diana movie, most likely it will be MAHOGANY. LADY can be a bit sad, and THE WIZ is too long. But MAHOGANY was always a favorite.

I was much too young to see an R-rated movie when LADY came out, but my mother gladly took me to see MAHOGANY. I remember us walking all over the movie district on a rainy day looking for a theater showing it, as we had not brought a newspaper with us. Finally, we found it. Back then, you could watch a movie as many times as you liked so the start time didn't matter. We ended up walking in right as Diana's modeling montage began. I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Of course, we had to wait until the next showing to see what we had missed prior to that, but I didn't complain. :-)

[daviddh]

I did hear BG was.a Control freak. I think Billy d Williams confirmed that.
I didn't like most of the customers but Diana was good with Billy .
I think it's hard to handle a movie career ...Family and music.one or the other suffers

[johnny_raven]

Just to play devil's advocate ... If Berry wasn't a "control freak," Motown would not have become as big as it was [[is).

[Circa 1824]

I loved the theme song. The movie I give a generous 3 stars.

[daviddh]

Just to play devil's advocate ... If Berry wasn't a "control freak," Motown would not have become as big as it was [[is).

yes I agree but there were times when he started to second guess him self, or it seemed so especially when it came to DR, he realeased EIE on top of Dianas debute album but then didn't release the single for a year. but whole different topic.
but you are correct

[RanRan79]

Just to play devil's advocate ... If Berry wasn't a "control freak," Motown would not have become as big as it was [[is).

True, but one could also argue that if he were less of a control freak and more apt to accept creative input from the people around him that Motown could've been even bigger. Whatever "bigger" means considering how big Motown is.