I love this movie so much

The Worst Film Ever

Overrated

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Theme from Mahogany I felt was a wonderful movie. There was so many meanings involved all in one. First off anything can happen at any min. One day a poor women was working in the US as a dress designer and the next min she is a star fashion designer in Rome. The most important meaning of the movie was yet as successful as she was she had no one to share it with (as stated in the movie) in the end she chose her old life gave up everything to being a star to go back with the one she loved. The song Mahogany ---- Do You Know Where you're going to?

Being a fan of The Supreme's I heard some of Diana Ross's music on their greatest hits compilations so I'm familiar with Mahogany's theme: "Do you know where you're going to". So I figured I'd watch the movie, especially considering how good Ross was in Lady sings the Blues, that must have jus been a one time thing. Mahogany is NOT GOOD AT ALL. Anthony Perkins' (bit of a hottie in this) and Ross's chemistry is jus weird, frankly the chemistry of EVERYONE was bad: Ross & Williams, Williams & Perkins, EVERYONE. *spoilers ahead* As a fan of 70s fashion, I LOVED THE costumes in this: the rainbow dress during her 1st fashion shoot, the white ensemble with the green & orange hair accessories and necklace, and the beige outfit with the big hat she wore in front of the Italian modeling agency were some of my stand out FAVES. Some of my least favorite parts include: 1)Diana's limited skill set 2)all Ross's parts with Williams, they had soo much chemistry in LSTB but it was Beyond wooden in this. Their banter in the unemployment office, the scene where she tricks him with milk (she thought it was uproarious, it really wasn't), the date scene, their entire relationship: we're supposed to believe they're in love, they hardly knew anything about each other 3) scene btwn Williams & Perkins battling with the gun. One of the funniest things I've ever seen, sad bc it shouldn't have been so. I actually loved this scene but it still Truly Sucked 4) movie as a whole was just very flat and wasn't strong enough to warrant consumer $$. However I must say I laughed sooo hard during Perkins' beginning fashion shoot when he told the brunette model "It looks too horny" for some reason that Cracked me up... And the car crash scene has to be seen to b believed HaHa

A camp classic for all time, practically from the moment it hit theaters, this showcase for the previously Oscar-nominated Miss Ross provides continual entertainment of one sort or another throughout its running time. Existing in the slums of Chicago, but with an endless desire to break out, Ross attends design school while making ends meet as the secretary to a stuffy department store manager. (As in the old Joan Crawford films featuring shop girls rising from rags to riches - and from which this clearly draws inspiration - "poor" Ross is always dressed to the hilt and her spotless apartment contains new furniture.) When Ross meets cute with handsome activist Williams, she is tempted to toss aside her dreams and aid him in his civil efforts. However, she can't reconcile tossing her dreams away and proceeds to move to Rome, under the guidance of top fashion photographer Perkins. She becomes a major model, using the title moniker as her name, but all the while hoping she can segue into designing. Once this finally occurs (something that is revealed in the first scene, thus undercutting any suspense about that!), she questions whether it was all worth the trouble and if she let love slip away from her in the bargain. Rarely does a film project come along that is so blatantly geared towards showcasing its star that it puts that aspect ahead of virtually everything else. Ross gets to do it all here from facing a glass ceiling in the rag trade to modeling a plethora of fancy gowns to enjoying romantic moments with Williams to snarling at her staff of seamstresses. It's a vanity project to end them all and she is captivating to behold during most of it. She is credited with having designed all the costumes, though there is no way she could have possibly had the time or talent to do ALL of them. Her face is studied in close-up during several montages, all underscored by variations on the justifiably famous love theme. Lee Holdridge does an extraordinary job of weaving the achingly beautiful melody throughout the film. Williams is charismatic and shares significant chemistry with Ross. Their rapport with each other goes a long way in overcoming some trite and, at times, rancid dialogue. Their final scene together is a winner, even if it likely leaves a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who believes in sexual equality. Perkins, overflowing with tics and creepiness, is memorably demented. Others in the cast include Aumont as a wealthy benefactor (in a sequence that recalls another warhorse, "Madame X'), Richards as Ross's kindly seamstress aunt, Mell as a fashion house fixture and friend and Foch as the haughty, old-guard store manager. In a very brief scene, Vilanch appears as a designer from whom Ross is seeking a job. An attempt was made to make a glamorous love story and in that simple way it delivers. There is even filming in actual Rome. It's in the social commentary and believability that the story falters (not to mention motivation from a few of the characters.) Nonetheless, the never-ending parade of hooty fashions, the self-confident persona of Miss Ross and the eye-popping locales should keep most fans of "the woman's picture" fully entertained.

This is a coming of age film. Black films of that era focused on topics that involved the very worst of the Black community. This was one of the first films of the 70's that championed self-improvement and empowerment. Gordy successfully attempts to move beyond "Blackplotation" films of that time. In doing so, the film genre and the community it describes is what comes of age.If you listen to the dialog Williams and Ross had as they walked through the shelled out community and then walked those same contrived, multi-million dollar Townhome/condo communities today you will have a much greater appreciation for this forward thinking, insightful film, Mahogany.