White Mama

Name: White Mama
Genre: Drama
Released: 1980-03-05
Duration: 1 h 45 min
Rating: 7.4
Cast: Bette Davis, Ernest Harden Jr., Eileen Heckart

TV Movie
1980
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

806

YOUR RATING

Drama

A poor, elderly white woman living in a tenement in a black ghetto is befriended by a neighborhood boy, and the two of them form a mutually beneficial relationship: he provides her companion... Read allA poor, elderly white woman living in a tenement in a black ghetto is befriended by a neighborhood boy, and the two of them form a mutually beneficial relationship: he provides her companionship and protection, and she becomes the mother he never had.A poor, elderly white woman living in a tenement in a black ghetto is befriended by a neighborhood boy, and the two of them form a mutually beneficial relationship: he provides her companionship and protection, and she becomes the mother he never had.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

806

YOUR RATING

9User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 nomination total

Trivia
White Mama was a title that the network kept insisting had to be changed. Bette Davis sent back word she would refuse to make the picture if they changed the title.

Quotes
B.T. Williamson: My Mama never gave me no real name. B.T. stands for 'Boy Ten.'

Connections
Featured in The 32nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1980)

User reviews9

Review

Featured review

7/10

Still a STAR at 72

Bette Davis is 72 at the time this movie was made in 1980, and there are scenes in this oldie but goodie, where she still blows me away with her style, character and depth as an actress.

It is a good script and good story if you can remember where we were at socially and racially in our country at that time. I heard that the producers wanted to change the name of this film, but MZ. Davies said she wouldn't do it if they did.

I wasn't all that impressed with many of the other actors/actresses, Bette certainly was the STAR of this film and is what carried it along with the innocence and simplicity of a bygone era/story.

I would think it would be a great teaching movie to show how things have changed (and stayed the same) since 1980.

I actually liked "A watcher in the Woods" better (also with Bette Davies, also made in 1980) but do appreciate where they attempted to go with the moral of this story. I do recommend it,especially if you are a fan of classics.