We cannot claim
to be fans of Mad Men (2007 to
2015), if only because we never caught an episode. We saw a trailer or two, but
while they may have looked interesting, and Jon Hamm hunky, prior to the
current COVID lockdown we were never really all that much into series — other
than for the two hilariously great and likewise dearly departed series, SciFi's Z Nation (2014-18 / trailer) and AMC's Preacher (2016-19 / trailer).
But had this
faux trailer we stumbled on recently while working on our upcoming 3-part Babes of Yesteryear focus on Marilyn Joi
been for the real thing, we probably would have found the time to at least
chest out an episode or two. This thing is great! Hits the groove, has the
moves, but with a production level seldom found in the real thing. Hell, despite
it all Afro American cast, it was even made by a bunch of lily-white men — how
much more like the real thing can you get?
To simply quote director
Daniel Frees's own words found at his website:
"Mad Men has been part of the new golden age of
television and was coming to an end with a 7th and final season. As fans
of the show, we knew the storyline was hitting the late 60s early 70s; the same
era of films like Shaft (1971 / trailer), Foxy Brown (1974 / trailer), Putney Swope (1969 / one-liners) and of
course Dolemite (1975 / trailer). So we
re-imagined Mad
Men through the lens of the blaxploitation genre and Don-O-Mite was born. We were able to do
a lot with a small budget, an amazing cast, and a level of detail for wardrobe
and set design worthy of an original AMC show."
Interestingly
enough, Don-O-Mite is also a real advertisement,
as Slate
points out: "The trailer is an ad for an ad agency,
Leroy & Clarkson, but that's probably the reason it works so well: The
writing is clever and knows its blaxploitation roots, while the performances,
costumes, and set designs are impeccable. It's hard not
to find the agency a little endearing when they create something as dyn-o-mite
as this." (So, just out of curiosity: How many non-white folks work at
L&C?)
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