A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Wouldn't the cannon ball roll out of the cannon at that angle?. If it could fire at that angle would it not sink the ship? Only if the ball actually hit you would it injure you so at most it may have killed 3 or 4 slaves. Other wise enjoyed the images and story.

For the time period, I did like the photography/cinematography rather. I thought it was very basic and boring. It did remind me of roots but the accents were a bit weak and unbelievable. I needed to see more tension and romance. I thought that Dorothy was a lowsy actress in this film but she looked very cute but I didn't believe one minute she was from Africa or the jungle. Nobody that watches it will believe her for one minute. I think they should have made her look a bit more like a native girl and less Hollywood actress with nice diction. I thought these people were pretending. However, some of those guys looked pretty hot in those big loin cloths but that's not the point. The ACTING was lowsy. I fault the director on that. I bought this film on DVD and was glad because its hard to find. Glad that I got a copy it took me months to find. Finally I got it and I'm like OH this is horrible work.But for its time it was a risk and I bet there was a lot they had to edit and a lot they couldn't show so based on that. I thought it was good

The precedent user is right:it's based on a famous short story from Prosper Mérimée.It's strange that the writer's name does not appear in the credits on the IMDb page.Dorothy Dandrige had already been in "Carmen Jones " ,a Bizet opera based on another famous short story by...Prosper Mérimée."Tamango" was a failure when it was released and during the sixties,John Berry ,who had made a film noir chef d'oeuvre in the fifties ,"He ran all the way" was relegated to direct French pop star Johnny Hallyday in a forgotten turkey "A Tout Casser" ."Tamango" is a well-made movie but it is icily impersonal.Aisha's character's evolution is predictable.On the other hand ,there's a good use of the wide screen (cinemascope ) particularly effective when it comes to depict the hold where the slaves cram.The documentary side is the most successful,and "Tamango" can be looked upon as the granddaddy of the "Roots " series in the seventies.Tamango himself is close to Kunta in that 1977 Marvin Chomsky's work.

"Tamango" is a rousing and intelligent tale of a slave ship revolt in the 18th century. It strives to avoid transparent moralizing and overt stereotypes, particularly by placing the gorgeous Dorothy Dandridge in the pivotal role of the Captain's mistress. She must decide whether to send him to his certain demise among her fellow Africans (as Leonard Maltin avers, it's way ahead of its time). Perhaps this even-handedness is not all that surprising given the fact that it was directed by the blacklisted John Berry, who found refuge in France after helming several sensitive films noirs about the urban American underclass.Most references give the film's literary source as a novella by French author Prosper Merimée. However, I recently stumbled upon an article in the "New York Times" (August 24, 2005) concerning a South African archaeologist who is combing a beach off Cape Horn for the wreck of a Dutch slave ship named the Meermin. The history given of this particular ship is pretty much a blow-by-blow description of this film (apart from the miscegenation), even down to the very details of how the slaves were given their chance, and how the surviving crew foiled them at one point. I can't remember if the film acknowledges any true-to-life origins, but this shivery narrative certainly lends the movie even more credence.