Reviewed By
Ryan McDonald

Analysis
After seeing the two volumes of Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” recently (arguably his best work, but I’ve never been a fan) I felt like reviewing another blaxploitation film, and although Tarantino made a musical reference to “Truck Turner” in the first “Kill Bill”, I ended up watching this 1974 cult favourite recently, and thus decided to review it. I mean, it’s got the original Huggy Bear in it, so how could I turn down the opportunity? Admittedly I feel that “Coffy” is Ms. Grier’s best film (and although Willie Hutch‘s score for “Foxy Brown“ is funkier than Roy Ayers‘ for “Coffy“, I feel the latter has a cooler theme song), but let’s face it, the plots for both films are pretty similar and Pam Grier makes almost ANYTHING watchable (“The L Word“- AKA Greatest Show Ever on Television- excepted. The show‘s about lesbians, Pam Grier being in it is just gravy!), even when things get a tad nasty.

This is a must for blaxploitation fans, but I must say that even a fan like me found scenes where Foxy is captured and tortured by a couple of backwoods hicks not only changed the tone of the film, but made it slightly harder to enjoy the frequent nudity by Ms. Grier. But you just KNOW that Foxy’s gonna open up a can of you-know-what on those yokels before long, and so I guess its forgivable. “Coffy” had slightly sleazy moments to it, too, but I reckon they were a bit tamer, and if you‘re new to the genre, “Coffy“ is probably the best bet, or even better, a near-violence/sleaze-free film like “Black Belt Jones“ or the original “Cleopatra Jones“. Either way, it’s not surprising that the decidedly unsubtle Tarantino loves films like this, and if you enjoy his films, it might be interesting to you to check some of these films out (most of which are better than anything Tarantino has ever done).

No one would accuse Pam Grier of being an actress in the league of Bette Davis or Meryl Streep (Oh, she is so fake!- Sorry, a Seinfeld moment. Won‘t happen again), but she’s a Godsend in films like this, where the statuesque and commanding towers over all. And damn is she ain't a whole lotta woman. In clothes by Ruthie West, the shapely Grier will at least command your attention physically- especially in a hot red number, a sexy yellow one (frequently seen on the film‘s posters), and a blue outfit and headdress (probably the second-most seen outfit from the film in terms of movie stills on the Net). I’m not sure if a voluptuous black woman like Pam Grier is all that infrequent today, but before the 70s, strong, sexy, full-figured African-American women were not frequently seen in leading roles, if ever. But along comes Pam Grier, mad as hell and she’s not gonna take it any more. In some of these earlier films, Grier wasn’t quite as strong with portraying all the different shades of her characters but she was certainly brilliant when it came to suggesting fire, anger, hurt, and sensuality.

The supporting cast is eclectic but entertaining and quite an amusing array of names and faces. Blaxploitation stalwart Antonio Fargas essentially plays the same snivelling, no-good, yet enjoyably unscrupulous character he always plays. As Foxy’s ne’er do well brother Link (in debt to the local kingpin of course), you love to hate this guy, who would do in his own sister to get himself out of trouble. He also gets one of the film’s signature lines; ‘That’s my sister, Baby. And she’s a WHOLE lotta woman!’, and my personal favourite; ‘I‘m too small to be a football hero, and too ugly to be elected mayor!’. He even gets to do a bit of lovin’, and you’ll probably be begging the skinny runt to put his shirt back on. Kathryn Loder is the main villain of the piece, and she has a rather odd way of speaking, and looks like a cross between Dolly Read from “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and Barbara Steele. She’s not the best of this sort of female blaxploitation villain (that would be Shelley Winters as the lesbian druglord in “Cleopatra Jones” or Stella Stevens as the lesbian druglord in “Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold”), but is so odd-looking and sounding, and definitely has her own unique style.

Finally, we have Juanita Brown and Sid Haig, in very different supporting roles. As a prostitute and mother who befriends Foxy when she goes undercover as a hooker (at Loder‘s stable), Brown (who reminds me of a black Mariel Hemingway) is occasionally genuinely affecting. Haig, meanwhile, is a Grier regular, and appears late as a lusty chopper pilot who unknowingly assists Foxy in the final action set-piece. Looking rather like Tommy Chong, Haig (who had a small role in “Kill Bill vol. 2” and “Jackie Brown”, coincidentally) is always a welcome presence in these sorts of films and it’s great to see him in a not-quite villainous role for once.

Key Area	Rating (out of 5)	Comment
Action		The towering, vengeful Ms. Grier dispatches baddies in a variety of ways, as well as some fist fights and a lesbian bar fight.
Tension		Who wouldn’t find the voluptuous Pam Grier dishing out punishment to no-good dirty rats, tense?
Violence/ Gore		There is suggestion of castration, a guy gets sliced and diced by a plane propeller (barely shown), there is some mild torture, one or two close-up head wounds, and more.
Bare Flesh		Grier shows us her lovelies several times, and parades around in an array of sexy outfits, whilst a party scene offers nudity from bit players.
Plot		A standard vigilante/crime pic story, but with the twist of a black female lead character and white villains. Subplot concerning undercover cop and plastic surgery is a tad silly.

Verdict A career high moment for Ms. Grier in the mid 70's (but not her highest) and very well worth checking out even if it's just to ogle at the beautiful curves of the original Pammy. Blaxploitation fans will not be disappointed and neither, I suspect, will action junkies.

Movie Pictures (Click picture to enlarge)