Isaac Hayes is...

Shut your mouth.... but I was just about to talk about Isaac Hayes. Well, what needs to be said about the man that hasn't already been said. 

Pick up this new design at the link below. 

https://www.teepublic.com

 

Across 110th Street (1972): You’ve Got to Be Strong

When I hear the song “Across 110th Street” by the immortal Bobby Womack, the first thoughts that come to my mind are the final scenes of Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown where Pam Grier makes her exit from the film to the strains of the song. Like so many things in QT’s films, there is a direct film homage he is working for, and this time the film itself shares a title with the song. In the early 70s, Blaxploitation films were all the rage, and Across 110th Street shares some values with that breed of film. However, thanks to the performances of two strong leads, a tight plot with substance, and some gritty camera work, Across 110th Street feels like it belongs beside a film like In the Heat of the Night more than The Monkey Shuffle or The Mack. With the same urban appeal that made films like The French Connection feel so very real, Across 110th Street invites the viewer to come up to Harlem and see how the racial barriers divide, insulate, and ultimately must be overcome. Plus, there’s shooting and Anthony Quinn socks a lot of people in the jaw. So worry not, there may be plenty of message, but there’s a whole lot more going on Across 110th.

Abby and ‘Sugar’ Hill: The Women of Blaxploitation Horror

As February continues, I thought it was high time I mention that alongside Women in Horror Recognition Month it is also Black History Month. The combination of these two overlapping month long events gives me a great reason to talk about a couple of my favorite films. While the blaxploitation craze of the ‘70’s spawned quite a few horror films, they were primarily takeoffs on classic characters (Blackenstein, Blackula, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde). There was the occasional stray original idea like J.D.’s Revenge or Ganja & Hess, but two films stand apart to encapsulate both of February’s honored groups, 1974’s Sugar Hill and Abby. Made the same year, both by American International Pictures, both blaxploitation horror hybrids, and both put women at the center of the action. However, they show very different sides to how their titular women were portrayed, as well as the two sides of blaxploitation horror.

William Girdler’s Abby stole a note from the other takeoff films, and mixing things around a bit, sought to make a buck on the success of The Exorcist. That is, until Warner Brothers Studio sued (mostly unfairly) for copyright infringement and won. To this day, the film only pops up on low value DVDs or from gray market sources. Though it made quite a profit in its initial release, Girdler, the director of The Manitou and Three on a Meathook, never saw a dime of the profits. In Abby, Carol Speed plays the title character, the new wife of a well respected preacher. When the preacher husband's father, working as an Exorcist in Africa, releases a demon, it flies all the way around the world to find a home in Abby. Possessed by the entity, Abby goes from good girl to bad girl overnight, and if not for the help of her father-in-law (Blackula star William Marshall), she would be lost to her devilish and wicked ways forever.

The other film on the docket today, Sugar Hill, also remains hard to find though recently it has become readily available thankfully to Netflix Instant Watch. Sugar Hill was the single directorial effort from Paul Maslansky who had previously produced films such as She Beast and Castle of the Living Dead. Diana ‘Sugar’ Hill (Marki Bey) is the refined girlfriend of a successful nightclub owner, but when he is killed by the local white gangsters, Diana goes back to her roots. Asking for the help of Voodoo Queen Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully), the pair summon Baron Samedi who dispatches a gang of silver eyed zombies to do Sugar’s bidding. Working her way up the chain of criminals (à la Coffy), she eventually gets around to the kingpin played by Count Yorga himself, Robert Quarry.

Abby and ‘Sugar’ Hill could not be more different characters, and they really show off the two sides of the blaxploitation boom. Abby, written by Girdler with his Mid-America Pictures co-founder Gordon Cornell Layne, not only riffs innocently through William Peter Blatty’s backyard, but it does so by populating the film with stock, cardboard characters and questionable stereotypes. While Abby starts off a pious woman, the film kicks into exploitative gear by making Abby’s possessor a Demon of Sexuality. So before she gets her green, glowing eye levitation and foaming at the mouth on, she gets to tramp it up a bit. This is of course put to a stop by her African costume wearing, black preacher father in law and his son.

Meanwhile, Sugar Hill scribe Tim Kelly, who also penned the Vincent Price film Cry of a Banshee, characterizes Diana ‘Sugar’ Hill as a together kind of women who is strong and confident even in the face of supernatural danger. While the film does exploit the fact that Ms. Bey is clearly an attractive woman, it mostly saves its stereotypes and exploitative nature for the cartoonishly evil whites (especially Betty Anne Rees’ vapid gangster girlfriend Celeste). Where Abby is the victim of supernatural forces, ‘Sugar’ Hill isn’t the least bit intimidated by Baron Samedi (future Dukes of Hazard actor Don Pedro Colley in an inspired performance), and even manages to turn the tables on him. Where Abby is a victim, Diana Hill is a vengeance seeker. While both women have “gone bad”, one has done it due to the control of a supernatural power and one for love.

The real difference between the two films is the imagination in the script. Abby may have been unfairly impeded by Warner Brothers’ legal department, but that doesn’t make the movie that much better. While the young priest/old priest combo is changed to a father and son and the pea soup scaled back to a yellow, foamy mouth ooze, the exorcism scenes look a little familiar though on an AIP budget. Sugar Hill actually tried to do something different by bringing the Voodoo zombie (albeit with silver eyes) into modern horror. It is impossible for me to watch the rise of the zombies without thinking of Fulci’s similarly filmed scene five years later in Zombi 2. Both films seek to connect with black history, but where Abby’s link to African lore seems disingenuous, Sugar Hill connects voodoo directly to its link to slavery, historically the religion's main route into the United States.

While both Abby and Sugar Hill are entertaining films, Abby’s entertainment value is more reliant on how outlandish and exploitative the movie is. It’s a fun flick to watch with some friends and have a laugh about it and also a surefire way to work a term like Blaxcorcist into a conversation. Sugar Hill on the other hand is a pretty well constructed horror film that remains both interesting and entertaining from start to finish. It has its share of laughable moments, but for an early seventies horror offering from AIP, it had a lot going for it. The important thing though is that they both were made. Even now there are few horror films made with female leads, and of those almost none with African American women in leading roles. (Unless you want to talk about Gothika, and who does?) So while I definitely consider Sugar Hill to be the superior of the two films, there’s good reason to watch them both to celebrate all the special events in February.

Christmas Shorts: Black Santa's Revenge (2007): Ken Foree Blows a Ho-Ho-Ho-le In the Bad Guys

Black Santa's Revenge is a short I've meant to catch up with for years, but it took doing this series of Christmas Shorts to remind me of it. Starring Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and based on a 6 page comic that appeared in the magazine BadAzzMofo, Black Santa's Revenge is as close as anyone will ever come to blaxploitation for Christmas. Foree stars as the titular Black Santa, a guy who may not be so nice all year (as evidenced by his playing of dice in the opening scene), but takes time out to play Santa at the community rec center. When a group of thugs steals all the donated toys, Black Santa is both distraught at the thought of all the children who will not get the presents and furious at the cops who think he's involved. While having a drink in a strip club (still wearing his Santa suit of course), he spots one of the thugs that stole all the toys. Naturally, from there, Black Santa takes his revenge.

I really like this short, and I wish director David Walker had continued to work in this vein (he instead directed the navel gazing bummer My Dinner With A.J.), but at least he added this special piece to Holiday film lore. Foree is wonderful to see and perfect in the part, and what's even better is the 20 minute running time. Extending this into a feature length would have killed the joke, but as it stands it's a sweet, delicious Holiday treat.

This is only the trailer for Black Santa's Revenge, but you can get the whole film for only $3.99 as a digital download at Black Santa's Homepage. So check it out, it's the perfect digital stocking stuffer.

TNT Jackson (1974): She's Dynamite and She'll Win That Fight

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been celebrating Women in Horror month, but all of Rev. Phantom’s great posts for Blaxploitation History Month made me want to get in on some of that action-- and by action, I’m talking’ TNT Jackson. 1974 was a banner year for blaxploitation films with the release of Willie Dynamite, Abby, Foxy Brown, and Truck Turner. Director Cirio Santiago knew he needed something special to make his movie stand out. With a script partially written by Corman regular Dick Miller and Jeanie Bell (one of Playboy's first black playmates) lined up to star, Santiago brought the world of black cinema and marital arts together..

As soon as TNT Jackson (Bell) arrives in Hong Kong investigate her brother’s death, she gets jumped by a group of thugs on the street, but TNT is a “One Mama Massacre Squad!” and dispatches them with little trouble. TNT makes her way to Joe’s Haven, the last address she had for her brother. The owner, Joe (Chiquito), agrees to ask around for her, and soon all the clues point to the local drug dealers. TNT makes it her business to take down white king pin Sid (Ken Metcalf), his bitch girl friend Elaine (Pat Anderson), and suave up and comer Charlie (Stan Shaw). No matter if it means sleeping with the enemy or throwing down with some topless kung fu fighting, TNT is going to blow their operation wide open.

One the whole, Jeanie Bell might be lacking in the acting department, but she sure makes up for it with a zest for topless kung fu. The martial arts on display here are not crane style or snake style, and instead the practitioners seem to subscribe to the Rudy Ray Moore style. (And this came out before Dolomite, that’s how strong his influence is.) In other words, expect much posturing and making of faces when you check out TNT Jackson. Fans of ‘70’s chop socky or blackploitation film will really enjoy the over the top entertainment and the large amount of time devoted to kung fu fighting in this film.

Filipino born director Cirio H. Santiago, who often acted as a co-producer with Roger Corman, is perhaps best known now because of films like Vampire Hookers (1978) and Nam Angels (1989). I can’t say that I’ve ever seen any other films from Santiago’s catalog, but if TNT Jackson is any indication, Cirio knew how to make some extremely entertaining crap. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up for this film. I want it to be clear that the acting and direction are mediocre at best, and most copies of this film out there are terribly soft looking, rough transfers. It is in no way a film that should stack up against the Shaft’s and Superfly's of the genre, but it definitely stands head and shoulders above most of the second tier titles.

There are a few standout things to point out. Stan Shaw (who also appeared in Truck Turner) turns out a charismatic performance as hustler Charlie, and Filipino actor Chiquito was really fun to watch as comic relief/cavalry Joe. Ms. Bell herself deserved a bigger career following this film. She continued to take on bit parts in films for the next few years, but she was never offered another lead role and retired from acting only three years later. One of the best things about TNT Jackson is how readily available it is. It appears on several collections or, thanks to its public domain status, it can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. So celebrate Black History Month by checking out a forgotten blaxploitation gem that will really blow your mind.

Bugg Rating

Abby (1974): How Did They Not Call This The Blackcorcist?

There’s subgenres and then there’s sub-subgenres. Today’s film falls into that later category. Hitting the screen in 1974, Abby was obviously intended to cash in on the success of The Exorcist (1973), and Warner Brothers Studio even managed to file a successful complaint against the film causing it to be pulled from markets. The picture had even been somewhat of a success raking in over four million dollars before it was pulled. It’s really too bad this film has still been suppressed and unable to reach a wide audience as it’s really a good flick with an interesting premise.

Bishop Garnet Williams (William Marshall) is in Egypt on a mission to uncover antiquities and information about the God Eshu, but little does he know he has released the spirit on the world. It travels halfway around the world to Kentucky where Abby (Carol Speed) and her husband Rev. Emmett Williams (Terry Carter) are moving into a new house. Abby becomes possessed by the evil spirit, and she begins to act strangely. The first sign that something is wrong appears when she purposely cuts her own arm. Then she begins to act violently, lashing out at her husband. Soon her voice changes entirely as Abby is consumed by the demon. Emmett does everything he can to help her, but there is nothing he can do. He must call his father back from Egypt to help him exorcise the demon from Abby’s soul.

Carol Speed does an admirable job as Abby. As she descends into possession she cries, foams at the mouth, thrashes around, and lashes out all with equal abandon. She had quite the vibrant career in exploitation films in the early seventies appearing in The Mack, The Big Bird Cage, and Black Samson, but Ms. Speed didn’t make another film for five years after Abby until she appeared in Rudy Ray Moore's Disco Godfather. She was supposed to have an appearance in Jackie Brown, but her footage sadly ended up on the cutting room floor. Since moving out of acting, Carol has written a book on her experience in Blaxploitation films called Inside Black Hollywood, and in 2006 she returned to the screen with a small part in Village Vengance. There is quite a good interview with Ms. Speed about the making of Abby that you should check out HERE at her website.

Terry Carter and William Marshall both turn in believable performances as the father and son. Many may remember Marshall as the King of Cartoons from Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and I guess you may have heard of a little film called Blackula. He's also well known to fans of the original Star Trek series as Dr. Richard Daystom in the episode "The Ultimate Computer." His character would take on a long standing role in the show's mythology.

Terry Carter, who also appeared in Foxy Brown, would become part of a different kind of cult when he took on the role of Colonel Tigh on the short-lived Battlestar Galactica series in 1978, but there's much more to the man than that. In 1965, Carter became the first African American man to anchor a newscast when he was hired by a Boston based television station. He also appeared in an early film by future erotic film maker Tinto Brass when he appeared in 1969's Nerosubianco. Carter is still a working actor today though much of his energy is devoted to supporting causes like Amnesty International.

I’d like to take a second to talk about William Girdler. Although he only made nine films in his short career, almost every one of them is a piece of genre movie gold. Starting with 1972’s Three on a Meathook, the Pam Grier Film Sheeba Baby in ‘75, Grizzly and the Leslie Neilson action vehicle Project: Kill in ‘76, and ending his career with Day of the Animals (1977) and The Manitou (1978). Sadly, Girdler passes away in 1978, and even though Abby had been his biggest success, he never saw a dime from the project due to the lawsuit.

The movie itself is pretty dang entertaining. With some decent acting going on, the story of Abby’s decent into possession is enthralling. Sure, it doesn’t make much sense that the spirit would travel around the world and just happen to find the Bishop’s daughter-in-law Sure it doesn’t make much sense that her husband thinks his wife just needs a doctor when she begins to talk three octaves lower and in another voice. Sure, all of this is true, and so is the fact that I sure as hell didn’t give a damn. When you have a film that is so gloriously over the top with the possession scenes, it really doesn't matter how silly the plot is. Either you're going to go with it and love the film or you're going to just hate it from start to finish.

Horror movie fans should enjoy the possession sequences which are both silly and entertaining. Blaxploitation fans will find some of the greatest actors from the period packed into this forgotten gem, but what you won’t find here is a copycat story. Warner Brothers would never win that suit in this day and age, but it was a different time then. So check Abby out and give it the viewers it was cheated out of so many years ago. It’s kind of a hard one to get your hands on, but our friends over at Cinema de Bizarre carry it. So hop over there, pick it up, and tell them the Bugg sent ya or check it out on bmovies.com. 

Bugg Rating

Ladies Night Presents Sweet Jesus Preacher Man (1973)

It may be a week later than usual, but what’s a week when you’re waiting on a couple of ladies like Ms. Directed and Fran Goria? It’s a small price to pay for a review of an offbeat blackploitation flick. So come on in and check out what happens when everyone exclaims…

Sweet Jesus Preacher Man (1973) starring Roger E. Mosley, William Smith, Michael Pataki, and Marla Gibbs. Directed by Henning Schellerup.

Sirus Holmes is a streetwise hitman, and as a favor to some of his contacts he poses as Jason Lee, the Preacher Man. He becomes reverend of a community church in L.A., and he becomes a favorite in the clergy. He pretends to want to clean up the neighborhood, but greed makes him want to run the action himself. Will he learn the error of his ways or will the Preacher Man end up paying the Devil his due?

Tid Bits

--Henning Schellerup also directed The Black Alley Cats and The Black Bunch (a.k.a. Vicious Virgins). He is also credited as cinematographer for Silent Night Deadly Night and second unit cameraman for Maniac Cop, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Deathrace 2000.

--Roger E. Mosley is perhaps better known as T.C. on Magnum P.I.. He also appeared in the blaxploitation classic The Mack.

--William Smith appeared in films such as Red Dawn and Maniac Cop as well as being the Lord Zombie in Zombiegeddon.

--Michael Pataki was Dr. Hoffman in Halloween 4 and has provided many voices for cartoons.

--Marla Gibbs was Florence on The Jeffersons, and we love her for it.

The cover art and tag line to this movie will get any fan of exploitation to watch it. How can anyone who loves the films of the 70’s not respond to the tagline “AMEN’ BROTHER!” above a man holding a bible in one hand and a gun in the other. It was as if I was Pavlov dog when I saw the poster on the T.L’s screen. I think the exact words I used were “It is your job to get that movie for me.”

The copy he found had a bad transfer, but the first 15 minutes of the movie was a fantastic burst of well put together violence and an engaging plot. We get a car crush, a man being electrocuted by his own security fence, and a last victim being set on fired and pushed out of a hotel window. We also are introduced to Robert Mosley as Lee, a hardened hit man, and I loved the score which featured an oboe substituting for a funky, funky base line.

However, then the movies fails, and it falls hard. Instead of the story being about a white crime boss and the black hit man taking over his business, it becomes a movie driven by gross stereotypes. Now I know well enough to expect that from blaxploitation films, but in the best movies of this genre, like Foxy Brown, it is worked into the plot without being so clunky. I did not mind so much the jungle drums playing as Lee beat down members of “the Mans“ gang, but it became overkill when it was just a fight against random dudes. Black women are given the choice of being ether Marla Gibbs as the saintly single mother or a wanting woman so desperate for loving’ they will throw themselves at the preacher. This would be understandable if the female characters weren’t so underutilized in the film. Then, suddenly and just for good measure, the movie throws in a riot plot line mimicking the burning of Watts. It was like in the second act the writers tried to apologize for the movie with no regard for the storyline.

When watching all the movies of this ilk, it’s difficult for me to be too hard on them. Even at this time, very few films with a mostly black cast were not populated with these kinds of cardboard characters and situations. As a country, we just weren’t ready to look at people and see people, but if these movies, both good and bad, were not made, a whole generation of fantastic actors and artists could have been lost to our culture. That being said, this is no Shaft. It’s not even Shaft Goes to Africa. I can almost see to good story buried in Sweet Jesus Preacherman, but I have to look way too hard.

Bible Rating

I enjoyed watching Sweet Jesus, however if was very hard to watch…literally. The transfer is so bad it looked as if Vaseline had been smeared on the lenses during filming. This made me unsure of what or who I was watching at times. The close ups were not that bad, but distance shots were impossible. As with many blaxploitation films, the stereotypes and racial slurs are overwhelming. From the main character being called “boy” and “pimpy looking” in the same sentence to his congregation being referred to as a “spook” church, it kind if made me hate whitey too.

Speaking of the whitey, the acting from the Caucasian actors is pretty bad, but on the whole, the rest of the cast do pretty well. The dynamics of Roger Mosley’s character is well rounded, and Marla Gibbs turns in a wonderful part as a single mother trying to do her son right. On the whole, it’s hard to fault actors when the script is so all over the place.

I did enjoy the film, but maybe mostly because I like watching movies with Ms. Directed. When I step back and really look at it, this is a bad film. There are a couple of fist fights and the Preacherman carries out a couple of hits, but there’s no real action. The basics of the plot has definitely been done before and no doubt better. I can only really recommend this film if you’re looking to broaden your blaxploitation catalog with an obscure title. Otherwise just skip it and pick from some of the genre’s better titles.

Bible Rating

The film is out of print, but can be found through various sources including the magic of YouTube. Here's the first portion of the film for your enjoyment.

The Grab Bag: JD's Revenge

I know this is only my second day on vacation, but I’m still going to take the easy way out today. I’ve already got the prefect film lined up for you today. A couple of month back I wrote an article for B Through Z Webzine (Now online with their new issue featuring some great articles by Rev. Phantom and a nice Q&A with Debbie Rochon.) about one of my favorite 

New Orleans movies, JD’s Revenge.

So I hope you folks enjoy, and I'll be back tomorrow with a full review for Terrifying Tuesday.

Until then check out Day 1 of my New Orleans Trip with a little post I call Of Stewardesses, Sausages, and Seriously Good Music.

B.L.O.G Presents: Coffy (1973)

There are names synonymous with blaxploitation, John Shaft, Superfly, Fred Williamson, Rudy Ray Moore, but there is only one lady who stands with the giants of the genre. I'm not talking about Theresa Graves or Jeannie Bell... I'm talking about the one and only...

Pam started her movie career in the cult movie niche with a bit part in Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970). Yet it was her second film, The Big Doll House(1971) where she met another legendary genre film maker, and began a partnership that would produce four great films. Jack Hill, the director of The Terror (with Karloff and Jack Nicholson) and the classic Spider Baby, cast Pam in that film as well as 1972's The Big Bird Cage. At the behest of AIP pictures (who had lost the rights to Cleopatra Jones), Jack wrote a script for a flick featuring a young black woman taking revenge on a gang of drug dealers, and who else to play the lead but Pam Grier. After all who else could play...

Coffy (1973) starring Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, Allen Arbus, Sid Haig, and Barry Cahill. Directed by Jack Hill.

Coffy (Grier) has a good job as nurse at the hospital, a good boyfriend in future Senator Howard (Bradshaw), and an eleven year old sister in treatment for heroin addiction. No matter how good her life may be Coffy just can't get over her anger at the pushers who got her sister addicted. So she does what she feels is right, and begins to hunt them down. She blows the head off a small time dealer and his junkie friend, but Coffy has bigger fish to fry.

First she tracks down King George (DoQui), the top pimp/dealer in the game, and comes into his employ by passing herself off as Mystique, a Jamaican. George readily accepts her and is excited about the prospect of presenting her to his boss, Vitroni (Arbus). When Vitroni, accompanied by his bodyguard Omar (Haig) sees Mystique at one of King George's parties, he is instantly smitten. A feeling that only intensifies as he watches her start a brawl and beat down every woman there. The big boss takes her back to his place to indulge his passion for kinky and degrading sex, and it nearly allows Coffy to get the drop on him. However she is recognized by one of his thugs who was responsible for the beat down on Carter. Captured and confined, Coffy will soon learn how deep the corruption in her town runs, while others folks learn to run and hide when the baddest one chick hit squad to ever hit town breaks loose. Coffy, she's got a body men will die for- and a lot of them

Pam Facts

--Pam Grier and Sid Haig appeared in all four of Pam's Jack Hill movies together as well as 1973's Black Mama, White Mama. They would return to share screen time in Jackie Brown with Grier as the titular character and Haig as a judge.

--Pam Grier is the cousin of football player Rosey Grier who had an acting career in cult favorites like The Thing with Two Heads and The Glove.

--Pam was the first black woman to appear on the cover of Ms. magazine (August 1975).

--She was born May 26 1949 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Pam is 5'8" and her measurements are reportedly 38-22-36.

The Bug Speaks

There is precious little for me to say here. Anyone who knows anything about black exploitation knows how great this film really is. Jack Hill was of course a master at what he did and provided the film with an excellent style while maintaining his typically minuscule AIP budget. The film does have some minor missteps, mostly having to do with scenes that are poorly lit, but on the whole it has an amazing time capsule feel to it. Paul Lohmann, the cinematographer, would go on to shoot the dreamy western The White Buffalo with Charles Bronson, Robert Altman's Nashville, and the biopic Mommy Dearest. (Also in another film connection set decorator Charles Pierce would become a director of such pictures as The Town that Dreaded Sundown and The Legend of Boggy Creek.)

The performances throughout the film are on par with any of the top drawer blaxploitation films of the era. Pam Grier is perhaps the shakiest performer, but she seems to real and determined, it is easy to let her faults slide. She would give a much better performance in Foxy Brown (which was originally slated to be a sequel called Burn, Coffy, Burn), but her performance was never more earnest in this film. There are several other performers who stand out as well. Booker Bradshaw turns in a fine performance as Howard, the future senator attracted to the wrong side of the law. However I do have to wonder about his character's choice to not only hold meetings, but also own a strip club. I'm not sure that too many Senators go that route. Robert DoQui as King George is not only a sight to see, but an adept performance by a skilled actor. He clearly relishes playing up George's cowardly tendencies and uses them to full effect. Alan Arbus, perhaps most recognized as the shrink that visited the 4077th M*A*S*H, was very entertaining as the kingpin of the drug and skin trade, and Sig Haig makes each of his appearances something to watch as the dastardly Omar.

In the end this is a film that deserves recognition on many levels. The film's plot concerning revenge against drug traffickers was mirrored in 1974's Death Wish to great acclaim, but Coffy did it first. Speaking of firsts, by being the first blaxploitation film to make it to market, Coffy defined the sweet, determined, and utterly vengeful character we would see more of in her own films and others such as TnT Jackson and Get Christy Love. Pam has a unique perspective on her films and was quoted as saying." everyone else can do violence. You know, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, they can all do shoot-'em-ups. Arnold Schwarzenegger can kill 10 people, and they don't call it "white exploitation". (From her interview at The AV Club).

While Pam would get away from films like Coffy with her roles in Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) with Paul Newman and the Disney feature Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983), she would return to form for the Quentin Tarantino helmed Jackie Brown (1997). While some hailed this film as her comeback (and it is my personal favorite Tarantino), Grier had actually been steadily performing both on screen and stage for years. In 1995, she paired with Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Richard Roundtree and others for the film Original Gangsters, and she also had roles in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey(1991), Class of 1999 (1990), and Above the Law (1988).

Pam Grier is a unique performer. There will never be another female action star who can so balance the tender with the tough. Her films with Jack Hill each have a special feel to them, and none more so than Coffy. If there were such a thing as a required watching list for genre film, this film would go very near to the top. It is nearly a perfect film. With slightly more money involved in it Hill surely could have fine tuned his footage, and perhaps got a better soundtrack for the film. These kind of errors or missteps don't really serve to detract from the film instead giving it the quirky quality that makes it so memorable. If you haven't seen it, see it. If you have seen it, see it again. After you've seen it again, watch some of her other Jack Hill collaborations, and enjoy the special relationship between a legendary director and this weeks B.L.O.G.

Bug Rating