Also see The Films of Jack Hill
She’s the Queen of Blaxploitation — a genre largely born from the thirst of inner-city audiences for movies made by and for blacks. Pam Grier met up with Jack Hill while starring in a couple of his women-in-prison flicks, and it was Hill who directed her in Coffy just two years later. On the heels of Shaft, the flick told the story of a nurse so sickened by the scourge of drugs in her community, and their devastating effect on her own sister, that she picked up a sawed-off shotgun and decided to settle the score. Ferociously violent, the heroine used her buxom body to seduce the pushers and pimps that’d ultimately end up in her crosshairs, instead of her bed. Hill and Grier returned for the non-sequel sequel dubbed Foxy Brown (1974, 91 minutes), which further cemented the actress as the baddest mutha EVER.
The movie: Like Coffy, Foxy Brown is out for some good old-fashioned vigilante justice (a plotline white folks would later rip off in movies like Death Wish). Her man is on the right side of the law, but he knows just enough to get himself killed, even after having his face redone by a plastic surgeon. Yet all they really did was shave his moustache and goatee, so it doesn’t fool the gangsters for long. Soon, he’s gunned down and his body falls lifeless on Foxy’s ample bosom. It’s then that she silently vows to get even — no matter how many scumbags she has to sleep with. Naturally, Foxy poses as a high-dollar prostitute in order to infiltrate a complicated ring of dope runners and corrupt politicians. Unlike the explosive opening scene of Coffy, the follow-up feature takes at least 30 minutes showing just how sensitive and loving Foxy is before finally letting her world crumble to the point she comes a-lookin for blood. Still, the remaining hour is unrelenting as the bodies begin to fall. Some victories are more savored than others, like the fiery death she inflicts on the rednecks who drugged and raped her at the behest of the queen bitch of gangsters. Foxy eventually enlists the help of seriously militant brothers to wage a final battle royal with the dope pushers, which must be seen to be believed.
Genre fan and geekazoid genius director Quentin Tarantino cast Ms. Grier as the lead in his ode to the blaxploitation genre, Jackie Brown — a film that earned Robert Forster an Oscar nomination for his role as the bail bondsman hopelessly infatuated with Jackie. CineSchlockers remember Forster from his work in every B-movie ever made — well, practically — most recently in the under-appreciated Uncle Sam as the crooked politico who gets turned into a human fireworks display.
Notables: Nine breasts. 12 corpses. Lesbian bar fight. Emasculation with hunting knife. Propeller puree. Hair pulling. Pickled wangdoodle.
Quotables: Foxy’s brother loves his sister, "You saved my beautiful black ass!" But she doesn’t approve of his so-called friends, "You think you’re back in with those people, but you got a stick of dynamite up your ass and the fuse is burning!" Size matters to Ms. Brown, "I’ve heard of a meat shortage, but that’s ridiculous!"
Time codes: James Bond-esque title sequence (:18). Foxy ably raises her recuperating beau’s "spirits" (14:00). The girls do a number on a horn-dog judge (44:00). Baddie gets run over by a PLANE (1:24:54).
Final thought: With Ms. Grier, even a hair pin can be the deadliest of weapons, but above all, it’s her dangerous curves and fierce resolve that doom pimp and pusher alike.