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REVIEW – Cleopatra Jones

Christian Sellers — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:04:54 +0000

Although the blaxploitation movement was kick-started with Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song in 1971, it wasn’t until Pam Grier’s turn as Foxy Brown three years later that the genre began to portray women as equally strong and independent. The previous year, however, Tamara Dobson was kicking honky ass as Cleopatra Jones, a James Bond-style secret agent, intent on bringing down the drug lords of the world. Portraying her protagonist as feisty, dangerous and dressed to kill, Dobson helped pave the way for Foxy and Grier’s subsequent success. Directed by Jack Starrett (also known for his work in front of the camera in the likes of Blazing Saddles and Race with the Devil), Cleopatra Jones was a modest success upon its initial release and helped to generate interest in the subgenre.

When Cleopatra Jones (Tamara) orders a raid on a foreign poppy field, American druglord Mommy (Shelley Winters) becomes enraged at the wasted heroin and devises a plan to convince her to return to home. Cleo’s close friend Reuben (Bernie Casey) has been operating a safe house for addicts attempting to withdraw, and so Mommy arranges for a police raid in which the racist cops find heroin on one of the supposedly reformed patients. Jones returns back to America and into the arms of Reuben, whilst whilst Mommy’s only black henchman, Doodlebug (Antonio Fargas), has plans of his own. With the help of Reuben, Cleo intends to launch an all-out war against the city’s drug dealers, which will inevitably lead her to Mommy.

Cleopatra Jones certainly wins no awards for subtlety. It is a loud, colourful and almost cartoon-like action flick that makes no attempts to flesh out any of its characters and instead provides its audience with one action packed set piece after another. Without a doubt the most impressive of these was a sequence in which Cleo’s black corvette is chased by mobsters through both water and city streets, with some excellent stunt work on display. The scene is fast and exciting and those who worship the chase sequence in Bullitt will be more than impressed by this. Unfortunately, this is as good as the movie gets, but as the scene is undoubtedly fun then that is not such a bad thing. The one aspect that was a major flaw with the tail-end of the blaxploitation cycle was the Cleopatra Jones was directed by a white filmmaker, obviously attempting to cater to white audiences.

Dobson is excellent as Cleo and gives Grier a run for her money, proving to be both sexy and tough, with her tongue firmly in cheek. Whilst the role hardly required much talent to pull off, she has a natural energy and charisma that makes her immediately likeable and gives the character an edge. Sadly, however, Dobson passed away a few years ago from multiple sclerosis at the age of just fifty-nine, with just the disappointing Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold and the Linda Blair women-in-chains flick Chained Heat coming close to this success. Casey (later seen in Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde) gives an impressive performance as her love interest Reuben, a character whose motives seem to be genuine and deserves the sympathy of the audience.

Screen legend Winters (who died the same year as her co-star) was an inspired choice for the villain, hamming up an enjoyably camp performance as the over-the-top Mommy. It is not uncommon for popular stars to eventually appear in questionable material when their careers begin to dry up, but Winters is clearly having fun as the annoying and obnoxious antagonist. Unfortunately, the majority of the supporting cast lack any real aspect of individuality and instead simply fall into basic stereotypes (jive-talking black men and racist redneck cops), but the focus of the story is Cleo’s war against Mommy so these two characters are the most important. Fargas (who would follow this flick with Foxy Brown) also gives a cool turn as Doodlebug, although sadly his character is underused for the majority of the movie.

Whilst it is by no means the best that the blaxploitation genre had to offer, Cleopatra Jones is a guilty pleasure that offers lighthearted thrills and cheesy James Bond-style stunts in between scenes of Winters chewing the scenery and Dobson shaking her bootie. It is a shame that the writers chose to go for simple racial stereotypes, with the white cast being untrustworthy and corrupt (both gangsters and cops). What kind of social statement the script was trying to make would become lost in the endless action sequences and would be inconsequential. The majority of the success of the movie relied on how cool its heroine is, and in that respect the movie more than succeeded. Whilst it is hardly a work of art, Cleopatra Jones is still entertaining.

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REVIEW – Foxy Brown

Christian Sellers — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:28:45 +0000

Following on from the success of Cleopatra Jones and Coffy, female action heroes had become a popular attraction of blaxploitation cinema and the more the cycle became successful the more Hollywood began to take notice. American International Pictures (AIP) had been one of the driving forces of the genre and Jack Hill the most used director, and when Coffy transformed its lead Pam Grier into a bona fide it wasn’t long before producers wanted more of the same. Whereas the heroine of Hill and Grier’s last collaboration had been betrayed to mobsters and sought vengeance after her sister had been turned into a junkie, Foxy Brown saw her as a young woman who claims revenge after a gang of mobsters who killed her boyfriend after she was betrayed by her junkie brother. Whilst hardly a hit with the critics (Variety stated that ‘Even by the gutter-high standards of the genre, Foxy Brown is something of a mess’), Foxy Brown proved to be one of the most successful blaxploitation movies of the era.

When petty crook and local junkie Link (Antonio Fargas) is convinced that two mobsters are going to attack him, he phones his sister, Foxy (Grier), and asks her to come and pick him up. Having to run the henchmen over in order to save her brother, she manages to get him to safety and he informs her that he was forced to borrow money off a loan shark in order to start up a ‘business,’ and now is unable to pay them back. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Dalton Ford (Terry Carter) is an informant for the FBI and has recently undergone plastic surgery in order to escape from the same mobsters who want Link. Desperate to clear his name and get the hit men off his back, Link informs them that Dalton is still alive and has changed his identity, but when Dalton is gunned down Foxy swears revenge and attempts to infiltrate the mob in order to destroy them from the inside.

Although Foxy Brown is one of the most famous of the original blaxploitation movies it was by no means original. Grier’s character was a carbon copy of both her previous turn in Coffy and Tamara Dobson’s in Cleopatra Jones, two feisty and aggressively independent women. These is no denying how iconic Grier’s performance is here, with her trademark giant afro and penchant for stripping (fans of T&A will be pleased to know her breasts are exposed on more than one occasion). Grier is convincing as a macho-yet-sexy vixen and everything from her fighting skills to the retro opening credits (which sees her silhouette dancing to the theme tune, something that was recently copied with the comedy Superbad).

As with other similar movies, the supporting cast range from average to awful, with Kathryn Loder as the lead villain proving to be especially disappointing (certainly not standing up to Cleopatra Jones‘ Shelley Winters). Carter seems competent as the love interest but is killed off too early in the picture and so is given little time to develop. Fargas is convincing as the sleazy and obnoxious junkie brother, even though his character is reduced to a simple stereotype. Fans of Rob Zombie will be pleased to see an appearance from Sid Haig in a supporting role, although his role is less substantial that what he has since become known for. But Foxy Brown is clearly Grier’s movie and the script concentrates solely on making her likable to her audience.

Once again, Hill not only directs but was also responsible for the script (just like he had been with Coffy and The Big Bird Cage) and the story is by the numbers. Some of the action sequences are done with style and Hill clearly loves his protagonist, portraying her in the sexiest way possible. What is perhaps most surprising about his story is how midway through Foxy is kidnapped and drugged with heroin. Her instructions to a gang of vigilantes to castrate the main henchmen is also rather shocking, particularly when she presents it to Loder in a pickle jar. But having witnessed her boyfriend being gunned down in front of her, perhaps it is no surprise that she would react in such a way.

Fox Brown sits somewhere between average and entertaining. It falls short of Coffy and definitely lacks the cool set pieces of Cleopatra Jones (Dobson’s limelight was stolen by Grier, who became the pinup for the blaxploitation cycle). Still, there are some truly memorable moments on display, most notably the scene in which, having been padded down by the villains, suddenly pulls a handgun out from inside her afro. Evidently, Hill wanted to have fun with the movie and on that note he succeeds. It may not be the best of its kind and it may lack any kind of originality (yet again the blacks live in the ghetto and the whites are all crooked) but it is a lot of fun and definitely worth watching.

Purchase Foxy Brown here:

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