Coffy (1973) American International/Action RT: 91 minutes Rated R (strong violence, sexual content, nudity, language, drug use) Director: Jack Hill Screenplay: Jack Hill Music: Roy Ayers Cinematography: Paul Lohmann Release date: June 13, 1973 (US) Cast: Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliot, Allan Arbus, Sid Haig, Barry Cahill, Lee de Broux, Ruben Moreno, Lisa Farrington, Carol Locatell, Linda Haynes, John Perak, Mwako Cumbuka, Morris Buchanan, Peaches Jones. Box Office: $12M (US)
Rating: ***
Back in the day, Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) could be seen as the blaxploitation queen. She starred in many action movies in the 70s. Her most notable project is the 1973’s Coffy in which she plays an ER nurse who doubles as a vigilante trying to rid her neighborhood of drug pushers and other assorted scumbags. She’s looking for revenge against the people who turned her 11YO sister into a heroin addict. I’d be pissed off too.
Written and directed by Jack Hill (Switchblade Sisters), Coffy came about as a result of American International losing the rights to Cleopatra Jones. Head of production Larry Gordon approached Hill to make their own blaxploitation movie featuring a female vigilante. He further asked him to do it quickly in order to beat CJ to the film market. Gordon, in turn, asked Grier to star. He previously worked with her on The Big Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972). Not only did Hill get Coffy done on time, it did better at the box office than CJ.
When we first meet Nurse Coffin aka Coffy, she’s posing as a junkie begging a major player (Buchanan, Private Duty Nurses) for a fix in exchange for sexual favors. She lures him back to his place where she proceeds to blow his head off with a shotgun. Then it’s off to work at the hospital.
Coffy continues her crusade of revenge after her friend and wannabe suitor Officer Carter (Elliott, Night of the Lepus) is beaten and left with permanent brain damage by two hoods working for crime boss Arturo Vitroni (Albus, Damien: Omen II). Carter, one of the few honest cops in L.A., refused to go on the take like his corrupt partner (Cahill, The Stone Killer) so Vitroni had him taken care of. She decides to get to the mob boss through one of his associates, a pimp and dealer named King George (DoQui, RoboCop 1-3). Posing as a Jamaican prostitute looking for work, she gets inside George’s operation where she proceeds to catch the attention of her intended target by starting a brawl with the other girls at a party.
When not out killing pushers, Coffy’s in a relationship with city councilman Howard Brunswick (Bradshaw, The Strawberry Statement), an ambitious sort planning to run for Congress. He claims he wants to do good for the community, but something tells me that’s not the whole story. He has no idea what she’s been doing on her own time, but you can bet that the gangsters will soon figure it out and deal with it in their own way.
As far as this type of movie goes, Coffy is pretty good. It’s a great idea for an action flick, a beautiful, bad ass black woman meting out her own brand of justice. It’s a groovy vehicle for Pam Grier who should have been a bigger action star. She had an all too brief run in the early half of the 70s until her career tapered off with the demise of blaxploitation. She was reduced to playing supporting roles in movies like Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), The Allnighter (1987), Above the Law (1988), The Package (1989), Class of 1999 (1990) and Escape from L.A. (1996). She experienced a much-deserved comeback when Quentin Tarantino cast her in his 1997 crime drama Jackie Brown. 20+ years later, she was still every bit the queen of blaxploitation cool she was in Coffy.
Coffy is a foxy lady who knows how to take care of herself. Before starting the fight with the other girls, she hides razor blades in her Afro for when the inevitable hair-pulling starts. Sure enough, one of the girls ends up with mutilated hands. She’s not afraid to use a gun either. She’s not interested in any rationalization for selling and/or using drugs. Her sole interest is getting these thugs off the street…. permanently! She has her tender side too. There’s a scene where Coffy visits her non-responsive sister in a drug rehabilitation facility. They way she lovingly talks to the girl speaks to the humanity beneath her tough façade.
Elliott, the two-time husband of singer Dionne Warwick, contributes a memorable albeit brief performance as Carter. He accompanies Coffy when she visits her sister. It’s a real eye-opener. He was on the fence about whether or not to accept money to look the other way. He makes up his mind after witnessing the suffering of the young addicts in the rehab facility. It costs him his career and all but his life. Bradshaw is also good as Howard, a politician who may or may not be involved with the same criminal element his girlfriend is looking to eliminate. It’s difficult to imagine DoQui as a sleazy pimp given his role in the RoboCop films, but he pulls it off like the pro that he was. Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses), one of my favorite bad guy character actors, shows up as one of Vitroni’s henchmen. It’s always a pleasure to see that guy.
Coffy is clumsily paced, but Hill has a good enough handle on B-movies to make the payoff worth it. Some of the violence is pretty horrific, especially the scene where Vitroni’s thugs kill a man by tying him to the bumper of a car and dragging him through the city streets until he’s a bloody lump of ground meat. The finale is violent and thrilling. I love the final shot delivered by Coffy. It lands right where you hope it does. The music by Roy Ayers has a funky groove to it. It fits in nicely with the action of the movie. Some of the clothing worn by the characters seems funny by today’s standards. What can I say, it’s the 70s. Where’s Huggy Bear or Black Belt Jones when you need them?
While I wouldn’t say Coffy is one of my favorite movies, it’s definitely watchable. It’s a cool trip back to the 70s with all the expected trappings. Plus, it allows us to see Pam Grier in her prime. Damn, that lady is fine and superbad!
