Foxy Brown (1974) American International/Action RT: 91 minutes Rated R (strong violence, rape, drug use, nudity, sexual content, language including racial epithets) Director: Jack Hill Screenplay: Jack Hill Music: Willie Hutch Cinematography: Brick Marquard Release date: April 5, 1974 (US) Cast: Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Terry Carter, Kathryn Loder, Harry Holcombe, Sid Haig, Juanita Brown, Sally Ann Stroud, Bob Minor, Tony Giorgio, Fred Lerner, Judy Cassmore, H.B. Haggerty, Boyd Red Morgan, Jack Bernardi. Box Office: $2.4M (US)
Rating: ***
Pam Grier, she’s the baddest and sexiest of the 70s blaxploitation action movie stars. After the success of Coffy the year before, Grier jumps back into action as Foxy Brown, another heroine who doesn’t take crap from anybody. It was originally intended as a sequel to Coffy. The working title was Burn, Coffy, Burn. At the last minute, the studio decided they didn’t want to do a sequel and made a few quick story adjustments before shooting began.
Now named Foxy Brown, she’s looking for the drug syndicate scumbags who murdered her government agent boyfriend Michael (Carter, Abby). He’s just been released from the hospital after recovering from a previous attempt on his life. He now has a new face and a new identity; he should be safe to resume his life with Foxy. Unfortunately, Foxy’s brother Link (Fargas, Starsky & Hutch) uses the information to get out of trouble with some vicious gangsters. Now she’s out for revenge.
Foxy goes undercover as a prostitute and secures employment with a “modeling agency” run by Steve Elias (Brown, Lawman) and Miss Katherine (Loder, The Big Doll House). It doesn’t take her long to run afoul of the bad guys. They murder her brother and attempt to force Foxy into a life of heroin and sexual exploitation. She manages to escape their clutches and sets up a violent revenge scheme, one that involves a gang of black militants. That’s pretty much sums up Foxy Brown, a rather entertaining entry in the blaxploitation genre.
Of course, the best thing about Foxy Brown is Ms. Grier. She’s a total bad ass! Foxy is her baddest character to date. It doesn’t really matter that the plot amounts to nothing more than a collection of clichés. It has some cool action scenes like when she single-handedly takes on a bar full of tough lesbians. That’s when she gets off the movie’s best line. When one of her opponents informs her that she has a black belt in karate, Foxy coolly replies, “I’ve got MY black belt in barstools!” after clobbering her with one. Is it any wonder Quentin Tarantino named his 1997 crime thriller Jackie Brown (starring Grier) for this movie?
I honestly don’t mind that Foxy Brown isn’t terribly original. Written and directed by Jack Hill (Coffy), the action scenes are very well done. The violence is rough and bloody. One baddie gets chopped to pieces by an airplane propeller in the climax. It’s a little messy. What I like most, however, is that it’s a groovy trip back in time to the funky 70s. Check out the colorful outfits worn by the characters. Listen to the funky score by Willie Hutch. Listen to the outdated slang. Foxy gets off some really good lines like when she calls one of the agency’s more important clients a “pink-ass corrupt honky judge”. Only in the 70s, right?
I wasn’t of age to see any of these blaxploitation movies in theaters, but I can imagine it would have been a fun experience. I know that it must sound redundant, but I would have loved seeing triple features at some of the seedier grindhouse theaters in my neck of the woods. Actually, I grew up about 10-15 minutes away from such a cinema, the Eric Terminal. It was part of the Sameric chain. It was attached to the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby, PA. That’s where all suburban public transportation begins and ends. It’s a pretty crappy place. This was especially true in the 70s and 80s (the theater closed its doors for good in ’86). They showed a new triple feature every week and I could not convince the parental units to allow me to see movies there. Basically, you took your life into your own hands when you purchased a ticket; the place attracted a huge criminal element. Call me crazy, call me self-destructive, but I would have enjoyed the experience of seeing crappy B-movies in such an environment. As much as I love my DVD collection, watching movies like this in the safety of my own home just doesn’t measure up.
In any event, I can safely say that I do recommend Foxy Brown. It’s just like its heroin, it’s superbad and that’s no jive, turkey.