Sheba, Baby (1975)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Strong and Moving!

Great Film overall

Awesome Movie

Sheba Shayne (Pam Grier) returns to her hometown to help her father fight mobsters. Her father is killed by them and Sheba sets out to avenge him.Grier had two other similar movies like this--"Foxy Brown" and "Coffy". They were hilariously over the top, VERY R rated and full of nudity and extreme violence. This is rated PG and far too tame. Yeah, there's action but it's all kept down to a PG level. The script is terrible which doesn't help matters. The other two had bad scripts too but threw in enough extreme violence to keep you interested. Here it's just boring. The plotting is by the numbers and the movie seems to drag. Grier is wonderful (as always) but she can't save such a terrible movie. For Pam Grier completists only.

Sheba Baby, is another Pam Grier Blaxploitation film. It was one of Pam's less visceral films of this genre. Pam plays Sheba Shane, who's a Chicago gumshoe. Sheba's father is the owner of a small loan company, in Missouri. When local mobsters try to run her father of of business, Sheba goes after the bad guys.Pam Grier had already made her mark in Blaxploitation films, by the time Sheba Baby came along. Fans of both Coffy and Foxy Brown, know that Pam is capable of an explosive intensity as an actress. In Sheba Baby, the fiery performance that viewers had come to expect from Pam, wasn't as evident in this film. Not that Pam doesn't kick-butt in Sheba Baby. She's just not as much of a runaway-train vigilante, as she was in her previous Blaxploitation films.The supporting cast in this film, are a distinct disappointment. So Sheba Baby is Pam's film, through and through. And though Pam's a bit more subdued than in her other films, she still gives a compelling performance in Sheba Baby. This film is definitely worth your time, if you're an ardent Pam Grier fan.

I really tried, but this movie just didn't work for me. The action scenes were dull, the acting was surprisingly poor, and some of these characters were TOO stereotypical to even be funny. Pam Grier tries, but when you have nothing to work with, even her considerable talent cannot prevent a disaster. Even by the standards of this weak genre, this film is pretty bad.

Unfortunately, William Girdler's 1975 Sheba, Baby is one of Pam Grier's weaker vehicles. Playing a Chicago-based private investigator who flies to the South in order to help her father save his loan business from corrupt sharks, Grier has fewer that usual opportunities to pull out the stops. Additionally, Grier is hampered the most by a substandard script and little chance to do what she does best. Despite the lethargic pacing, a climactic speed boat chase -- which culminates in a nasty skewering at the end of a harpoon -- should please fans of the genre. Jack Hill's 1973 Coffy is a far superior Pam Grier movie.