Foxy Brown (1974)

Undescribable Perfection

Truly Dreadful Film

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

When her undercover cop boyfriend is murdered, bombshell Foxy Brown (Pam Grier) is out for revenge. She goes undercover as a call girl for a sleazy couple (Peter Brown, Kathryn Loder) that runs a prostitution and drug syndicate. Voluptuous and tough Pam Grier is the whole show, kicking ass and looking good doing it. Antonio Fargas plays her weaselly brother. Sid Haig has a small part as a horny pilot. The fight in the lesbian bar and the airplane murder are highlights. Foxy's final moment of revenge left me speechless. Cool theme song, nice nudity, and lots of violence like most of the great blaxploitation movies. Contains some pretty rough scenes and racist language so be prepared for that if you're squeamish. Not quite as good as Coffy but still entertaining.

A voluptuous black woman (Pam Grier) takes a job as a high-class prostitute in order to get revenge on the mobsters who murdered her boyfriend.I love Jack Hill. I love his work with "Spider Baby" and "Blood Bath", and I love his attempts at making Sid Haig and Pam Grier stars. He may have succeeded more on Grier than Haig, but they have both done very well for themselves.This film tends to fall under the title of blaxploitation, which may be strange coming from a white director. Personally, while I do not see a problem with a white man directing a "black" film, I do see a problem with this movie being called a black film. It is neither black nor white (or any other color). It is a story of corruption and revenge and has actors of different colors telling a very universal crime story.

I am a huge fan of blaxploitation goddess Pam Grier, and Jack Hill's "Coffy" of 1973 is both my favorite Grier-film and one of the absolute greatest Blaxploitation films ever made. While this "Foxy Brown" of 1974, which is very similar in its premise, is not quite as cool as "Coffy" it is yet another immensely entertaining and bad-ass blaxploitation classic. It is funny how director Jack Hill often repeated a successful idea - he made two WIP (Women In Prison) flicks, "The Big Doll House" (1971) and "The Big Bird Cage" (1972), both starring Grier, and then went on to make two 'Female Avenger' themed Blaxploitation flicks, also both starring Grier, "Coffy" (1973) and "Foxy Brown" (1974). And it is no wonder that the ravishing Miss Grier was always chosen to star as the foxy female ass-kicker. Grier unites incredible sexiness and incredible coolness, and is therefore predestined to play exploitation heroines of the kind. Storywise, "Foxy Brown" is quite near to what "Coffy" was, a film about a black beauty with style, Foxy Brown (Pam Grier), who is taking on ruthless mobsters in order to take bloody revenge for a loved one... At first I had the impression that the film would be a little tamer than "Coffy" in sleaze and violence, but "Foxy Brown" really catches up on these qualities a bit later in the film. It is not quite as cool as "Coffy", but still stylish enough. I personally preferred the character of Coffy to that of Foxy Brown, as well as the reasons of the revenge, and I especially preferred the villains in "Coffy" to those in this one. Out of all the blaxploitation films I've seen so far, however, "Coffy" is my favorite, and while "Foxy Brown" is certainly inferior, it is nonetheless great fun and a must-see for blaxploitation lovers. As mentioned above, sexy Pam Grier is great in the role, and the film has an overall wonderfully funky atmosphere. The groovy theme song in the very beginning ("Supabaaaad") already promises 90 minutes of great fun. The supporting cast includes the great Sid Haig, who was in plenty of films with Grier around the time, in a small role. Overall the film is no "Coffy", but it is definitely an immensely entertaining blaxploitation classic that cult-cinema fans should not miss!

My score of 5 is indicative of the quality of the production--not the entertainment value. Sure, the film is silly, occasionally poorly directed and produced and it sure would never win any accolades for its artistic merits. But on the other hand, it is very entertaining and is a definite "guilty pleasure"--you know, a film that you love but isn't a particularly good film. While it was not as exciting as Pam Grier's prior film, COFFY, it was a little better aesthetically--with less of the cheesy violence (no exploding heads in this one) , but it still packs a mean punch and it's nice to see Grier's acting has improved.Like COFFY, FOXY BROWN is about a one-woman demolition team out to destroy a drug syndicate. In this sense, the film isn't so original and at times it's more like a sequel than a stand-alone film. This isn't all bad, as the action is still there as well as all the excitement. But this time it's all a bit more tame and not quite as shocking. Also, sadly, FOXY BROWN ended rather poorly in my opinion. By the end of COFFY, every drug dealer was stone cold dead--but in FOXY BROWN, she oddly left a couple of them beaten (and in one case BADLY damaged) but alive. To me, this just wasn't as satisfying--I wanted to see them all bite the dust! Like most so-called "Blaxploitation" films, this one is super-violent and full of nudity. It's a film you best not show your kids or to a nun!