Review #643: 'Foxy Brown' (1974)

After the huge success of Coffy (1973), American International Pictures wanted more blaxploitation, namely in the form of Pam Grier's sexy, female empowered ass-kicker. Coffy made Grier an overnight star, but not wanting to make a sequel after seeing a few sequels of other franchises fail at the box-office, they hastily re-wrote the script for Burn, Coffy, Burn!, and created Foxy Brown. They kept writer and director Jack Hill, and made a film about basically the same character. Yet Coffy and Foxy Brown are arguably as popular and as iconic as each other - Foxy maybe even more so - and this is mainly due to Foxy Brown being a pretty decent film, despite familiar plotting and genre tropes.

When her boyfriend is gunned down by a bunch of gangsters, Foxy Brown goes undercover to infiltrate a prostitute ring posing as a modelling agency. Her dead-beat brother Link (the amazing Antonio Fargas) tells Foxy that the group - led by strange and kinky couple Steve (Peter Brown) and Miss Katherine (Kathryn Loder) - are the people responsible. Violence, drugs and explosions soon follow as Foxy pursues her thirst for vengeance, and helps fellow black woman Claudia (Juanita Brown) to escape a life on the game,

It's a revenge premise seen a thousand times before, but Foxy Brown is often a blast. Grindhouse trailers often dazzle and confuse us with endless action scenes and violence promising a wonderful experience, only to submit us to 90 torturous minutes of amatuerish crap. Yet Foxy Brown certainly delivers on its promises. It's noticeably more violent than other blaxploitation films, with Jack Hill's wit surprisingly shining through moments of forced heroin addiction and pickled cock. But it's Pam Grier that steals the movie, pulling guns out of her 'afro and simply being 'a whooooole lotta woman!' (as recognised by her own brother) throughout, displaying the charisma that would make her a 70's icon. It doesn't break any boundaries, even by action standards, and there are certain plot holes you have to try and ignore (what does Foxy Brown actually do?), but it's 95 minutes of solid exploitation fare.


Directed by: Jack Hill
Starring: Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Kathryn Loder, Sid Haig
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie