Foxy Brown

 Year:  1974

Director:  Jack Hill

Screenplay:  Jack Hill

Starring:  Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Terry Carter, Kathryn Loder, Harry Holcombe

Running Time:  91 minutes

Genre:  Action, crime

 

When her narcotics agent boyfriend is murdered by a powerful crime ring, Foxy Brown (Grier) poses as a  call girl to infiltrate the syndicate.

This is one of the defining blaxploitation films.  Blaxploitation (the term is a portmanteau word made up of "black" and "exploitation") was a subgenre of American action and crime films that were very popular in the 1970s, which featured predominantly black lead characters and were ostensibly aimed at black audiences.  These films were criticised at the time and since for perpetuating stereotypes of African-Americans, but they were also one of the few places where black characters and stories were shown.  Directed by exploitation veteran Jack Hill, who had previously worked with Pam Grier on Coffy (1972), the film is full of violent action, and it all moves along at a good pace.  Pam Grier is fantastic as Foxy.  Antonio Fargas, who is best known as Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch (1975-1979), plays Foxy's deadbeat brother.  Kathryn Loder is good as the sinister head of the "modelling agency" which is the front for the crime ring.  Veteran exploitation actor Sid Haig appears as a pilot who runs drugs between the US and Mexico.  The film does have some social commentary, Foxy has connections to the local Black Panthers, who help keep the streets safe from drug pushers.  Foxy also is in favour of direct, vigilante action against crime as opposed to her upstanding boyfriend who believes in the due process of law.  The film is funny, fast and dynamic.  The fashions and jive-talking dialogue scream 1970s, as well as the funky soul soundtrack featuring songs by Willie Hutch, and the film had kind of a second life in the late 1990s when there was a lot of '70s nostalgia, and has been a heavy influence on Quentin Tarantino, who cast Pam Grier as the lead in his homage to blaxploitation Jackie Brown (1998).  However, the film does have plot holes, and there are elements of it that are certainly not politically correct, particularly in the film's mos disturbing sequence where Foxy is kidnapped by the villains, forcibly injected with heroin and sexually assaulted (although the assault isn't shown, but her violent retribution certainly is).  

Pam Grier is Foxy Brown
  

Jackie Brown

Year of Release:  1997

Director:  Quentin Tarantino

Screenplay:  Quentin Tarantino, based on the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard

Starring:  Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro

Running Time:  154 minutes

Genre:  Crime drama

Flight attendant Jackie Brown (Grier) supplements her income by acting as courier for gun runner Ordell Robbie (Jackson).  Returning from one of her trips she is arrested by the police and ATF who are trying to find some evidence against Ordell.  Under pressure from the authorities, Jackie realises that not only her freedom but her life is in danger from Ordell.  However, with the aid of of world-weary bail bondsman Max Cherry (Forster), Jackie decides to play them off against each other in a very dangerous game.

A homage to the "Blaxploitation" films of the 1970s, and adapted from the 1992 novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard (to date the only Tarantino film to be adapted from another medium), this surprised many audiences and critics on it's first release.  It lacks the innovation of Pulp Fiction (1994) as well as the stylised carnage that had become the Tarantino trademark in many people's eyes.  Instead it has a level of tenderness and humanity that hadn't really appeared in Tarantino films before.  At it's core is the romance that develops between Jackie and Max, which is rare enough in Hollywood films, a romance between two older people.  While Tarantino does display his trademark stylistic flourishes in places, by and large the film takes it's time, the main pleasure here is less the complex narrative and more the characters who are allowed to develop.  Blaxploitation icon Pam Grier is perfect as the cool but vulnerable Jackie Brown and there is real chemistry between her and the rumpled Robert Forster, who gives Max real emotional weight.  Both Grier and Forster were big stars in the 1970s but hadn't headlined films in years before this revitalised their careers.  Samuel L. Jackson gives one of his best performances as the charming but terrifying gun runner.  In supporting roles are Bridget Fonda as Ordell's stoner girlfriend, Melanie; Michael Keaton as the ATF agent investigating Jackie; and Robert De Niro as Ordell's taciturn friend, all of whom are very good.  Cult actor Sid Haig, who appeared alongside Pam Grier in several Blaxploitation films, has a small role as a judge.  The script is full of Tarantino's typically profane and witty dialogue, it also proved very controversial due to the amount of racial epithets.  I can't comment on the adaptation, having not read the book, but this is definitely a Tarantino film, with many of his trademarks being present and correct, such as the cool soundtrack, references to '70s pop culture, and bare feet.  However Tarantino was frequently criticised for the level of violence, but it is quite restrained here, there are several on screen murders, but they are not particularly nor are they really dwelt upon.  It also has real heart, and is often surprisingly moving.  For a long time it seemed to be overlooked in Tarantino's oeuvre, but it has had something of a reassessment in recent years.  It may not be a perfect film, it is definitely too long, but it is very good, and worth investing the time in, even if you're not a Tarantino fan.

Pam Grier is Jackie Brown