Action/Crime/Thriller
1 hour and 32 minutes
Rated: R
Written by: Jack Hill
Directed by: Jack Hill
Produced by: Buzz Feitshans
Cast:
Pam Grier
Antonio Fargas
Peter Brown
Terry Carter
Don't mess aroun' with Foxy Brown
Coming fresh out of working with legendary filmmaker Roger Corman, writer/director Jack Hill and actress Pam Grier seemed like a genuine match made in cinematic heaven. Despite their first two collaborations, The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage being only slightly more memorable entries in the rather dividing genre of women-in-prison exploitation films, it was their third collaboration, the blaxploitation flick Coffy that really showcased their brilliance. With a generic revenge story as its foundation, Coffy is a motion-picture that managed to brilliantly tackle countless societal woes within one film and comment on them accordingly, including the women's struggle as well as the struggle of African Americans within the United States - in particular the heroin epidemic of the 1970s and how it impacted that minority community. So, not wanting to break a formula that had brought them to an outcome of something successful, Jack Hill and Pam Grier teamed up one more time to make another motion-picture that was in the same vein as Coffy, mainly a revenge blaxploitation film that attempted to make intelligent social commentary. That film was Foxy Brown.
Foxy Brown in itself is not a bad movie - and in comparison to its definitively more mature predecessor, Coffy, it has actually remained the more popular motion-picture throughout the years. And it isn't hard to see why. The film is flash-bang entertainment at its finest. The story is once again a generic enough revenge epic that capably grips its audience from the start with promises of high octane action. And it delivers. From the heroine engaging in shoot outs, vehicular attacks, violent revenge on some redneck rapists, and an all out brawl in a lesbian bar, there isn't a dull moment in Foxy Brown. But perhaps that is its greatest problem. It's too much flash. And not enough smarts.
Comparatively, Coffy was the story of one woman's (an African American woman, at that) revenge against dope dealers who had gotten her younger sister hooked on the drug. What she encountered along the way was the systemic racism that has been plaguing America for years. Mainly whites, and sometimes minorities, buying their way to the top, keeping minority communities suppressed through a useless war on drugs that actual led to backroom deals between drug cartels and politicians, not to mention corrupt police officials. The film was brilliant for tackling all of this at once. Foxy Brown in many ways tries to deal with these same issues. We see the comfortably rich (white) drug lords who have bought off politicians and law enforcement - through prostitution it ought to be noted, a topic that Coffy also tackled - who use their positions of power to keep minority groups hooked on drugs. Out of sight and yet totally dependent upon them. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any of the shock and reveal that Coffy showcased. In other words, Foxy Brown never hides itself from being a fantasy. Its commentary on political corruption and racial divide unfortunately get lost in the mix of all of the film's flash-bang entertainment. Again it's too much flash and not enough smarts. To its credit, Foxy Brown does showcase African American community leaders (they're never directly referred to as Black Panthers but the vigilante justice theme they proclaim indicates the idea that this is exactly the kind of group Hill is commenting on) fighting back against systemic oppression. The film shows these men going undercover, waiting until they find drug dealers so that they can be physically removed by force from their communities. If Coffy was meant to showcase the problems mentioned above, then perhaps Foxy Brown was meant to showcase how to deal with them - even if those solutions are perhaps considerably extreme, which makes sense given the extremity of those problems.
The film does have a lot to admire. As stated above, the action sequences are top notch, especially for a low-budget film. Pam Grier is stunning as always to watch in fight scenes. A country girl by her own acclaim, Grier never had a problem with doing the vast majority of her own stunt work. She's as nimble as a cat and as tough as any leading man. And yet Grier also earns her title as one of the sexiest actresses to ever work in cinema. Her costumes, designed entirely by Ruthie West, showcase her beauty to all of its lengths and strengths. She is just as stunning in a pair of typically 70s overalls as she is in the jaw dropping blue-green dress seen in all of the film's posters. Admittedly while it is dated, the film's saturation of 1970s' style has become quite endearing. The film's supporting cast is what to be expected from a low-budget blaxploitation film, meaning some performances are good, some are bad, and yet none of them are great. The closest one to great is delivered by Antonio Fargas, who perhaps by sharing nearly every scene with Grier was able to elevate his own performance to higher standards. Still, his skills are completely overpowered by Grier's. Genre legend Sid Haig delivers a terrific and entertaining cameo as a dope mule pilot and he's as charming as ever. In Coffy, Haig had the rare opportunity of playing the film's heavy, a task he handled exceptionally well. Here, he delivers the lovable comical goofball that even in some of his darker works, has often been what he is pegged to perform.
While it will never be as intelligent regarding social content as its predecessor, Coffy, was, Foxy Brown is an extraordinarily entertaining bit of blaxploitation cinema that certainly showcases the talents of its leading lady and its writer/director, even if those talents aren't being showcased to their fullest capabilities.
6.5/10
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