Coffy

Excellently filmed, directed, and written. One of the best action films of the 70s, equally as sadistic as any Italian or German "S and M" movies. Scenes of black man being tied and dragged by car make a modern audience VERY uncomfortable! Pam Grier shows it all! I dig the scene with her and the leather chick with the junky girlfriend. Jack Hill should be praised for bringing us the gem of a movie!

Very interesting movie. Pam is very hot looking as always. I think she was the Black Pamela Anderson of her time, only that her body is all natural and smoking hot!! Very surprised to see one of the co-stars in the movie was Alan Arbus of MASH fame. What a totally different direction for him playing a really nasty character compared to his really soft but firm part he played as Dr. Sydney Friedman in Mash. Also was very surprised that Turner Classics showed that movie including the nudity and graphic language on cable television. Any way, I enjoyed this movie and recommend this film if you want to see some great action and one great looking woman with a pretty great plot, great music sound track and one fantastic looking female lead character.

The first half of this film is interesting enough, with a strong and smart African-American woman in the lead role (Pam Grier of course), using her brains and body to seek vengeance on drug dealers who messed up her sister. It has a heavy 70's B-movie vibe to it, and there were times when it felt like the feminist aspects of Grier's character were undercut by things like women's tops flying open at what seems like every possible moment. However, the film really picks up steam is in the second half, which has interesting moments in the plot, action scenes that hold together well, and a few social messages delivered as well. Seriously, if the film hadn't gotten carried away in places early on, I think it would be much better regarded, and even as it is, it feels underrated to me.

It's an action movie first and foremost, and an entertaining one at that, but I loved how it talked about the overall system of drugs, starting with poverty being a factor in the chain stretching from users to pushers to all the way back to poor farmers in faraway places, many of whom are people of color. At the top in this system are the affluent, and a chain of mostly white businessmen, corrupt police, and corrupt politicians. The film doesn't hit us over the head with this, and there are good and bad African-American characters, as well as good and bad cops. With that said, images like the rope being put around a black man's neck and then him being dragged from a car, as well as a rich white guy getting off on using slurs and denigrating "exotic" women are pretty meaningful in addition to powerful.

It's really Pam Grier who makes this film though. She simply radiates beauty and strength, and the look in her eyes at times is every bit as mesmerizing as her often talked about body. Her acting may be a little uneven in places but it didn't bother me in the slightest, and I loved her overall performance, which had high entertainment value.

My favorite quote is from the politician (Booker Bradshaw), who is an interesting character in his own right: "You know, you've been listening to my political speeches. I thought you'd be more intelligent than to listen to crap like that."

Coffy is a superior Pam Grier movie (far superior to Sheba-Baby) and one that typifies the best of blaxsploitation. Grier avenges her little sister's near-fatal drug addiction by killing any sleazy monster even remotely connected with the narcotics trade. The violence will satisfy aficionados: a shotgun blast to the head, a brutal gangland execution in which the victim is tied up and dragged behind a car, and a show-stopping all-female brawl in which Coffy single-handedly takes on a crew of prostitutes at a party -- ripping the tops off of each one who comes within range and even hiding razor blades in her hair for the unlucky girl who dares to pull it. Brilliant tag line: Coffy -- she'll cream you.

Coffy has a sister who's addicted, receiving treatment as she's become quite afflicted, so she's taken up the fight, to remove all those who plight, those who peddle, push, promote, will be evicted.

A wonderful performance from Pam Grier who uses all of her assets (and some) as she takes revenge on those who inflict pain and misery through their drug dealing and deception. More than ably supported by Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui and Allan Arbus as those she seeks to rid; I only recently came across this 1973 classic and it's opened a door to the cult filmmaker that is Jack Hill, and the wonderful worlds that he conjured.