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Coffy
1973 (2000) - American International Pictures (MGM)
Film Rating: B
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras):
B+/B-/B+
Specs and Features:
90 mins, R, letterboxed widescreen (1.85:1), single-sided,
single-layered, Amaray keep case packaging, audio commentary by
director Jack Hill, theatrical trailer, film themed menu screens,
scene access (16 chapters), languages: English, Spanish and French
(DD 2.0 mono), subtitles: Spanish and French, Closed Captioned
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"This is the end
of your rotten life you motherf*%#in' dope pusher!"
Only one woman could play Coffy, and it's that super fine lady, Pam
Grier. Coffy's got a serious mad-on. She absolutely hates drug
pushers, and she has good reason - her whole family is hooked on the
shit. Coffy's real name is Coffen, and she's the big sister of a
young girl who recently got addicted to smack. Enough is enough and,
right off the bat, we see a woman out for revenge against the dope
pushers of the inner city, blowing heads clean off and dumping "hot
shots" into unsuspecting runners. But what would such a
vigilante do for a day job? Why... she's an emergency room nurse, of
course. On top of that, she's also dating a congressional candidate.
You'd think life could be good for this chick, but no. She's full of
hate and is willing to do anything to get junk off the streets. When
a cop who won't play dirty (and who just happens to be one of
Coffy's oldest friends) gets put into the hospital in critical
condition by some mob enforcers, Coffy gets even more suped-up. She
infiltrates the harem of a notorious pimp named King George, to find
out how the mob is involved in these operations. And naturally, she
kicks things open from the inside out, leaving no stone unturned or
head kicked in.
I know, I know... an ass kickin' nurse. But it works. Grier is
actually good here, mostly thanks to director Jack Hill. This is one
of his better films and it's a lot of fun. Coffy
isn't as "important" as Hill's next film
Foxy Brown, but it is
better-made and works better as a film than Foxy
does. It has nothing on Foxy
though, when it comes to balls-out fun. But Coffy
does have a few pay-off's, like the bloodletting in the opening
sequence and one of the greatest catfights ever caught on film (in
chapter 8).
Coffy is presented
non-anamorphic on DVD, but it looks really good anyway. Colors are
bright, blacks are solid and the grain is tight. It would look
better in anamorphic, but it's fine for what it is. The sound is a
straight mono track, with not too much range, but it sounds fine.
There's also a trailer and a really good commentary track with
writer/director Jack Hill. Hill always seems put out on his
commentary tracks, but he has loads and loads of information. Hill
is a leader of genre filmmaking, and he has plenty of stories to
tell. They flow from this track like honey. We get facts about the
filming, who was cast and why, attitudes of the time - everything
that's relevant. You'll have a really good time listening to it.
Coffy a good film. It's not as
fun as Foxy Brown, but it'll
entertain you. The commentary track is a veritable textbook on
blaxpoitation filmmaking and this disc is worth picking up just for
that. If you like genre films, this is one of the better ones. |
Coffy
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Foxy
Brown
1974 (2000) - American International Pictures (MGM)
Film Rating: B+
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras):
A-/B-/B+
Specs and Features:
91 mins, R, letterboxed widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 enhanced,
single-sided, single-layered, Amaray keep case packaging, commentary
by Jack Hill, theatrical trailer, film themed menu screens, scene
access (16 chapters), languages: English (DD 2.0 mono), subtitles:
Spanish and French, Closed Captioned
|
"The game ain't
over yet, bitch!"
Originally meant to be a sequel to Coffy,
Foxy Brown once again stars
Pam Grier as a tough and silky broad out for revenge. Foxy's
boyfriend, a former undercover narcotics agent, has been given a new
face and a new lease on life. But with the good comes the bad, as
Foxy's brother Link (a drug dealer and numbers runner) gets involved
with a ruthless syndicate. He owes them 20 grand, and he's out of
time but not ideas. Once he gets wind that Foxy's new boyfriend may,
in fact, be her old one with a new face, he realizes that the people
that want him dead might think that information would be worth an
exchange. And after the syndicate guns her boyfriend down, Foxy goes
in undercover as an escort to even the score.
Foxy Brown is one of the
preeminent blaxpoitation films. It may not be the best film Grier's
been in, or even the best exploitation film director/writer Jack
Hill has ever made. But everything about it IS blaxpoitation -
there's no doubt about it. The colors, the style, the dialogue - it
just screams Soul. You can't get much better than this, no matter
how hard you try.
Here on DVD, Foxy shines.
It's anamorphic, it looks clean and the colors are bright. There's
very little damage to the source print and no artifacts are visible.
It's a good-looking transfer for a film made in 1974. The sound is
okay. It's mono and there's nothing dynamic about it at all. I know
you can't expect too much from a 2-channel mono track, but one can
always hope especially since it represents Willie Hutch's excellent
score.
Thankfully, MGM gives us yet another entry in the Jack Hill
commentary series for this disc. Here, Mr. Hill is his usual
methodical self. He talks slowly, but the facts spill forth, making
the track worth listening to. He brings us through the script
process and he marketing decisions that lead to the film's
re-conceptualization and re-titling. He talks about the casting, the
acting and the influence of the film on pop culture. It's a really
good track, right up there with the one on Coffy,
and it gives nice insight into the blaxpoitation filmmaking world.
MGM also includes the original trailer, which looks pretty good.
Foxy Brown is on DVD and
that's what counts. And, once again, the commentary track
automatically makes it a must-buy. Come get Foxy... before she comes
to get you. |
Foxy Brown
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Friday
Foster
1975 (2000) - American International Pictures (MGM)
Film Rating: B-
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras):
B+/B-/D+
Specs and Features:
Specs and Features 89 mins, R, letterboxed widescreen (1.85:1),
single-sided, single-layered, Amaray keep case packaging, theatrical
trailer, film themed menu screens, scene access (16 chapters),
languages: English, French and Spanish (DD 2.0 mono), subtitles:
Spanish and French, Closed Captioned
|
Colt: "So now
you're hustling, huh?"
Cleve: "Nope. Strictly black capitalism."
Former fashion model-turned-photographer Friday Foster isn't having
a good week. She works for "Glance Magazine", and although
her past is riddled with assignments that she's screwed up because
she got too involved, her publisher has no choice but to send her
out for a tricky shoot. It would seem that Blake Tarr (the horribly
named black Howard Hughes, i.e. one of the richest black men in the
world) is coming back into town and "Glance" needs
pictures of this momentous event.
What's supposed to be a simple surveillance photo gig to capture
Tarr on film ends up with Friday in the middle of a messy plot to
assassinate him. As if that weren't bad enough, her best friend's
man was one of the assassins. This is no way to spend your New
Year's Eve, is it? Well, it gets worse. The next day, the assassins
come back and want Friday's friend dead. So they nail her at a
fashion show, headed up by Eartha Kitt. Friday, out to find the
truth with her P.I. buddy Colt Hawkins, uncovers a horrifying plot
that leads all the way to Washington, D.C. and which involves
Thurston Howell III in a racist plot to kill every rich black man in
America. Yikes - see what happens when you sit on an island for
years? Now, Friday has to put away her camera and pull out a gun to
bring the syndicate down.
What we have here is a frickin' cast made up of every power player
of 1970s soul cinema, all collected together in one flick. There's
soul sister number one Pam Grier as Friday, Yaphet Kotto (playing
Colt), who always seems to have the perpetual mad-on, the sexy at
105 Ms. Eartha Kitt, the stately Thalmus Rasulala (Blake Tarr),
comic relief Godfrey Cambridge (Cotton
Comes to Harlem's Grave Digger Jones), Carl Weathers in a
throw away hired killer role, Scatman Crothers as a priest who likes
the ladies and who could forget The Love
Boat's very own Ted Lange (playing a pimp).
The colors and clarity of the transfer on this DVD are impressive.
There's a bit of edge enhancement here and there, but it doesn't
distract. This isn't an anamorphic transfer, and it could have
benefited from one, but there's no use crying over spilled
resolution. The mono sound also has its faults. It'll does the job,
but it's not going to impress anyone.
Extras include the film's trailer and nothing else. Again, there's
not even an insert sheet with notes, photos or chapter stops. You're
on your own with this disc. Just like Friday. |
Friday Foster
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Sheba,
Baby
1975 (2000) - American International Pictures/Orion (MGM)
Film Rating: C-
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras):
B-/C-/D+
Specs and Features:
91 mins, PG, letterboxed widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 enhanced,
single-sided, single-layered, Amaray keep case packaging, theatrical
trailer, film themed menu screens, scene access (16 chapters),
languages: English (DD 2.0 mono), subtitles: Spanish and French,
Closed Captioned
|
After her father is
roughed up by some toughs, Chicago private eye Sheba Shayne (Pam
Grier) heads back home to Louisville, Kentucky (huh?), to find out
what the hell is going down. Turns out her father's new
neighborhood-based loan company is being eyed by the Mob (in
Kentucky?). It's funny... I just wasn't aware how much the Mafia
hated African-Americans. It seems like all of these films involve
the mob wanting some cat or kitten dead. Weird. Anyway, Sheba is a
badass private eye (as if there was any other kind), and doesn't
take too kindly to the mob beating her daddy up. She takes it even
worse when the Mob tries to blow her up in her dad's car. So, Sheba
does what any self respecting private eye would do - she goes
undercover, makes it with the evil white guy to instigate his
demise, blah, blah, blah.... You know the drill.
This film is nothing but a vehicle for Pam Grier to shine, and
shine she does. The other acting is bad all the way around, the
script is incredibly weak and the set-ups are lame. But
Sheba, Baby's got Grier in it
and it's on DVD. I've seen much worse... even if I've seen much
better.
The anamorphic picture for Sheba, Baby
is fine looking (but not as fine as Ms. Grier). In its dark spots,
the picture falls apart with artifacting and rough grain. It's still
quite watchable, though. I have no real complaints. The audio, on
the other hand, is truly God-awful. It sounds like it's being played
through a rusty tin can, riddled with holes. The track has a hollow,
tinny quality and just doesn't sound good at all. You can hear
what's going on, but it'll sound like you're inner ears need a good
cleaning.
Rounding out this disc is a trailer, that's seen better days. And
that's it. This is not the best presentation for one of Grier's
entries in the Soul Cinema series. |
Sheba, Baby
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