Everyone knows the rough, tough ass-kicking Pam Grier of Jack Hill's
great films COFFY and FOXY BROWN. But this classic from Arthur Marks
(BONNIE'S KIDS, J.D.'s REVENGE) doesn't get mentioned very often. It's
time to change that. Because this is one if the most unusual, fun soul
cinema titles ever. It takes place in an alternate universe where
virtually everyone is African American and the only whites are stooges
or bad guys. Pam plays a photographer's assistant who witnesses an
assassination attempt on Blake Tarr, the richest black man in America.
When her best friend is killed under mysterious circumstances possibly
connected to the shooting, Grier teams up with her harried and patient
detective boyfriend Yaphet Kotto to get the story - and find the
killer. Much less brutal and sweaty than the Jack Hill cycle, FRIDAY
FOSTER presents Grier as a high spirited, quick witted knockout in the
mold of a '30s screwball movie heroine like Myrna Loy or Barbara
Stanwyck. For once Pam Grier is dressed, made up and lit like a
glamorous star and not surprisingly she makes every other actress in
Hollywood look like an anemic little wallflower. With an all-star
supporting cast of black performers including Eartha Kitt, Godfrey
Cambridge, Scatman Crothers and scene stealing Ted Lange as a pimp who
really wants Grier in his stable. Music by Luchi De Jesus, who
obviously just got one of those Peter Frampton voice boxes, because he
uses it in every single song. (Lars)
