Simply Perfect

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Fantastic!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I picked up Coffy as part of a 2-movie set packaged with Friday Foster. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked Coffy.Pam Grier is a strong female lead during a time when strong female leads were rare, especially in the blaxploitation era. She plays a nurse named Coffy who goes out on a revenge-driven killing spree of any and all scumbags involved in the drug trade in her city. Her baby sister was a victim of drug pushers, setting off her rage. The violence is pretty standard for the genre, but there seems to be an undercurrent of sleaze, with women getting their tops torn off just for the hell of it. Director Jack Hill is a veteran of the genre and this is nothing new for one of his films. A solid plot without many logic gaps, good action, with actors such as Sid Haig and Robert Doqui to support Grier in her efforts to come off as heroine amongst the sleaze. Recommended for those who enjoy 70's styled sleazy action.

The lovely Blaxploitation legend Ms. Pam Grier lights up the screen in this classic of the genre. Written and directed by cult favorite director Jack Hill, it's got sex and violence aplenty, and moves with precision. The actors all do a fine job at bringing Hills' colorful dialogue to life. Viewers will groove to the eclectic score and songs by Roy Ayers, and be amused by those early 1970s fashions. There are some very memorable moments here, and an appreciable sense of humor to boot; this is trash of the highest order.Pam plays the title character, a nurse whose younger sister fell victim to drugs. She's hellbent on punishing the people who put the girl in this situation, starting at the bottom and working her way up the chain. She must deal with a horny henchman (Sid Haig), a twisted Italian mobster (Allan Arbus), a cooler than cool pusher / pimp (Robert DoQui), and various hookers who distrust her presence when she charms her way into the pimps' stable.Coffy is such a resourceful character (the razor blades in the wig is a superb gag), and so passionate, that you can't help but be on her side. Whenever she takes down a bad guy, it's a cheer-worthy moment. Hill establishes the tone early on when Coffy comes on to a pusher (Morris Buchanan) solely for the purpose of blasting his skull to kingdom come. And when she doles out the final punishment in the picture, it simply brings down the house. Pam and her sexy female co-stars dutifully show off their T & A for the sake of a good show.And what a hell of a cast. Pam is ably supported by Booker Bradshaw as her politician boyfriend, Elliott as the well meaning cop Carter, Barry Cahill as the crooked cop McHenry, Lee de Broux, John Perak, and Ray Young as assorted bad guys, Carol Locatell as information providing prostitute Priscilla, and Linda Haynes as the resentful Meg. Bob Minor, Lyman Ward, and Ron Gans have small parts.This is quintessential Pam Grier, and quintessential Blaxploitation. It delivers high style entertainment for an engaging hour and a half.10 out of 10.

Over the course of my cinematic love affair, I have really enjoyed the few films I have seen, either starring Pam Grier, one of my favourite B-movie American actresses, or that were directed by Jack Hill. I can't get enough of especially the films of which they collaborated, 'Foxy Brown' and this, both of which I consider up there with the 'Shaft' trilogy and 'Super Fly' as masterpieces of the 'urban action' genre of the 70's. She, just 24 when she made this, certainly was one of the most beautiful and exciting women ever put on celluloid, and while I also love both Hill's short film 'The Host' and 'Switchblade Sisters' (viewed on one DVD as part of Quentin Tarantino's 'Rolling Thunder' reissue series), here his pacing and filming are on an entirely different level altogether.It's a shame for us cinephiles that he chose at such an early age, 42 and clearly in his filmmaking prime, to retire from the business to both write novels as well as explore meditation with his wife, but I'm thankful for the films he made. The soundtrack (and most particularly the killer title song) by one of my favourite jazz/funk singer/musicians of the period, Roy Ayers, is up there with Curtis Mayfield's for 'Super Fly' as essential listening for lovers of such music.Say what you want about him as a filmmaker, but I for one am glad that Tarantino has revived interest in both the actress (casting her as the star of 'Jackie Brown') and the director (through his aforementioned reissue series). It is an under-recognized way that Tarantino has significantly contributed to contemporary American cinema of all sorts, and has helped these unsung heroes from prior generations, who would otherwise be neglected and ignored unjustly from contemporary cinephilic attention.

A nurse named Coffin (Pam Grier) takes vigilante justice against inner-city drug dealers after her sister becomes their latest victim.Apparently, American International approached director Jack Hill to quickly make a movie about an African American woman's revenge and beat "Cleopatra Jones" to market. Hill wanted to work with Pam Grier with whom he had worked on "The Big Doll House" (1971). The film ended up earning more money than "Cleopatra Jones" and established Grier as an icon of the genre.Now, we might ask how Hill -- a white man -- ended up doing blaxploitation cinema. I have met Hill, and nothing about him suggests he would be the man for the job. And yet, he did that genre a great service by championing Grier and bringing his regular Sid Haig (playing Omar here) along for the ride. Karen Ross has written that the film "allowed African Americans the ultimate escape to cheer on the heroine that fought corruption and crime" as well as the "white power structure". How ironic it was brought to them by a white man.