Coffy

Starring:Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui, William Elliott (II), Allan Arbus, Sid Haig, Barry Cahill, Lee de Broux, Ruben Moreno, Lisa Farringer, Carol Locatell, Linda Haynes, John Perak, Mwako Cumbuka, Morris Buchanan, Peaches Jones, Minika Hughes, Leslie McRae, Ray Young, Bob Minor
Director: Jack Hill
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In the opening minutes of Coffy, Pam Grier's star-making role, she blasts the skull of a sleazy drug pusher into pulp like a watermelon and shoots his junkie assistant with an overdose of heroin. Jack Hill knows how to open a movie, and he never lets up on the down-and-dirty action. Coffy is an emergency room nurse by day and vigilante by night, targeting the dealers who made her sister a comatose junkie. She works her way up to the Italian mobsters muscling into the ghetto drug trade while she's romanced by glib, smooth-talking politician Booker Bradshaw and wooed by nice-guy cop William Elliot, whose refusal to sell out to the corrupt force earns him a crippling beating.

Amazon.com

In the opening minutes of Coffy, Pam Grier's star-making role, she blasts the skull of a sleazy drug pusher into pulp like a watermelon and shoots his junkie assistant with an overdose of heroin. Jack Hill knows how to open a movie, and he never lets up on the down-and-dirty action. Coffy is an emergency room nurse by day and vigilante by night, targeting the dealers who made her sister a comatose junkie. She works her way up to the Italian mobsters muscling into the ghetto drug trade while she's romanced by glib, smooth-talking politician Booker Bradshaw and wooed by nice-guy cop William Elliot, whose refusal to sell out to the corrupt force earns him a crippling beating.

There's plenty of sex, a catty girl-fight that leaves the losers topless, and car chases and shootouts galore, but what makes Coffy a blaxploitation classic is Grier's Amazonian presence and fiery charisma, and the gritty, low-budget action scenes marked by visceral, wincing violence. Mob strong-arm Sid Haig (Spider Baby) cackles while dragging his victim (a strutting peacock pimp played by Nashville's Robert DoQui) behind a speeding car in a sadistic lynching, and Grier runs down one bad guy with a speeding car and takes care of another with a shotgun to the groin. Hill had previously directed Grier in The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage. Their next and last picture together, Foxy Brown, was originally written as the sequel to Coffy. --Sean Axmaker

Description

She's the ultimate tough and sexy heroine. She's Soul Cinema superstar Pam Grier, and whether delivering her justice with a shotgun, a razor or just her bare hands, she doesn't miss a beat in this "smashing, no-holds-barred tale of retaliation" (Variety)! Nobody ever commandeered the screen quite like Pam Grier...and Coffy "couldn't be better! [It's] one of the most entertaining movies ever made"(Quentin Tarantino)! Grier is Coffy, nurse by day and avenging angel by night. When she discovers that her little sister has been doped upand freaked outby a greedy drug pusher, she not only puts an end to his miserable days, but she vows to follow his trail of corruption up to the topthe very top. But what Coffy doesn't realize is that all is not as it seemsand that the leafy green behind the pushers' scene just may come from someone she knows!

Customer Reviews:

Coffy .......2007-05-11

This movie is one of the first big movies
of the Blaxploitation "movement." It's
also the one that made Pam Grier a household
name. Originally, this movie was created as box-office competiton
for "Cleopatra Jones," but what resulted was a soul cinema
classic for the ages.

As always, the plot is simple. Pam Grier plays a nurse whose
young sister suffers a near fatal overdose thanks to a
local pusher. Coffy's reaction (in grand Blaxploitation style)
is to eliminate the pusher and everyone in proximity to him.
She resorts to various means to infiltrate the
system, locate the main culprits, and dispose of them with
a firey vengeance. We're taken on an entertaining blood ride
of costumes, clever weaponry, cat fights, and colorful accents
(one of the highlights is Grier's totally unconvincing Jamaican
accent, which dies away before the end of the scene and is never
heard from again. LOL. I'm pretty sure the director was thinking that Pam Grier in a bikini
is convincing enough to sell sun tan lotion to an Eskimo ). The customary nudity, too, is well displayed.

This film is a great time. I highly recommend it.
The standard blaxploitation disclaimer must be given: If you're looking
for profound, thought provoking cinema, keep looking. If you're
in the market for a good time, Coffy's the gal for you.

Exploitation at its best .......2007-04-02

Pam Grier is Coffy, a young nurse seeking vengeance against the drug peddlers she blames for her sister's death. She uses her feminine wiles, which are indeed ample, to gain access to the dealers. Her ultimate target is the powerful Arturo Vitroni, played deliciously by Allan Arbus. Along the way, Coffy comes to realize the business is not such a straight-forward, simple matter. If one knows what to expect from this film and has the desire to watch it, this is a caffeinated jolt of fantastic fun. Conservative folks, who find gratuitous nudity, profanity and violence offensive, will likely want to steer clear of this one. The soundtrack, which features music by Roy Ayers, is noteworthy. The DVD has a very good, widescreen transfer as well as commentary by the director, Jack Hill, and an original trailer for the film.

Foxy Brown.......2007-03-09

Angelina Jolie has nothin on Pam Grier. Now you know what the real Ancient Egyptian women looked like. her beauty alone makes the movie.

Thank you Pam for a Blaxploitation classic!.......2006-10-03

Maxim magazine lists Coffy as number 7 on its list of the 50 best B-movies of all time, and there can clearly be no mistake about its status as a B-movie. Pam Grier shines in this hilarious action-packed blaxploitation flick where she first got her name as a 'black pin-up queen' during the early 70's. It is apparent after watching this film that no one remembers this for the bad-acting and dialogue, but for Pam Grier herself she is one mean sister.

This movie SCREAMS 'early 70's', from the afro wigs to the awesome outfits Coffy finds herself wearing whether it be at a gala for call girls or when she's undercover to kick some drug-dealer's nasty behind!

This brilliant film mixes comedy right in there with the action. From the campy catfight scenes when Coffy dumps a salad bowl onto a blonde girl's head, to when King George makes his first appearance and steps out of his car in his pimp outfit, complete right down to the feather in his hat!!! Just seeing Coffy smash a wine bottle on a table to defend herself against a crack head wielding a knife is riotous enough and also goes old school by putting razor blades in her hair!!! The action is fairly consistent. There are a lot of guns firing off and endless catfights.

But every time Coffy appears on screen and you just KNOW that some bad stuff is about to go down, you know that you're going to be taken for a fun ride! As I mentioned above, no one is watching this movie for an Oscar-nominated performance or even a decent soundtrack (the "Coffy" theme sung by the Gladys Knight & The Pips-wannabes halfway through the movie is timeless!!!) - You're there to be entertained... and entertained is what you'll get, guaranteed. This is one movie where you don't have to be drunk to enjoy it.

My Favorite Movie..........2006-01-05

This is probably my all-time favorite film, and I think it's because everything seems to work right: the atmosphere, the music(especially the title song "Coffy" with the classic refrain "Coffy is the color/Of her skin"), the gags, the actors, Pam Grier, everything. I especially like director Hill's choice to film some of the sleeziest parts of Los Angeles in order to tell the story; we see Watts, downtown, Malibu.

I recommend this film to everybody, as it's the kind of movie you put on for people, and, no matter what their movie taste is like, they always walk away enjoying "Coffy."

Fox in a Box - Featuring Pam Grier (Sheba, Baby / Foxy Brown / Coffy)

Average customer rating:

fox in a Box-bring back good time
Boppin'n BuSStin' Fox
clumsy filmmaking, but not without their prurient charms
at least the price is right
A trio of fun exploitation flicks from the Queen of the genre

Fox in a Box - Featuring Pam Grier (Sheba, Baby / Foxy Brown / Coffy)
Starring: Pam Grier , Austin Stoker , D'Urville Martin , Rudy Challenger , and Dick Merrifield
Director: William Girdler , and Jack Hill
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( F ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Dolemite Collection: Bigger & Badder (7pc) (Ws)

ASIN: B000B5XOTI
Release Date: 2005-12-06

Description

"From Blaxploitation to Hip-Hop" Featurette "Pam Grier: Super Foxy" Featurette

Customer Reviews:

fox in a Box-bring back good time.......2007-03-14

yes! just watching this box set bring back the good old day

Boppin'n BuSStin' Fox.......2007-02-16

Man, this is just alotta fun - got this a coupla wks ago and seen "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" thus far. Obviously, the production team got a good deal more cay'sh fer doin' "Foxy Brown" (made a yr after "Coffy"). I actually preferred the earlier film - seemed like the actors were more focused, less sure of their success. Make no mistake, this is not top-of-the-line film, but it's premium B-Movie stuff, and a real treat (in my opinion) jus' takin' a step back into 1973, '74. Not to mention the Rubenesque charms of Ms Grier (tho' I must admit I think she looks much more attractive some 24 yrs. later in Mr Tarantino's film "Jackie Brown" - like some wines, she improved with age).

I also enjoyed the director's commentary on "Coffy" - interesting to hear Jack Hill describing his trials/tribulations with the studio - they wanted more sex'n violence, he wanted some more character development, more laid back scenes, eg, drivin' through Los Angeles - those are some sweet takes - like drivin' thru my childhood, hulkin' 'Merikin automobiles cruisin' along.

So if yer up for some majorly jigglin' action, clad in some stylin' 1973 attire... get this Fox in your Box...

clumsy filmmaking, but not without their prurient charms.......2007-01-18

Blaxploitation generally makes me uncomfortable, probably because I'm a white guy - blaxploitation is not really made for me. The granddaddy of them all, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (a film I can't help believing is awful even as my white guilt demands I think otherwise), begins with a rather unsubtle pronouncement of purpose: "Dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man." But what if you are the Man?

The genre is also so difficult to critique is because it walks a very precarious tight rope; how much of blaxploitation is exploitation for blacks and how much of it is exploitation of blacks? Sweetback is important, historically-speaking, for having been written, directed, and produced by a black man, making money, and bringing black issues further into the national debate. It's also shoddily-constructed, trades on racial stereotypes (principally those that involve black sexual potency), and opened the door for cynical, money-grabbing garbage even worse than it was, pictures that glorified pimps, drug dealers, beating women, and killing people.

Coffy and Foxy Brown only glorify killing people (as long as you do it in an interesting way, like with the prop of a single-engine airplane or driving your car into their living room), so they're considerably more innocuous than their blaxploitation contemporaries. Between the two, there are some superficial differences in plot (Foxy Brown was actually developed as a sequel to the earlier film), with Coffy being the more subversive (and better) picture, but they are essentially the same movie.

In each, Pam Grier stars as a woman wronged, seeking vengeance on a criminal syndicate she deems responsible for the death/hospitalization of a loved one. Using her wits and shapely form, Grier goes undercover as a prostitute to gain access to the bad guys, ultimately delivering Biblical justice and leaving a trail of bloody bodies behind her.

Once you get past the graphic violence and bare bosoms, they are also peculiarly conservative (not that there is anything intrinsically anti-conservative about violence or bosoms). In marked contrast to films like Super Fly and Dolemite, the pushers and pimps are the villains of the piece, jackals who prey on the black neighborhoods, undermining them from within. There is a strong distrust of government and traditional authority figures, like police officers, politicians, and even civil rights leaders (in Coffy, a black politician uses racial issues to cynically advance his career and line his own pockets); Coffy/Foxy Brown instead advocates personal responsibility, even vigilantism for the betterment of one's life and community. Sexual predators suffer cruel death and literal/figurative castration at Grier's hands - no fancy trial by jury required here.

Coffy/Foxy Brown are not without their prurient charms. Grier's voluptuous assets are on frequent, extrinsic display (more so in Coffy if that's what you're interested in); one doesn't so much leer as marvel at her unique proportions. Action set-pieces are generally entertaining with the villains (such as the hillbillies of Foxy Brown's "ranch") carrying a genuine sense of violent menace.

But let's not get carried away. Quentin Tarantino once called Jack Hill "the greatest living American director," which is a fairly silly thing to say as nothing truly complex is attempted, much less conveyed in any of his pictures. Others have labeled Coffy/Foxy Brown as some form of revolutionary piece of feminism; that kind of praise is likewise misplaced. Lesbians are treated with a dated, reactionary gusto - they are coercive (even rapists) with large thighs and should be avoided (Hill and Grier treated the subject of sapphic love with equal sensitivity in The Big Doll House, The Big Bird Cage, and Black Mama, White Mama). Even if Pam Grier is capable with a gun, she is still a sex object along with every other woman in both films. Like Russ Meyer, Hill doesn't empower women so much as act out his fantasies about large-chested women who can beat him up. Pam Grier in the cathouse, wrestling with the other whores and tearing off their clothes is hard to call erotic; rather, it possesses the absurd existential dilemma of your grandfather's porn. People masturbated to this?

Interesting footnote: Jack Hill was a USC classmate of Francis Ford Coppola - the two worked together as apprentices under Roger Corman on 1963's The Terror. Shot in only four days, the picture also marked an early screen appearance by Jack Nicholson. Hill admits he thought Jack was a terrible actor at the time.

at least the price is right.......2005-12-01

Well the best part about this set is that you can get Coffy and Foxy Brown cheaper than buying the single DVDs. Sheba Baby isn't that great of a film. It's a shame they didn't include Bucktown which while Pam is a supporting actor (as The Hammer's love interest), it's a great film. Or even complete the Pam on MGM DVDs with Friday Foster. What's wrong with giving the complete Fox in the box?

The bonus DVD is pretty forgettable. It doesn't include Pam talking about her early days. Just modern rappers doing a VH1 bit of jabbering.

But if you're curious about Pam and you want a deal, this box is for you.

A trio of fun exploitation flicks from the Queen of the genre.......2005-11-28

This could be subtitled "Pam in a Jam". These three black exploitation films from the 70's feature Pam Grier in top form and probably provided erotic dreams and inspiration for Quentin Tarrantino. The first of the set "Coffy" features Grier as kind of a superhero without the costume. She's an a nurse during the day time but at night turns puts people into the hospital. When Coffy discovers that her sister has been fed drugs by a local drug pusher, Coffy goes in for revenge only starting with the pusher. Ultimately she plans on going to the top and taking out the guy that heads the drug syndicate himself! Coffy quickly discovers that enemies are interchangeable with friends in this fun and often funny action adventure flick.

"Foxy Brown" was originally conceived as a sequel to "Coffy" but when the director/writer Jack Hill realized he couldn't get the funds for a sequel he rewrote the film changing minor elements of the plot and characters names. Once again Grier stars (she could be playing Coffy instead of Foxy in this film and it wouldn't matter). Foxy (Grier) thinks she's found the man of her dreams when she falls in love with an undercover narcotics cop. When he's murdered she goes out for justice and swears she'll take down the crime syndicate that assassinated him. Foxy goes undercover playing the role of a high priced call girl to find out who was behind the murder of her boyfriend and exact revenge!

"Sheba Baby" features Grier as the title character Sheba Shayne a private eye who runs to aid her father. It seems he's being muscled by the mob and they are trying to take over his loan business. When the mob try and take her out with a car bomb, Sheba is out for mob blood. Packing a colorful array of guns, she takes them out one by one. The mob though has plans of their own for Sheba and she may go down before she finishes exacting her revenge! It doesn't quite hold up as well as "Coffy" or even "Foxy Brown" but it's an enjoyable guilty pleasure.

These three Pam Grier classics have been available from MGM before. These editions appear to be gussied up editions for this boxed set. The print used is extremely clean and while there is grain during some of the dark sequences, it's probably due to the film source itself and not due to the digital transfer. The mono sound track comes across with nice clarity and the music although occasionally a bit compressed sounding has nice presence. Overall, the sound track for all three films sound quite good.

"Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" feature a extremely good informative commentary from director Jack Hill. In "Foxy Brown" Hill discusses how he originally had intended that movie to be sequel to "Coffy" but couldn't get the financing. Hill also discusses his involvement in writing and directing a number of blaxploitation films and some of the issues they ran into in making these action/adventure flicks. There's a bonus disc featuring interviews with rappers, etc. that is tied into VIBE Magazine. It's not bad just not essential. Why additional extras for these fine exploitation flicks was not included is beyond me.

A nice collection which features enough action and Pam Grier to entice fans to buy it, "Fox in a Box" is an inexpensive way to pick up three classic B movies in one package. The commentary tracks are quite a bit of fun providing quite a bit of background on the production of each film. So if you're a fan cozy up with Pam in front of a fire and let her do her thing!

The Best of Soul Cinema DVD Collection (Coffy / Cooley High / Foxy Brown / Hell up in Harlem / I'm Gonna Get You Sucka)

Average customer rating:

The Best of Soul Cinema DVD Collection (Coffy / Cooley High / Foxy Brown / Hell up in Harlem / I'm Gonna Get You Sucka)
Starring: Soul Cinema Collection
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Cleopatra Jones
Superfly
The Mack (New Line Platinum Series)
Black Caesar
Sheba, Baby

ASIN: B0000VD0MY
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Description

Disc 1: COFFEY Disc 2: COOLEY HIGH Disc 3: FOXY BROWN Disc 4: I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA Disc 5: HELL UP IN HARLEM

Average customer rating:

Coffy
Exploitation at its best
Foxy Brown
Thank you Pam for a Blaxploitation classic!
My Favorite Movie...

Coffy [Region 2]
Starring: Pam Grier , Booker Bradshaw , Robert DoQui , William Elliott (II) , and Allan Arbus
Director: Jack Hill
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Superfly
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ASIN: B00009MGKH

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Coffy .......2007-05-11

Exploitation at its best .......2007-04-02

Foxy Brown.......2007-03-09

Angelina Jolie has nothin on Pam Grier. Now you know what the real Ancient Egyptian women looked like. her beauty alone makes the movie.

Thank you Pam for a Blaxploitation classic!.......2006-10-03

My Favorite Movie..........2006-01-05

The Big Bird Cage (1972) [Special Edition]

Average customer rating:

The Big Bird Cage (1972) [Special Edition]

Manufacturer: new concorde
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0009IT1JO

Product Description

SPECIAL FEATURES: Feature length commentary by Director Jack Hill, Digitally Remastered, Original Trailer, Cast Biographies, Scene Index, Interactive Menus, Preview Attractions

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