Foxy Brown

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

Revision as of 21:18, 14 May 2014 by PopeyePete (talk | contribs)
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Foxy Brown poster

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Also Known As

  • Burn, Coffy, Burn! (USA) (working title)
  • Foksi Braun (Serbia)
  • Foxy Brown, i mavri tigris (Greece)

Taglines

  • She's brown sugar and spice but if you don't treat her nice she'll put you on ice!
  • A chick with drive who don't take no jive!
  • Don't mess aroun' with Foxy Brown - She's the meanest chick in town!

Main Details

  • Released in 1974
  • Color
  • Running Time: 94 min | Germany:87 min
  • Production Co: American International Pictures (AIP)
  • Distribution Co: American International Pictures (AIP) (1974) (USA) (theatrical)

Cast and Crew

  • Directed by Jack Hill
  • Written by Jack Hill
  • Starring Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Terry Carter, Kathryn Loder, Harry Holcombe, Sid Haig, Juanita Brown
  • Produced by Buzz Feitshans
  • Original Music by Willie Hutch
  • Cinematography by Brick Marquard
  • Film Editing by Chuck McClelland

Film Review

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In this follow up to Jack Hill's 1973 Blaxploitation classic Coffy, Pam Grier stars as Foxy Brown, another badass babe that's out for revenge. The story begins as we see Link (Antonio Fargas) being trailed by some hitmen who are after him for not paying on a bet he made. Link is Foxy's brother and he's a bad seed. He tries to get out of this sticky situation by calling up Foxy in the middle of the night and telling her to meet him. Luckily, Foxy shows up right before the hitmen are going to kill Link. She crashes her car into them and one hitman ends up on her hood. Well Foxy ain't playin around. She floors the car with Link hanging on then speeds towards a pier and slams the brakes. The hitman flies into the water.

Foxy brings Link back to her place and they have a conversation about what he's going to do about his life. Link explains to Foxy that he's a black man and if you wanna be successful you have to do whatever it takes. Link is a drug dealer and Foxy knows he's just headed in the wrong direction. Foxy lets Link stay with her until he figures out his next move. But knowing him, he's not going to be working at the local grocery store.

Foxy's boyfriend Michael (Terry Carter) is an FBI informant who had to get a facial reconstructive surgery because he needs to protect his identity from those who want to harm him. Foxy goes and visits him in the hospital and in a funny scene, while Foxy and her boyfriend are making whoopie, they get interrupted by a nurse who needs to give him his daily spongebath. He gets to leave the hospital after the federal agents tell him to lay low for awhile. Soon after Foxy and him get to her house, Link is introduced to Michael and he gets suspicious that he might be the police infomant who was believed to be killed. Link puts 2 and 2 together and realizes that the only way he'll be able to get back into the drug selling biz is if he rats out Foxy's boyfriend's new identity to the gangsters who are looking for him.

The West Coast crime ring is run by Ms. Katherine Wall (Katherine Loder) an evil madam and drug lord. She gets word that Foxy's boyfriend is indeed the police informant and sends her hitmen to kill him. Just as Foxy and Michael are getting ready to go on a vacation, he is spotted by the hitmen and gets shot. Foxy is devastated by this she knows who gave his whereabouts, her own rotten brother.

Link is in his girlfriend's apartment cutting up the coke he's going to sell since hes back in business. Suddenly the doorbell rings, and its Foxy. Foxy explains that Michael's been shot and to please open the door, Link relents but then agrees. WHAM!! BAM!! Foxy barges into the pad by herself and starts blasting. She knows Link set Michael up and she's not happy. Foxy tells Link she wants the name of who killed Michael or else he's a dead man. Link gives up the name of the mastermind behind the crime ring and Foxy tells him he better get outta town ASAP.

Foxy goes undercover as a hooker named "Misty Cotton" and puts on the charm for Katherine Wall at her office. Ms. Katherine is impressed by Foxy/Misty's attitude and hires her as a high class call girl. Her first job is to take care of a client: Judge Fenton (Harry Holcombe) who in return will help Ms Katherine's friends get out of going to jail. With the help of another call girl named Claudia (Juanita Brown), Foxy gets ready to get back at Ms Katherine by messing up her business. Foxy's plan goes off perfect with Judge Fenton as she embarasses him in front of a group of women.

Ms Katherine gets word of this and she sends her thugs out to find Foxy. Claudia is now also in trouble for aiding her so Foxy wants to send Claudia off with her estranged husband and child to someplace safe. Before she can bring her to the airport, Claudia decides to goto a local bar. Only this isn't a regular bar, it's a lesbian hangout. These ladies try to pick up Claudia but she says she's not interested. Foxy comes into the bar and spots Claudia and tells her she has to go, but the lesbians interrupt and tell them she's not going anywhere. All hell breaks loose as Foxy proceeds to kick their asses around the room. It's another classic Pam Grier catfight!!

As Foxy and Claudia try to get outta there, they are spotted by Ms. Katherine's hitmen who are looking for Foxy. They chase them down but not before Foxy cuts one of the thugs with a broken bottle. Foxy gets captured and sent to a heroin shack out in the country. It's run by 2 fat hillbillies who tie her up and rape and drug her. After waking from her drugged stupor, Foxy spots a razor blade on a table nearby. She uses her tongue to pick up the razorblade and cuts the ropes binding her to the bed.

In a great escape sequence Foxy, sees a tank of gas outside the shack and while noones looking she siphens it into a container, she also makes a weapon out of clothes hangers. When one of the fat hillbillies comes in, she scratches his face with the clothes hangers and when the other hillbilly hears him screaming, he runs in. Foxy throws the gas on him then lights him on fire and bolts outta there as fast as she can. BOOOM!!!! That's the end of those scumbags!!

In the climactic ending to the film, Foxy joins up with her friendly neighborhood black task force. They are a group that gets rid of all the pimps and drug dealers in the area. Foxy convinces them that they need to help her. She can get her revenge on Katherine and they can help bust up the drug ring at the same time. They agree to help Foxy and set out to get rid of Ms Katherine and her thugs. Look for Jack Hill regular Sid Haig in a cameo as the airplane pilot Foxy meets at a bar.

Pam Grier shines once again as Foxy Brown in another excellent Exploitation film by Grindhouse auteur Jack Hill. He creates a great atmosphere and his snappy dialogue and fun characters are some of the best of the 70s Grindhouse era. This is a highly rewatchable film as well.

Foxy Brown is an iconic character from the Blaxploitation genre and is one of the classic female empowerment films from the 1970s. If you got creamed by Coffy, you'll go crazy for Foxy!

Reviewed by Popeye Pete - 5/25/07

Cool Quotes

  • Foxy (hits woman in barfight): "...and I got my black belt in barstools!"
  • Ms. Katherine: "WHY DONT YOU JUST KILL ME TOO?!"
  • Foxy: "Thats the idea....I want you to suffer...the rest of your man is still around."

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