Coffy (1973)

 Typically when it comes to genre films there comes a point where the movies enter the "Son of..." and "She-" realm.  If it's a series it's typically at three or four movies when the writers can't figure out what to do with the male protagonist anymore, even though there are the rare times, like with Dracula's Daughter or Bride of Frankenstein, that the female version is introduced in the second film.  In this case it wasn't a sequel film, but the desire to make blaxploitation films with a female protagonist.  American International, Roger Corman's studio, sought to do just that with Cleopatra Jones.  Problem is they lost out on getting the script. 

The role went to a statuesque fashion model named Tamara Dobson, who wore sexy clothes, drove cool cars and worked as a special agent to help fight against those pushing heroin.  What AIP decided they needed was their own to compete and, since the money had been set aside, frequent Corman collaborated Jack Hill wrote and directed Coffy, starring Pam Grier, who had played supporting roles in a number of Hill's women-in-prison films and had a similar physique.  Where Cleopatra Jones was played for humor and owed more than a bit to James Bond, Coffy was a gritty revenge film which, despite its low budget, managed to outdo Cleopatra Jones at the box office.

Coffy (Grier) is a nurse with a cop ex-boyfriend named Carter (William Elliott).  She also has a young sister who, at 11 years old, got hooked on drugs.  Her current boyfriend, Howard Brunswick (Booker Bradshaw) is a city councilman that is beginning his run for Congress.  What none of them know is that Coffy has decided to take the law into her own hands, killing the dealer (Morris Buchanan) responsible for her sister's addiction.

Her deed haunts her, and she wonders if she did the right thing, and the more she finds out more about the drug trade she realizes her act of vengeance did little to change things.  Carter explains that the black pushers are controlled by an Italian mobster named Vitroni (Allan Arbus), who uses a local pimp named King George (Robert DoQui) as his distributer.  Intent on bringing the entire organization down, Coffy poses as a prostitute to get King George's attention in order to get to Vitroni himself.  Unfortunately, in her attempts to get revenge, she will find out just how bad the corruption has become. 

In making this a starring vehicle for Pam Grier, Jack Hill wisely let her have input on design and alterations to his script in order to add her experience as a black woman.  Some of the most memorable scenes in the movie - particularly storing weapons in her afro - came from her.  Though the script required nudity, much of how it was done was also Grier's idea, as she wanted to at times change viewers' idea of whether a black woman could be sexy, while at the same time try to make the nudity more natural.  While Grier's acting would get better over the years, she has the charisma and presence to carry off graduating to a starring role, and her athletic ability helps her make many of the action scenes she had to perform herself convincing. 

Most of the other characters, other than Carter, are one-note evil, so the movie is largely peppered with character and b-movie actors.  Sid Haig is probably the most recognizable to modern audiences, here playing a sizable role as Omar, one of Vitroni's henchmen.  Robert DoQui, as the flamboyantly attired King George, is definitely one of the more memorable movie pimps.  

Since it is a b-movie on an extremely low budget Coffy does have its issues.  There are some harsh editing cuts to make up for either not having the budget or, possibly at the time, the technology to make some of the scenes look realistic.  Still, Jack Hill makes do, coming up with a number of scenes that are still classic to this day.  It also has one of the least memorable soundtracks, except at times that it is unintentionally funny when it becomes intrusive.  

By and large, though, it helps that Hill wasn't an amateur, and the movie is nowhere near as rough around the edges as many films of its type.  Although she went on to play similar characters to Coffy, this movie unfortunately never got a sequel, as there are a lot of things to tie up after the climax, including what would eventually happen to Coffy herself.  Then again, with the quality of many of the sequels we did get, perhaps that is best left to the imagination. 

Coffy (1973)

Time: 90 minutes

Starring: Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, William Elliott, Alan Arbus, Sid Haig

Director: Jack Hill