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Foxy Brown (1974) Not to be confused with Quentin Tarantino's
under-appreciated Jackie Brown (1997) starring (still gorgeous)
Pam Grier. Antonio Fargas is excellent in this 1970's film as Link,
the drug-dealing brother of buxom beauty... Foxy Brown.
Grier had starred the year before in Coffy, which was a big hit for A.I.P.
Originally, Foxy Brown was scripted/filmed as a direct sequel to Coffy
The original title? Burn Coffy Burn.
Why the change? The sales department at AIP had convinced
studio head Sam Arkoff that audiences didn't like sequels. Huh?
At any rate... Coffy was now Foxy.
Both Coffy and Foxy Brown are great examples of non-mainstream
blaxploitation. These films, many produced by exploitation powerhouse
AIP (American International Pictures) delivered a large amount of
sex and violence to predominantly black audiences.
Although AIP's blaxploitation films did play the (presumably) bewildered
redneck Drive-In circuit... They were mainly produced to sell tickets to
a black audience, rather than the black experience to a white audience.
Themes of sadistic white cops, mafia conspiracies to keep the black
man down, as well as drugs and prostitution being semi-acceptable,
and (as often stated in these films) the black communities only options,
were amplified considerably in AIP's brand of blaxploitation.
In Foxy Brown... It turns out that crooked white cops and Italians
are once again conspiring to undermine the black community.
However, this time they make the mistake of killing Foxy's honest
black cop boyfriend. This film goes way over the line.
Come to think of it, A.I.P. didn't have a line in their blaxploitation flicks.
Seriously, this film offers it's audience castration, decapitation,
S&M, drugs, sex and the gratuitous abuse of Pam Grier.
Yet in spite of the producers obvious enthusiasm... once again,
it's Antonio Fargas' performance (as Link) that makes this
film a keeper.
under-appreciated Jackie Brown (1997) starring (still gorgeous)
Pam Grier. Antonio Fargas is excellent in this 1970's film as Link,
the drug-dealing brother of buxom beauty... Foxy Brown.
Grier had starred the year before in Coffy, which was a big hit for A.I.P.
Originally, Foxy Brown was scripted/filmed as a direct sequel to Coffy
The original title? Burn Coffy Burn.
Why the change? The sales department at AIP had convinced
studio head Sam Arkoff that audiences didn't like sequels. Huh?
At any rate... Coffy was now Foxy.
Both Coffy and Foxy Brown are great examples of non-mainstream
blaxploitation. These films, many produced by exploitation powerhouse
AIP (American International Pictures) delivered a large amount of
sex and violence to predominantly black audiences.
Although AIP's blaxploitation films did play the (presumably) bewildered
redneck Drive-In circuit... They were mainly produced to sell tickets to
a black audience, rather than the black experience to a white audience.
Themes of sadistic white cops, mafia conspiracies to keep the black
man down, as well as drugs and prostitution being semi-acceptable,
and (as often stated in these films) the black communities only options,
were amplified considerably in AIP's brand of blaxploitation.
In Foxy Brown... It turns out that crooked white cops and Italians
are once again conspiring to undermine the black community.
However, this time they make the mistake of killing Foxy's honest
black cop boyfriend. This film goes way over the line.
Come to think of it, A.I.P. didn't have a line in their blaxploitation flicks.
Seriously, this film offers it's audience castration, decapitation,
S&M, drugs, sex and the gratuitous abuse of Pam Grier.
Yet in spite of the producers obvious enthusiasm... once again,
it's Antonio Fargas' performance (as Link) that makes this
film a keeper.
Soul Searching Cinema ... The blaxploitation
phenomenon peaked between 1971 and 1974
Perhaps it was a case of... too much of a baad thing, but
blaxploitation had become so ingrained in pop-culture that even
conservative Albert Broccoli produced a blaxploitation James Bond film.
Live And Let Die (1973). You doubt me brother? Watch it again.
This film definitely qualifies as mainstream blaxploitation.
It's important to note however that blaxploitation didn't only
manifest itself in terms of absolutes (blacks & whites).
A large number of big studio films with high-profile stars
were suddenly featuring inter-racial trysts.
Remember Charlton Heston's black girlfriend, and all that
jive lingo in The Omega Man (1971) What about the scene in
Soylent Green (1973) when Heston's character expresses his regret
that he doesn't have time to sleep with a black hooker he'd met
only 5 minutes earlier. Yup, by 1973... even Moses had soul.
By 1974 however, audience familiarity with these elements,
and the appropriation of same by the majors, caused AIP
to begin tinkering with their blaxploitation formula.
Consider this... In 1973 Pam Grier played a vigilante-hooker
on an rampage of brutal and bloody revenge. By 1975 she was
wealthy international fashion photographer, Friday Foster.
Alright, she was still on a revenge-kick, but trust me, the kicks
weren't as high, and the plunging necklines weren't nearly as low.
Apparently audiences had begun to tire of AIP's violent little films
featuring pimps, prostitutes, drug-dealers and crooked white Cops.
What happened to Antonio Fargas?
By 1974, Doodlebug must have seen writing on the wall, because
his trademark characterizations of pimps, drug-dealers and informants
were becoming less and less baad.
phenomenon peaked between 1971 and 1974
Perhaps it was a case of... too much of a baad thing, but
blaxploitation had become so ingrained in pop-culture that even
conservative Albert Broccoli produced a blaxploitation James Bond film.
Live And Let Die (1973). You doubt me brother? Watch it again.
This film definitely qualifies as mainstream blaxploitation.
It's important to note however that blaxploitation didn't only
manifest itself in terms of absolutes (blacks & whites).
A large number of big studio films with high-profile stars
were suddenly featuring inter-racial trysts.
Remember Charlton Heston's black girlfriend, and all that
jive lingo in The Omega Man (1971) What about the scene in
Soylent Green (1973) when Heston's character expresses his regret
that he doesn't have time to sleep with a black hooker he'd met
only 5 minutes earlier. Yup, by 1973... even Moses had soul.
By 1974 however, audience familiarity with these elements,
and the appropriation of same by the majors, caused AIP
to begin tinkering with their blaxploitation formula.
Consider this... In 1973 Pam Grier played a vigilante-hooker
on an rampage of brutal and bloody revenge. By 1975 she was
wealthy international fashion photographer, Friday Foster.
Alright, she was still on a revenge-kick, but trust me, the kicks
weren't as high, and the plunging necklines weren't nearly as low.
Apparently audiences had begun to tire of AIP's violent little films
featuring pimps, prostitutes, drug-dealers and crooked white Cops.
What happened to Antonio Fargas?
By 1974, Doodlebug must have seen writing on the wall, because
his trademark characterizations of pimps, drug-dealers and informants
were becoming less and less baad.
The Little Picture... Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) television series.
Actually a continuation of two TV movies... The Night Stalker (1971) and The Night Strangler (1973).
The resulting... Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) TV series only lasted one season (20 episodes).
However, the original teleplay (The Night Stalker) was the highest-rated TV movie of all-time (when it aired).
It's phenomenal success eventually led to the TV series, which went into production in 1974.
The very first regular production episode (after the pilot) was titled... Zombie...
In one particularly horrific scene, Kolchak finds a zombie laying dormant
in the back of a derelict hearse, in an automobile bone yard.
Kolchak opens the corpses mouth, fills it with salt, lights some candles and begins sewing it's
lips shut with a needle and thread. Incredibly, this entire process was shown on television.
I mention this TV series because... Antonio Fargas appears in the Zombie episode as
a numbers-boss named Sweetstick... Which segues nicely into the third blaxploitation sub-genre...
Actually a continuation of two TV movies... The Night Stalker (1971) and The Night Strangler (1973).
The resulting... Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) TV series only lasted one season (20 episodes).
However, the original teleplay (The Night Stalker) was the highest-rated TV movie of all-time (when it aired).
It's phenomenal success eventually led to the TV series, which went into production in 1974.
The very first regular production episode (after the pilot) was titled... Zombie...
In one particularly horrific scene, Kolchak finds a zombie laying dormant
in the back of a derelict hearse, in an automobile bone yard.
Kolchak opens the corpses mouth, fills it with salt, lights some candles and begins sewing it's
lips shut with a needle and thread. Incredibly, this entire process was shown on television.
I mention this TV series because... Antonio Fargas appears in the Zombie episode as
a numbers-boss named Sweetstick... Which segues nicely into the third blaxploitation sub-genre...
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or retransmitted in whole or in part without expressed written permission. All rights are reserved. The opinions expressed in this e-publication are not necessarily those of
Style-b Cinema, or the editor. Many of the characters described and/or featured in this e-publication are fictitious and similarity to any real person or entity whether living or
dead is entirely coincidental. 2011
or retransmitted in whole or in part without expressed written permission. All rights are reserved. The opinions expressed in this e-publication are not necessarily those of
Style-b Cinema, or the editor. Many of the characters described and/or featured in this e-publication are fictitious and similarity to any real person or entity whether living or
dead is entirely coincidental. 2011
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