Aaah the
‘70s… A wonderful, intriguing era. If you’re one of those people who reckon
they were born too late, chances are you wanted to be a teen in the late ‘60s
and early ‘70s. I know I’d like to give it a try. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I
will always be an ‘80s child. But I have a soft spot for the ‘70s, kind of like
a cool older sibling or something. It wasn’t the luckiest of eras as far as
special effects went. I defy you not to giggle at the opening sequence of Foxy
Brown, it’s almost a video clip but with ‘70s special effects… But that aside the decade through up some
iconic films, characters, actors and actresses that continue to set the
standard for the rest of us today. This is how we get to Pam Grier who starred
as one of the first female action stars of cinema, the legendary Miss Foxy Brown…
And you better not be just pooh-poohing this one off as just another old
blacksploitation movie… Because this one is a whole lotta film!
Foxy Brown
is excited. She is about to embark on a wonderful new life with the man she
loves. Michael used to be a government agent – but all that was in the past. He
has got a new identity and even a new face; they are both ready to ride off
into the sunset together. However, you do not double cross the mob and then
just waltz away from everything “scot-free”. The mob gets to Michael and kills
him before he and Foxy can so much as enjoy one day of happiness together. Now
Foxy is heartbroken but she sure isn’t a damsel in distress. And if she knows
anything about anything, the mobsters who killed Michael are getting their
come-uppance…
Now a
cursory glance at this film might make you want to put it down and walk away.
It is not high art, this much anyone can vouch for. But the fact that it has
labels like “Blaxploitation” and “B movie” attached to it does NOT mean this
film is not both an important part of cinematic history and when all is said
and done, really, really good fun.
First of
all, let’s talk about Foxy herself for a second. Pam Grier is, without any
shadow of a doubt, one of the most important and impressive leading ladies of
all times. And Foxy Brown is one of the screen’s first female action heroines.
I mean I grant you, the genre of the film means that Foxy is highly sexualised
– there is nakedness galore and sex is in almost every frame of the film. We would
tut at a lot of that today and it does have something to do with the film’s
genre but we must not forget that films today highly sexualise all the characters,
especially the women, so the issue is more that of explicit content than
anything else. Plus, even if she is highly sexualised one thing Foxy most
definitely is not is a trophy. She takes an active part in shaping her own
destiny; she is assertive and aggressive – traditionally “male” cinematic
qualities – without letting anything go as far as femininity goes.
What I like
the most about the film itself though, is the fact that the film tries to make
itself as realistic as it possibly can. For example take the villains Steve
Ellias and Katheryn Wall. They are two of the most horrible villains you can
find. Steve has the looks of a typical psychopath of the era mixed with an
actual psychopath. His partner in love and crime Katheryn is a cold hearted
“madam” selling poor young women into prostitution. She is such a horrible
character that the final “I want you to suffer” from Foxy hits right home. And
yet they are clearly and truly in love. It’s rather sweet in a bizarre kind of
way. “True love strikes in all kinds of places it seems” says Foxy at some
point, referring to the two villains, and she couldn’t be more right. The other
good “realistic” touch about the film is that Foxy actually gets hurt and
harmed. Now, let it not be said that I am rooting for our heroine being harmed.
But come on, in real life, if you are
harmed by the mafia and decide to take it on, chances are, even if you do win,
that you will acquire a couple of substantial scars on the way. Of course this is a film so ultimately Foxy
defeats the mafia but hey… At least she does not just spectacularly destroy
them “Punisher” style. There is some actual conflict in the film with actual
danger to the characters success but also her life. I reckon that’s one of the
things I dislike the most about action films. The way the hero seems to end up
“destroying” the enemy and just winning so easily. No matter how many
“acrobatics” you insert, it just doesn’t give me something to get my teeth sunk
into. Foxy, on the other hand, gives you a lot to chew on.
And lastly,
of course, it’s not just a female action hero we have here; we have a realistic
female villain too. Katheryn Wall is both odious and a complete character in
her own right… I mean you can argue how realistic it is to have a woman
“running” the mafia like that but hey… I refer you to the websites online
deconstructing the physical possibilities of the much admired “acrobatics” on
some of the high market films. For all it’s “B” quality, Foxy Brown is an
entertaining, exciting film with the rare added bonus of very realistic female
characters that would stand up to the Bechdel test any day of the week… And
given the rarity of the last type of film these days, if that alone does not
make it worth watching, I don’t know what does.
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