Review of Coffy (1973) by Kevin M — 13 Jan 2009

Pam Grier's presence shines through the sleazy, one-dimensional screenplay of "Coffy" and makes the title character iconic. If "Superfly" exploded out the gate with engine nearly redlining, this awkward feminist parable sputters, backfires, and stalls thanks to Roy Ayers' atrocious theme song and Coffy's questionable moral standing. Is she really some junkie willing to sleep with crime bosses for "one more hit"? Is this movie going to be a series of sex scenes with some halfassed "black power" rhetoric tossed in?

No, no, and NO. When she whips out a sawed-off shotgun and screams "This is the end of your rotten life, you mutha fuckin drug pusher!", greatness has been achieved. After that bit of housecleaning, it's off to her night shift at the hospital, where she gets The Shakes and explains to her overly nice, patient (and soon to be brain dead) cop boyfriend pretty much everything that happened in a roundabout fashion. It's justified, you see, as we learn from a trip through the Children's Detox Unit to visit her mute, smack addicted kid sister. So Coffy's soon assaulted by goons, nearly beaten senseless, in bed with a politician and a pimp named George (who has the most hilariously on-the-nose theme song ever), and uncovering all the evil honkeys behind the drug trade.

Grier must have at least 20 costume changes throughout her odyssey of shotgun revenge, and tries a few different accents too. There is the most epic "cat fight" ever put on film, the wonderful song "Coffy Baby", Sid Haig as a Russian, and an ever escalating level of savagery mixed with good old racism. It seems Coffy wouldn't have gotten to Step 1 of her idiotic scheme if not for the fact that she looks like some Nubian fertility goddess. That alone is enough for both her, me, and you.