Review of Foxy Brown (1974) by Matthew M — 15 Nov 2008

I feel kind of lame and exploitative writing a review of this, since I notice that all of the published Flixster reviews are from white hipsters. Oh well.

Let's be frank: Pam Grier is hot. Smokin' hot. People call Christina Lindberg the queen of sexy exploitation chicks? She doesn't hold a candle to Grier. She's got to be one of the most beautiful women to have her image put on film. Ever.

Okay, now that the horomonal fawning is out of the way: this is a great flick. It takes itself a lot more seriously than most exploitation cinema, and this is a good thing most of the time.

Unlike some blaxploitation flicks, this movie does have a pretty nuanced and three-dimensional take on the race issue. It follows the more or less standard "evil white men get their asses kicked by wicked cool black protagonist" story pattern, but that convention doesn't define the film. It makes a pretty good effort to soberly comment on the phenomenon it's part of (the romanticization of black culture in the mid-70's), and mostly stays away from recurring stereotypes familiar to the genre. Sure, Link is a walking stereotype, but his character at least serves a noble purpose, making the conflict of the film more than a one-dimensional race war. Link also seems to serve as a way for the filmmakers to highlight the unrealistic and harmful nature of the stereotype of young black men that blaxploitation usually adopted.

But beyond all my self-indulgent pontificating on its deeper themes, let's not forge that this is also just a kick-ass revenge flick featuring the hottest femme fatale to ever grace the silver screen.