What the hell are these crazy cats up to? Off the top of my head, prostitution, drug dealing, plastic surgery, shoving a baby in a pram into the middle of a busy road, watching porn, threatening fratricide, fighting in the street, slapping an unsatisfied, erect penis, getting punched in the balls and cutting off a […]
Blaxploitation #9: Foxy Brown (1974)

Film Title
Foxy BrownSynopsis
Coffy: Part Two
Director
Jack HillCast
Pam Grier
Antonio Fargas
Kathryn Loder
Peter Brown
Terry Carter
Blaxploitation #8: Coffy (1973)

Film Title
CoffySynopsis
I think I’ll let the tagline do the talking: They call her Coffy and she’ll cream you!
Director
Jack HillCast
Pam Grier
Booker Bradshaw
Robert DoQui
William Elliott
Allan Arbus
Sid Haig
What the hell are these crazy cats up to? Coffy’s eleven-year-old sister is in a juvenile rehab center trying to kick smack. It’s obviously time for our heroine to tackle LA’s growing drug problem by setting up a Neighborhood Watch, noting down any suspicious activity and passing on the information to those upstanding boys in […]
Early Days: Part Two
Blaxploitation As you probably know, I likes me a bit of blaxploitation, even though much of it was an unashamed rip-off of whatever whitey was up to. Westerns, horror, crime, comedies… the blacks always had some sort of crappy facsimile to hand as typified by the likes of Blacula and Black Shampoo. Well, everyone’s gotta […]
Blaxploitation #7: Trick Baby (1972)

Film Title
Trick BabySynopsis
Two con men stumble upon the chance of a big pay day
Director
Larry YustCast
Kiel Martin
Mel Stewart
Vernee Watson
Dallas Edward-Hayes
Beverly Ballard
What the hell are these cats up to? White Folks (Martin) and Blue Howard (Stewart) are two Philadelphian hustlers. Blue’s black and a lot older, having taught Folks the tricks of the trade. I guess it’s important to know Folks is a trick baby, the product of a brief (and no doubt delightful) union between […]
Blaxploitation #6: The Black Gestapo (1975)

Film Title
Black GestapoSynopsis
Don’t be silly/Be a Smarty/Come and join/The black Nazi Party
Director
Lee FrostCast
Rod Perry
Charles P. Robinson
Phil Hoover
Wes Bishop
Ed Cross
Angela Brent
What the hell are these cats up to? Rape and castration, mainly. General Ahmed (Perry) has started an inner-city People’s Army in south LA to improve everyday black life and tackle pressing issues like drug addiction. However, he runs into big trouble with the Mob, leading him to grant permission for his deputy Colonel Kojah […]
Blaxploitation #5: Three the Hard Way (1974)

Film Title
Three The Hard WaySynopsis
White supremacy, black coolness and red berets
Director
Gordon Parks Jr.Cast
Fred Williamson
Jim Brown
Jim Kelly
Jay Robinson
Sheila Frazier
What the hell are these cats up to? After watching this mess, I only have the vaguest of ideas. I think there are three black dudes (Williamson, Brown and Kelly), who somehow know each other, and they team up to tackle a white supremacist’s genocidal plan to poison the water supply so that only the […]
Blaxploitation #4: Boss Nigger (1975)

Film Title
Boss NiggerSynopsis
Blazing Saddles pretty much played straight
Director
Jack ArnoldCast
Fred Williamson
D'Urville Martin
R.G. Armstrong
William Smith
Carmen Hayworth
Barbara Leigh
What the hell are these cats up to? Two fearsome bounty hunters Boss (Williamson) and Amos (Martin), who kill up to five outlaws at a time, take a break from their day job to forcibly outwit the piss-weak, double-dealing mayor of San Miguel and become the law. As you can imagine, the vast majority of […]
Blaxploitation #3: Black Caesar (1973)

Film Title
Black CaesarSynopsis
An ex-shoeshine boy takes on the Mob in Harlem
Director
Larry CohenCast
Fred Williamson
Gloria Hendry
Art Lund
D'Urville Martin
What the hell are these cats up to? After a stretch in prison, Tommy Gibbs (Williamson) plans to take over his Mafia-run neighborhood and show whitey how it’s done. Do I dig the threads? Given it’s mostly set in 1965, a heartbeat before everything went to sartorial shit, yes. Tommy favors sharp suits and a […]
Blaxploitation #2: Mandingo (1975)

Film Title
MandingoSynopsis
Let the good times roll in the Antebellum South
Director
Richard FleischerCast
James Mason
Perry King
Susan George
Richard Ward
Ken Norton
Brenda Sykes
What the hell are these cats up to? Falconhurst is a dilapidated plantation run by the tyrannical aging widower, Warren Maxwell (Mason), and his limping son, Hammond (King). Their slaves try to stay alive under an increasingly unstable regime, often being forced into impossible choices. Into this toxic mix comes Hammond’s new wife, the drunken, […]