After the one and only Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson was the second most celebrated female star of blaxploitation. Her character was Cleopatra Jones, a special agent who principally fought drug pushers. The character was partially styled as a sort of black female version of James Bond - similar to that character, despite being undercover, everyone seems to know her name! Also, like Bond, she does a bit of globe hopping, starting out in the middle east dealing with a heroin farm but once the prologue is done, its more like business-as-usual blaxploitation style, and Jones spends the rest of the movie strutting the streets of L. A.
When Cleopatra organises the obliteration of a poppy field owned by a lesbian drug dealer called Mommy, the latter goes ballistic and seeks revenge for the rest of the movie. This results in various goons haplessly trying to take Cleopatra out. Its definitely a more restrained example of blaxploitation than was typical, with little in the way of sex and a limited supply of violence - it relies more on the unique appeal of its central character and its action set-pieces. Of the latter, there includes a well-orchestrated car chase which goes through that trusty cinema landmark of the 70's, the Los Angeles River. Tamara Dobson is also a welcome change of pace, given the paucity of female leads in most blaxploitation - and at six foot plus, she is a pretty imposing presence and definitely looks the part. In terms of acting, the awards here go to Shelley Winters and Antonio Fargas, with the former chewing up the scenery at every given turn as the manic Mommy, while Fargas is once again very entertaining as a shady but, somewhat amusing, small-time crook. Any blaxploitation worth its salt also has to sport a memorable theme tune, and this one does not disappoint on that score either, with a cool title number by Joe Simon. All-in-all, an above average example of this type of film.
When Cleopatra organises the obliteration of a poppy field owned by a lesbian drug dealer called Mommy, the latter goes ballistic and seeks revenge for the rest of the movie. This results in various goons haplessly trying to take Cleopatra out. Its definitely a more restrained example of blaxploitation than was typical, with little in the way of sex and a limited supply of violence - it relies more on the unique appeal of its central character and its action set-pieces. Of the latter, there includes a well-orchestrated car chase which goes through that trusty cinema landmark of the 70's, the Los Angeles River. Tamara Dobson is also a welcome change of pace, given the paucity of female leads in most blaxploitation - and at six foot plus, she is a pretty imposing presence and definitely looks the part. In terms of acting, the awards here go to Shelley Winters and Antonio Fargas, with the former chewing up the scenery at every given turn as the manic Mommy, while Fargas is once again very entertaining as a shady but, somewhat amusing, small-time crook. Any blaxploitation worth its salt also has to sport a memorable theme tune, and this one does not disappoint on that score either, with a cool title number by Joe Simon. All-in-all, an above average example of this type of film.