Coffy (1973)

Intro
While pouring back through all the Tarantino films recently I realized a couple things:
1) There's not that many of them. I mean he's only one guy and he pretty much only works off of his own material that he wrote... which takes time, and thus this is very understandable.
2) His films make reference other movies constantly. Now call it what you want homage, reference or just plain theft but I'm thinking that a lot of people don't catch the majority of these references to other films because frankly, we don't have the film same exposure as a young Tarantino did going to the grindhouse theater constantly in his youth or working in a video rental store. However, hypothetically with the vastness of the internet and Amazon, Netflix etc. these films should be easier to get a hold of today, if you know what you're looking for that is.

So I figured there's probably more people out there, like me, who crave more Tarantino constantly and I could showcase some films that I'd consider essential viewing for Tarantino fans. And thus the 10 must-see films for Tarantino fans was born. Now let me warn you this is in no way a comprehensive list. There's probably hundreds of films that Tarantino references in his own films, and I found enough films I could write about to probably do this series again but that will have to wait until next time there's another big Tarantino release.

DAY 1: Coffy (1973)

Coffy is just one of probably a handful of blaxploitation films I could have chose for this list, so why did I choose this one? First off this film stars Pam Grier who Tarantino would much later cast in his film Jackie Brown (1997), reintroduce her to new audiences and essentially restart her career! He would also lift about half of the soundtrack from this film for Jackie Brown. This film is also an early and yet well defined example of, what is blaxploitation. Jack Hill, the director of this film, today is considered one of the greatest exploitation directors and Tarantino himself said that Hill was “The Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking." Working with the genres horror, monster movies, sexploitaton and blaxploitation this guy seemed to do it all. And storywise this is a very Tarantino-esque stylishly violent revenge film and much like Django Unchained (2012), this film states that the ultimate evil might not actually be the evil white dudes, but the black dudes who are traitors to their own race.

"Shiiit, come on now!"

Coffy (1973) is a revenge flick written and directed by Jack Hill who is now considered the king of the exploitation genre. Coffy revolves around a black woman who is personally wronged, and sees her friends and loved ones around her constantly wronged by society (and white folks) and one day snaps and goes on a killing revenge trip.

The Music is pretty good in this film, I found it overall pretty hit or miss. But the hits are very good, there's a reason Tarantino used a bunch of it in Jackie Brown! (1997).

Also, (SPOILERS) I enjoyed how her boyfriend ends up being one of Coffy's biggest betrayers.

The acting in this film across the board, is just plain horrible. I wasn’t at all surprised to look up the film afterwards and find that it was a white writer, and with better acting this might've seemed less obvious but, as it is, it sticks out like a sore thumb. The dialogue seems just plain wrong in this film. This is how a white man imitates black people.

Also I'm very disappointed to say that I think Pam Grier was among those bad actors in this film. This is disappointing because I found her acting to be one of the highlights in Jackie Brown and even though that was 20+ years later I hoped to see at least some hint of her great acting in this film. I must admit, she was likable but she has some down-right horrible acting in this film and probably the worse Jamaican accent I've heard in a long time. I also don't think her character was as successful as it could have been. The “it's like I'm dreaming” part of the role hardly even comes across. And I wouldn’t have thought I missed anything because it works as it is, except for the fact that she keeps repeating that she doesn’t really remember doing these acts of violence. This is something I that could have been played WAY up, because it's actually a pretty interesting twist for a character... if it was done right.

This film is basically sexploitation. I think every female actress in this film has her breasts exposed at one time or another, and in the most humorous ways too! There's this fight between a bunch of whores, about halfway into the movie, where boobs are flying, tearing, and popping out left and right! It's actually quite distracting and I found this actually detracts from Coffy, our strong female lead character!

This film is very, very dated, hell it was probably very dated by the 80s! It's downright humorous, which actually pretty much ruins a lot of the moral themes and messages of this film.

The best part of this film is that it follows a strong black female in the lead role. This is something that even today is unfortunately very rare, so I can imagine that back in 1973 this was pretty well unheard of. I also appreciate the fact that she acts (for the most part) like a real person, because it would have been very tempting to make her this macho revenge killer like many other exploitation or even action films.

Coffy (1973) is a stylish (and pretty dated) action film that really wasn’t my cup of tea, but of course I’m not really the target audience at all so I’m not sure if my opinion really has any weight at all on this type of thing. However I would recommend this film if you're looking for an introduction to the blaxploitation genre. 2.5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!





This film is part of my month-long Tribute to Tarantino in honor of his latest film Django Unchained (2012) and his 20-year career. If you've missed any of my reviews so far, be sure to check out his filmography and click on any film you've missed.

The 10 must-see films for Tarantino fans countdown continues tomorrow, so be sure to check back!



Like this blog? You can support it by buying this film through these links:

Jackie Brown (1997)

"Half a million dollars will always be missed."

Jackie Brown (1997) is a crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino and based on the book Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard. The film is Tarantino's tribute to blaxploitation films of the 70s. It follows a 47-year old flight attendant named Jackie Brown who is caught bringing cash into the country for a gun dealer named Ordell Robbie and the many different parties that would like to run off with Ordell's half a million dollars.

This film has an absolutely amazing cast. There's nothing better than a film with a character-driven story where every character has a great actor behind it. It's no surprise that this film revitalized Pam Grier's career because she is really great in this film. The only character I didn't really care for is Robert De Niro as Louis Gara, a bankrobber recently released from prison. He's not bad in it, but this is a pretty minor role and I kind of feel like its kind of a waste for Robert De Niro's talent.

A majority of this film uses actual lighting, in a world where every movie has fake "Hollywood lighting" this really stands out to me. Not just in mall scenes where it would have been hard to affect the lighting, but I love how Tarantino uses the very dark lighting inside apartments to it's full effect. This is such a simple way to increase the suspense and intensity in a film, but I'm completely blown away by its use in this film.

The plot in this film is too convoluted and complicated for my taste. It took me a couple viewings before I really appreciated how much is actually going on. But with so many characters and so many different plans and plots I just feel it could have been a lot simpler.

The film also seems incredibly long winded. I'm not sure if this is just because we effectively watch a money heist/exchange four different times or what. Also the structure is unusual to this film in that it takes almost an entire hour to set up all the different characters and their separate plans.

Also the cinematography seems a lot less meaningful and more random in this film than most other Tarantino films. For example this film has a lot of random close ups for seemingly no reason.

This film does a thing where it shows a money exchange three different times. Each takes place at the same time, nothing actually changes in the exchange, but each is shown with a different perspective and each gives the viewer more insight into what actually happened. It's kind of like Rashomon (1950) except the events don't actually change from each character perspective, it just takes advantage of the fact that not every character is going to see the same thing because they all enter and leave at different times. This is something that must have taken a long time to plan, but its masterfully executed really seamless and surprisingly easy to follow and figure out while you're watching.

And if for no other reason you see this film, I recommend you see it just for Samuel L. Jackson's character Ordell Robbie. Samuel L. Jackson hit's all the major ranges of emotion with this one character. I love how funny and humorous (and even dumb) he can be in one scene and yet completely menacing and sinister in another. He's really a treat to watch and makes a really convincing antagonist for the story.

Jackie Brown (1997) is probably Quentin Tarantino's least "flashy" film, but its a very solid film and has a great cast and amazing characters. 4.5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!

Check out this original minimalist poster design I did for this film, click through to buy prints/posters etc. OR check out other movie posters I designed here. :)

Want more Tarantino goodness? Check back all month for my Tribute to Tarantino in honor of his latest film Django Unchained.

Go back to Tarantino's first film with Reservoir Dogs (1992), check out the first script he wrote (but didn't direct) True Romance (1993), The smash hit that really put him on the map Pulp Fiction (1994), or another film written by him but in the hands of another director From Dusk till Dawn (1996).



Like this blog? You can support it by buying this film (and 8 other Tarantino hits from his 20 year career) in this new set (now on Blu-ray) through these links: