Tagarchief: FilmDungeon

Dungeon Classics #38: Foxy Brown

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Foxy Brown (1974, USA)

Director: Jack Hill
Cast: Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown
Running Time: 92 mins.

After the success of Coffy (1973), one of the defining films of the Blaxploitation era, director Jack Hill reunited with Pam Grier for Foxy Brown – a spiritual sequel that cranks up the style, violence, and attitude even further. Grier stars as Foxy Brown, a bold and beautiful woman who takes justice into her own hands after her undercover-cop boyfriend is betrayed and murdered. The snitch? Her own brother Link (Antonio Fargas), a small-time hustler desperate to pay off his debts to a ruthless drug syndicate led by the cold-blooded Miss Katherine Wall. Determined to take down the criminals who destroyed her life, Foxy infiltrates their front – a high-end modeling agency that’s really a cover for prostitution and drug trafficking. Undercover as the seductive ‘Misty Cotton’, she soon finds herself captured, drugged, and brutalized on a remote farm. But Foxy is far from finished. Escaping captivity, she joins forces with a militant Black community group to unleash righteous, bloody revenge on her enemies. The acting in Foxy Brown may not always aim for subtlety, but that’s hardly the point. What it delivers in spades is raw, unfiltered exploitation energy: flashy ’70s fashion, a killer soul-funk soundtrack, outrageous violence, razor-sharp one-liners, and some jaw-dropping set pieces – including a wild brawl in a lesbian bar where Foxy famously warns, “I got a black belt in bar stools!” Like many films of its kind, Foxy Brown is packed with gritty, shocking, and often deeply problematic content — misogyny, racism, drug abuse, and sadistic violence – but it’s also a defiant celebration of Black power, female strength, and street-level justice. By the end, Foxy ensures the villains get exactly what they deserve – and in true exploitation fashion, revenge has never tasted sweeter.

Dungeon Classics #37: Coffy

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Coffy (1973, USA)

Director: Jack Hill
Cast: Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui
Running Time: 90 mins.

‘Coffy is the color of your skin’, sings Denise Bridgewater in the opening theme of Coffy – a blaxploitation classic starring Pam Grier and one of Quentin Tarantino’s all-time favorite films. From the moment the stylish opening credits roll, it’s clear this movie is something special. Grier plays Flower Child ‘Coffy’ Coffin, a nurse whose sister’s life is shattered by heroin addiction. Fueled by rage, she sets out on a ruthless mission of revenge. Disguising herself as a drug-addicted prostitute, she lures street-level pushers into a trap – before blowing their brains out. But she doesn’t stop there. Determined to take down the real power players, she goes after the slick pimp and drug dealer King George, as well as the dangerous mob boss Vitroni. Directed by Jack Hill – an early collaborator of Roger Corman and Francis Ford Coppola before cementing his legacy as the king of blaxploitation – Coffy delivers everything the genre is known for: gritty action, bloody vigilante justice, and plenty of nudity, not least from Grier herself. While her acting faced some criticism at the time, her sheer star power is undeniable. She owns this film, elevating it beyond mere exploitation and securing its place in movie history as an absolute cult classic.

Double Bill #13: Double Impact & Hard Target

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

The eighties and nineties, the decades in which I grew up in, was the era of the action movie. And one of its main heroes was Jean-Claude Van Damme (real name: Jean-Claude Van Varenberg). For this Double Bill, I rewatched two of his most enjoyable and nostalgic movies of this period: Double Impact (1991) and Hard Target (1993). In the first one he plays a set of twin brothers, so it has double the Van Damage. The brothers go after a bunch of gangsters in Hong Kong who murdered their parents when they were babies. It has great bad guys, who are stylishly dispatched by the two Van Damme characters using both martial arts and a variety of firearms. The greatest threat is the triad member played by Bolo Yeung, a legendary Chinese martial arts expert who is also in Enter the Dragon and Van Damme’s Bloodsport. The final duel with him is one of the highlights of the movie. The film’s director Sheldon Lettich also directed Wrong Bet in 1990, another Van Damme classic. He is no John Woo, but skillful enough to give the audience what it wants: violent, bloody action and some humor on the side. Hard Target has plenty of this as well, but the choreography of the action scenes is of a whole different level. Van Damme takes on a gang of despicable white men, led by Lance Henriksen, who organize manhunts for the rich and bored. Van Damme’s character Chance grew up in the New Orleans Bayou and knows a thing or two about survival and asskicking. When he becomes the quarry of their next hunt, the roles are quickly reversed and we get to witness some of the most satisfying kills of Van Damme’s career. Hong Kong director John Woo’s American debut was produced by Robert Tappert and Sam Raimi (of Evil Dead fame). It is easy to see why they liked this project: Woo’s visual style is so immensely cool it matches Raimi’s. His action is an art form, a ballet of blood, bullets, explosions, falling bodies and flying kicks in slow motion. These are two classics of the era and highly enjoyable as a Double Bill.

Withnail & I

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Bruce Robinson
Written by: Bruce Robinson
Cast: Paul McGann, Richard E. Grant, Richard Griffiths

Year / Country: 1987, UK
Running Time: 107 mins.

Withnail & I is a masterpiece of British cinema, produced by HandMade Films, the iconic production company founded by George Harrison. Known for crafting timeless classics like The Long Good Friday and Monty Python’s Life of Brian, HandMade Films once again struck gold with this darkly comedic gem, written and directed by Bruce Robinson.

The story revolves around two unemployed, substance abusing actors, called Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and I (Paul McGann). It is based on the experiences of writer-director Bruce Robinson. When the two actors get increasingly depressed by the lack of auditions and the drudgery of regular life in Camden, they go to the countryside for a vacation in a cottage owned by Withnail’s homosexual uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths).

However, their idyllic getaway quickly spirals into chaos, as the harsh realities of rural life – featuring a bull, unplucked chickens, unfriendly locals, and the unwanted advances of a very horny Monty – compound their misery and desperation. Their only solace seems to lie in copious amounts of alcohol, leading to some of the film’s most memorable moments.

Robinson’s autobiographical script works wonderfully well, and the acting by the three leads is top notch. The soundtrack, featuring classics from Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, add to the great atmosphere. Withnail & I is a truly original film with dialogues that are truthful, witty and genuine. A one of a kind movie.

Rating:

Biography: Bruce Robinson (1946, Broadstairs, Kent) started his career as an actor, but did not find it fulfilling nor lucrative. He started writing screenplays and in 1984, his Cambodia script The Killing Fields was turned into a memorable war movie by Roland Joffé. With his second script, he chose to direct himself. Withnail & I, which is largely autobiographical, became a cult classic. Robinson’s subsequent films, the advertising satire How To Get Ahead in Advertising and the serial-killer thriller Jennifer 8, while less memorable than his debut, still showed Robinson’s talents. In 2011 he brought The Rum Diary, a novel by legendary writer and Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, to the screen which received mixed reviews.

Filmography: Withnail & I (1987) / How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) / Jennifer Eight (1992) / The Rum Diary (2011)