Foxy Brown (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Foxy Brown is a 1974 blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. It stars Pam Grier as the title character, described by one character as "a whole lot of woman" who showcases unrelenting sexiness while battling the villains.
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Plot
Foxy Brown, a sexy black woman, seeks revenge when her government-agent boyfriend is shot down by The Man. She links her boyfriend's murderers to a "modeling agency" run by the campy villains of Steve Elias (Peter Brown) and Miss Katherine (Kathryn Loder). Foxy decides to pose as a prostitute to infiltrate the company, and helps save a fellow black woman from a life of drugs and sexual internment. This leads Foxy to a variety of revenge-themed setpieces -often violent and sexual- that range from the cremation of sexual-slavemasters to the castration and presentation of a foe's genitals.
Background
According to director Jack Hill, this was originally intended to be a sequel to his Coffy (1973), also starring Pam Grier, and in fact the working title of the film was "Burn, Coffy, Burn!". However, American-International Pictures decided at the last minute it did not want to do a sequel, even though Coffy was a huge hit. Therefore, it is never said exactly what kind of job Foxy Brown has -- "Coffy" was a nurse and since this was no longer to be a sequel, they could not give Foxy Brown that job and did not have time to rewrite the script to establish just what kind of job she had.
On the audio commentary on the film's DVD, Hill also mentioned that he was initially against the outfits that the wardrobe department chose for Foxy Brown. Since Pam Grier had become a star in her prior film Coffy, there was an impetus to present the actress as even more stylish than she had appeared in the previous film.
But Hill, by his own account, initially felt that the outfits were too trendy and specific to the time period, and within a few years would cause the film to look dated and obsolete.
In the years since the film's release, however, Hill has reversed his opinion on Foxy's clothes, particularly in the wake of not only Foxy Brown's ascent into pop culure icon, but also the 70s nostalgia movement that started in the 1980s-1990s.
Hill also mentiond that the character of Foxy Brown became something a female empowerment symbol that seemed to transcend the time period of the film. As such, Hill believes, Foxy's 1970s clothes and hairstyles merely add to the charm of the character.
Soundtrack
The film's songs were written and performed by Willie Hutch, and a soundtrack album was released on Motown Records in 1975.
Influence
Foxy Brown is one of the most influential blaxploitation films; Pam Grier's character often considered the female archetype of the genre. The film has directly influenced or been mentioned in many other films, including, but not limited to:
- Girl 6 (1996)
- Jackie Brown (starring Pam Grier) (1997)
- Urban Legend (1998)
- Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
- Bones (starring Pam Grier) (2001)
- Undercover Brother (2002)
- Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
- House of the Dead (2003)
- Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)
It is often noted by film historians as one of the first blaxploitation films to provide a portrayal of a strong and independent woman; until Pam Grier, women often existed exclusively to support their men for a small part of the film.
Additionally, Foxy Brown and the preceding film Coffy are unique for their establishment of pushers and pimps as villains. Before these films, the blaxploitation genre often espoused empathy for the social positions of such individuals.
See also
