Movie Review: Foxy Brown
I wrote a very critical review of the 1975 film “The Stepford Wives” not long ago and therein mentioned Foxy Brown as an alternative for folks looking for a quality classic film with feminist themes. In truth I only vaguely remembered the latter film from watching individual scenes on YouTube years ago. I decided to watch the entire movie from start to finish recently. Turns out, I was dead on. Foxy Brown more than earns its cult classic status as a surprisingly multi-layered film. It works as a pulpy ‘blacksploitation’ film with generous amounts of sex and violence. However there is also a good deal of nuanced social commentary on race and gender. The political themes are expressed in an entertaining way via action and fun dialogue without ever feeling like a sermon. As a result Foxy Brown ended up becoming my favorite feminist movie ever done.
The film’s plot follows the titular heroine as she battles an organized crime syndicate responsible for the murder of her boyfriend. Her man, having recently returned from a long stint working undercover, is betrayed by Foxy Brown’s shady brother (played hilariously by Antonio Fargas) and gunned down by assassins in the employ of Miss Katherine and her partner Stevie. Stevie and Katherine’s criminal empire is shown to be quite powerful in the city bribing judges, running drugs, and pimping women under the guise of a “modeling agency.” Foxy poses as a prostitute to infiltrate their operation ultimately leading to a number of dangerous and deadly situations.
Foxy Brown was directed by Jack Hill known for many 70’s B-movie classics including 1973’s Coffy, also starring Pam Grier as a black female vigilante. The staples of the genre are all in full swing here — gratuitous nudity, sexual violence, hammy acting, and cheesy but fun action scenes. You should know what you are getting into with this sort of film. I give Foxy Brown credit for not being overly graphic in certain scenes. When Foxy is captured for example, much of her suffering is expressed via implication instead of a long drawn out rape scene. This helps the film maintain a breezy yet serious-enough tone that allows us to enjoy the comedy but also feel invested in her quest for revenge.
Pam Grier carries the film from start to finish. Obviously she is absolutely stunning and the film gets its money’s worth with her amazing wardrobe and different hairstyles. I don’t blame anyone just running this film on mute throughout the day just to see her. Grier isn’t just a pretty face though. She is a talented actress both in her dialogue and in her physical performance. Foxy Brown demanded a lot of its lead actress in both the exploitation and action scenes. Pam was more than up to the challenge.
The film’s style goes beyond her fashion though. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack and broader aesthetic. That opening theme song slaps and we get plenty of funky beats throughout the film. Shout out to Willie Hutch for doing the film’s original soundtrack. Maybe I’m just a sucker for 70’s fashion but the big afros, leather jackets, colorful collared shirts, and overall drip from characters both black and white was just clean. Just love the look and feel of this film.
Regarding the social commentary, I give Foxy Brown credit for having a generally good message. As a black man I never found ‘blacksploitation’ flicks from the 70’s offensive since I regarded them as deliberately over the top caricatures. Foxy Brown for its part has a good basic theme with the Black Panthers shown to be working to clean up their neighborhood. They don’t believe in waiting for the government or the white man to come and save them; instead they beat up drug pushers and other criminals themselves and kick them out of town. It’s crude but the basic idea of self-sufficiency is sound. What’s more, though the main villains are white, the film doesn’t make “the white man” out to be the problem. This is a plus as there is more than enough media pushing black vs white racial animus.
The same is true with respect to sex. Foxy Brown, compared to The Stepford Wives, is surprisingly thoughtful in regards to gender issues. Men are not made out to all be villains. The main villain responsible for all the human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women, is actually another woman. Foxy’s entire crusade against that villain is motivated by her love for a man. When Foxy rescues another prostitute from a life of drugs and degradation, she makes a point of sending the woman to be with her husband. Not a shelter or apartment on her own. Implicitly she recognizes that home with her husband and child is the safest place for a woman to be.
I also appreciate that Foxy isn’t a “Mary Sue” character. The film is realistic about violence between sexes. She loses when she tries to fight men physically even 1:1. The only time we see her beat the crap out of several people at once is when she smacks down an entire bar full of lesbians. (I am unsure how to interpret this politically) She gets the best of her two redneck captors not by using magical kung fu but rather by using her wits to trick them and light them on fire. She bests another man by hiding a gun in her afro in one truly iconic scene. Near the film’s end when she needs to take down crime boss Stevie, she enlists the help of the Black Panthers. It isn’t Foxy suddenly becoming Rambo that wins the day, but rather her good sense in recruiting several strong men with guns.
These details are important because the net result is a film that unites us rather than divides. Foxy Brown shows us good and evil know no particular gender or race. This doesn’t detract from its feminist ideals at all. We still get a badass strong female protagonist who can go from hungrily making love to her boyfriend in one scene to castrating one of the male villains in the next. She loves and appreciates good men while showing wrathful fury against the bad ones. This is the kind of feminism most men can get behind. It doesn’t hurt that she does all of this looking gorgeous the whole time.
Foxy Brown is the sort of movie I would be happy to watch a few more times to share with friends. The comedy and action have aged well enough to make it an enjoyable social experience. The cultural commentary I think also still have value in today’s world of media bubbles and divisive race and sex politics. I was really smitten by this one, more than I expected to be.
Grade: B+
