I’ve never really watched many blaxploitation films before, but if Coffy is any indication as to how they are, then my god, I need to crack down and check them all out. Filled with violence, beautiful women (Pam Grier is to die for) and copious amounts of boobies, so many boobies in fact, that I lost count, Coffy is a very fun movie to watch and Arrow Films has does a splendid job on this Region B locked Blu-ray (of course, were we expecting anything less than stellar from them?) Read on to see why you should boobies, boobies, boobies…
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 91 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: LPCM Mono
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English SDH
REGION: B
RATING: 18
PRODUCTION DATE: 1973
RELEASE DATE: April 20th, 2015
PLOT SUMMARY
THE ONE CHICK HIT SQUAD!
Regarded as one of the best of the Blaxploitation genre along with Shaft and Superfly, Coffy has been described as “one of the most entertaining films ever made” by Quentin Tarantino.
With Coffy Pam Grier was catapulted to stardom and iconic status following solid roles in earlier ‘chicks in chains’ films. Here she plays nurse ‘Coffy’ Coffin seeking vigilante justice when her little sister is hospitalised by a smack pusher. Coffy uses her body, bullets and blades to get justice, working her way to the top of the criminal ring. But as she nears the top she finds the level of corruption is closer to home than she thinks.
When American International Pictures lost the chance to make Cleopatra Jones the studio looked for another project and turned to up and coming B-movie auteur Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Pit Stop). Coffy was such a success that the studio fast tracked Grier’s next movie (Foxy Brown) with Hill straight away.
MOVIE
Pretty much right from the start of the catchy little tune “Coffy Is the Color”, I knew I was in for a treat. Pam Grier lights up the screen, with a take charge role of rounding up bad guys and sending them off with a shotgun blast to the face. It’s violent, gritty, funny and full of sass, style and boobies. When a movie has a man wearing a tight yellow jumpsuit, that has his balls crammed in so tight, that the jaws of life would be needed to extract them, then you know you got yourself a treat on your hands. Oh and I can’t forget to mention the tremendous amounts of nudity in this movie. One scene, in particular, has Coffy cat fighting with a bunch of smoking hot women and their shirts are getting torn off left and right and boobs are flying out all over the place. I seriously have not stopped grinning from watching this damn movie.
I will admit, I thought there was going to be a little more vigilant action happening, but for the most part, Coffy is going undercover and trying to get kingpins to backstab each other. I would’ve thought the shotgun method to the face would be more effective, but hey, at least we get that aforementioned booby fight and also Sig Haig in a super early role, trying to get all up in Pam Grier. Oh, one other thing. There are two henchmen in this movie, one being Sig Haig and the other a cowboy hat wearing dude who just kind of disappears come half way through the movie. No idea what happened to him, but I thought that was strange. Oh well, at least we still have the boobies.
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| Trust me, I’m saving you from what you can’t unsee below the belt. |
BLU-RAY
Arrow is fantastic at what they do and they don’t stop here with Coffy. It’s looking amazing and it sounds even better with its LPCM Mono audio. Clear, precise and no sort of hiss can found in this movie and the soundtrack comes through wonderfully. My eyes and ears were pleased and not just because of the amount of boobies present.
Special features are also bountiful, with new interviews with Director Jack Hill, actress Pam Grier and a half hour essay about the blaxploitation genre. Round it all out with a trailer, still gallery and booklet; you got something that’s pretty damn great.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- Restored High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation, on Blu-ray for the first time in the world!
- Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by writer-director Jack Hill
- A Taste of Coffy – A brand new interview with Jack Hill
- The Baddest Chick in Town! – A brand new interview with Pam Grier on Coffy and its follow up, Foxy Brown
- Blaxploitation! – A video essay by author Mikel J. Koven (Blaxploitation Film) on the history and development of the genre
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image Gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Cullen Gallagher and a profile of Pam Grier by Yvonne D. Sims, author of Women in Blaxploitation, illustrated with archive stills and posters
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| Just moments before the greatest cat fight scene ever! |
VERDICT
Coffy is my kind of movie. Throw in some violence, beautiful women, who don’t mind getting naked and a revenge plot and you got me there front row. Arrow has released a wonderful Blu-ray and I can’t think of any reason not to get this release. I can however, think of at least 10 to 12 pairs of reasons why you should get it…
RATING
