Review: Cleopatra Jones

6 foot 2 Tamara Dobson plays the title special government agent who is out to bust the drug business of lesbian drug lord Mommy (Shelley Winters) and her crew. Pissed, Mommy has her on-the-take cops raid the sober living establishment run by Cleo’s activist boyfriend Ruben (the recently departed Bernie Casey). Paul Koslo plays one of Mommy’s henchmen, Antonio Fargas plays idiotic drug pusher Doodlebug who tries to leave Mommy’s employ to work for himself, and Bill McKinney plays racist corrupt cop Purdy. “Soul Train” host Don Cornelius is in here too, I just have no idea why he’s here.

Straddling the line between Blaxploitation entry and female James Bond variant, this 1973 effort from director Jack Starrett (best-known as an actor, playing the mean-spirited Galt in “First Blood”) is certainly not short of colour or camp. Definitely one of the more ‘fun’ Blaxploitation movies, while also shying away from some of the harder edged elements of the subgenre. That’ll disappoint those looking for T&A and lots of violence, but it surprisingly doesn’t need any of that. Consider this is me talking, if you’ve read any of my reviews before you know it must be true.

Scripted by “The Mack” himself actor Max Julien along with veteran TV comedy writer Sheldon Keller, this is closer to TV’s “Batman” than “Shaft”, but it actually works and the late Tamara Dobson gives us a great female hero in the title character. It’s a shame that Dobson didn’t stick around for all that long in Hollywood or that they didn’t do a whole lot with her, because here she’s terrific. Her performance is genuinely fiery and tough, but with some warmth, humour, and sex appeal thrown in too. Sure, her martial arts skills don’t appear to be much more convincing than Jeannie Bell in “TNT Jackson”, but otherwise she’s the highlight of the whole film. You’ve certainly never seen an action hero dressed quite like her, either. Yes, it’s a little too heavy on furs, but her costuming is otherwise fascinating and cool. Her black Corvette Stingray is a thing of beauty, too. Even more than John Shaft, the film portrays Cleo as a woman of the people, or at least African-Americans. She’s on much better terms with revolutionaries than Shaft ever was, but also she just seems to have a rapport with everyday people, too. She’s a really interesting character, and given she doesn’t really use her sexuality to get things done, she’s probably more palatable to feminists than any of Pam Grier’s characters. Dobson heads what is one of the best casts ever to a Blaxploitation film (plus the host of “Soul Train”!), with Shelley Winters and Antonio ‘Huggy Bear’ Fargas particularly standing out. Winters plays lesbian drug baron ‘Mommy’ like a “Batman” villain. It works, she’s clearly having fun too. Fargas however, steals the entire film as pimpin’ Doodlebug. His ‘hair is like a woman’ speech in particular is one for the ages. There’s also a lot of amusement gotten from Doodlebug’s teasing of his English butler Mattingley (played by Hedley Mattingley) as well for the way he speaks. The late, great Bernie Casey’s greying ‘fro is a bit dodgy, but he’s perfectly cast as Cleo’s revolutionary/activist boyfriend, whilst veteran heavy Bill McKinney is spot-on as a trigger-happy racist cop named Purdy. In fact, he’s a better actor than any of the others playing cops here. I’m sure he was a real swell guy but the “Deliverance” actor sure was great at playing pure scum. Paul Koslo’s stringy hair is hideous, but he’s pretty hilarious as one of Mommy’s henchmen. I don’t know what’s funnier, German-Canadian actor Koslo trying and failing to sound British (not changing his accent, just saying words like ‘bloody’ and so forth) or Koslo getting punched out by Shelley Bloody Winters. In smaller roles, Esther Rolle was an American treasure, and while she often played servile or motherly roles, she did it with class and you’ve got to love her. Here she plays the mother of Cleo’s karate-enthusiast ratbag pals the Johnson Twins, who are a goofy hoot as played by Caro Kenyatta and Clint Eastwood regular Albert Popwell. Outside of Fargas, I don’t think anyone was having more fun here than those two. Look out for an hilarious Christopher Joy as a cowardly petty crim named Snake. ‘How would you like it if I kicked your ass!’ he says to Cleo as he cowers by the window. Yeah, I’m sure you could take her, buddy. Or not. Definitely not. Starrett’s direction is pretty good, especially on the action front. He certainly knows how to direct a car chase, aided by the cool, energetic score by J.J. Johnson (“Across 110^th Street”, “Willie Dynamite”). I must say he’s a little too fond of close-ups of people looking into the camera, otherwise a fine job.

A great hero, a fun cast, good action, some laughs, and a cool score. What more could you want? Nonsense, but really, really good nonsense.

Rating: B