18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Slam, Bam, Thank You, Pam!, May 2, 2001
There are only two special features on this DVD, and they both belong to Pam Grier. And that's reason enough to buy it! She has two nude scenes in this lackluster blaxploitation thriller that largely fails to thrill, and her sparkle is the only spark here. A good cast, including Jim Backus, Earha Kitt, Carl Weathers, Scatman Crothers, and Yaphet Kotto, is wasted here, but they try their best with what they're given. The movie is in widescreen and the image quality is excellent. There's the movie trailer and a scene and language selector, and that's it. For `70s blaxploitation genre fans and Pam Grier fans only, but that's quite a large audience!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worthy film for Pam Grier / blaxploitation fans, March 10, 2000
"Friday Foster" is a light-hearted effort, not as violent or sexual as "Coffy" or "Foxy Brown" but is still enjoyable. As the title character, Grier plays a photo journalist for a fashion magazine who stumbles onto an assasination attempt on a prominent black politician. Following her nose, she discovers a larger conspiracy out to eliminate other black politicans. Still perfectly of the 1970's, it has its share of violence, including an unintentionally hilarious rooftop gun fight between Yaphet Kotto and Carl Weathers. Pam Grier still contributes her obligatory nude scenes, one in a shower, one in a jacuzzi, and of course one in a bed. Comedian Godfrey Cambridge has an interesting role as a gay club owner, and Ted Lange from "The Love Boat" makes a funny cameo as a sweet-talking pimp. Other blaxploitation regulars appear throughout the film as well.
"Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" still remain the ultimate Pam Grier films, but this one still stands tall with it's blaxploitation culture ("She's just all woman", "Damn I need a beer!"). "Friday Foster" is a worthy addition for the hardcore fans.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
[3.5]- "Is she crazy or something?" - "No, she's just all woman", November 13, 2006
In 'Friday Foster' Grier is getting even closer to 'Cleopatra Jones' territory, but without the fun and style of that movie or its sequel. I was slightly disappointed when I saw it because it didn't deliver the typical kick a** madness you normally get from a Pam Grier movie! The storyline is tame, the forced political correctness is only pesky and the whole stuff lacks in violence and sex, so prepare for blaxploitation in its mildest form!
In here we have Pam Grier, as Friday- a magazine photographer, who is given the assignment of covering the airport arrival of the richest black man in America. But Friday gets more than she bargained for as this routine assignment turns into an assassination attempt. Because Friday was able to get some shots of the would be killers, her life is in danger. Soon, everywhere she goes, people end up dead. Friday's investigations lead her to corrupt government officials, a renowned preacher with an eye for more than the Bible, and something called The Black Widow.
Pam Grier is convincing in the lead, but not as tough as "Coffy" or "Foxy Brown"! This movie actually has one of the best supporting casts of any blaxploitation film, but fails to hold up on its end. If you want to be entertained somehow watch out for the performances of genre greats like Yaphet Kotto plays Grier's detective buddy, and Julius Harris is her boss. Plus there's Scatman Crothers ('Black Belt Jones'), Thalmus Rasulala ('Blacula'), Godfrey Cambridge ('Cotton Comes To Harlem'), Paul Benjamin ('Across 110th Street') and Carl Weathers ('Rocky'), as well as Eartha Kitt who is a hoot as a flamboyant fashion designer, Isaac the bartender from 'The Love Boat' (Ted Lange) and even inexplicably 'Gilligan's Island's Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus)!
This film does have some lighthearted tone in comparison to her other films. That's not to say there aren't plenty of killings, but it never feels as depressing, downbeat, or serious as something like "Coffy." It's a nice change of pace to see Grier laughing and joking with Kotto in many of the film's scenes. The action scenes are good and funny at the same time. One of my personal favorites is the rooftop chase with Kotto and Weathers and the second being the fashion show. The fashion line up was just as crazy because the models showed no form of expression going down the runway while doing a form a vogue-dance that sort of scared me a bit while maintaining a zombie like expression across their face, you have to see it in order to understand it.
I'm a fan of 70s Blaxplotation because it reminds me of my parents era and fashion sense, gotta love them. As I stated before "Friday Foster" may not be a spectacular film but it's still welcome in my movie collection.
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