On April 5, 1974, “Foxy Brown” starring Pam Grier was released. Feminine yet fearless, Hollywood’s pioneering black female action hero relentlessly seeks revenge after her boyfriend is murdered by a drug syndicate. “Foxy Brown” was a box office hit and Grier became the symbol of black female empowerment.
In the early 1970s, blaxploitation films emerged as a popular, albeit controversial, genre. Although celebrated for featuring black men as heroes for the first time in American cinema, the movies were also criticized for stereotypical portrayals of the urban community as criminal dens infested with violent gangs, drugs and prostitutes. Before Grier entered the scene, female characters were usually scantily clad victims or sexy sidekicks at best. Starting with her role as the nurse-turned-vigilante in “Coffy” (1973), Grier pioneered the black female action hero.
Photo: Everett Collection
In “Foxy Brown,” the title character was hellbent on revenge and, as the tagline for the film warned, “Don’t mess aroun’ with Foxy Brown – She’s the meanest chick in town!” Brown goes undercover as a high-class prostitute to avenge the murder of her boyfriend. Despite the fact that “Foxy Brown” introduced blaxploitation film audiences to strong, sexy and outspoken women for the first time, the film was still peppered with gratuitous violence and nudity. Those elements were still par for the course in the genre. Despite these ever-lingering misogynistic barriers, Grier proved that women could still stay feminine while seeking justice with a firearm. As Grier once explained, “Some men thought that women were stepping into men’s shoes. No, they weren’t. A woman can still wear her high heels and still fix the plumbing.”
In 1997, Grier’s career as a lead actress was revived thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown.” Meanwhile, Grier’s most iconic role has inspired the name of a rapper & Beyoncé’s character, Foxxy Cleopatra, in “Austin Powers in Goldmember.” Grier’s life story will soon make it to the big screen. A biopic is in the works, based on Grier’s 2010 heartbreakingly honest tell-all memoir, “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts.” The film will chronicle her journey from a childhood in a tough Denver neighborhood to seventies superstardom.