Get Your Reps In: Pam Grier Is Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of “Foxy Brown” at the Hollywood Theatre

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Foxy Brown (Courtesy of IMDB)
By Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Foxy Brown (1974)

Well before she goes undercover to topple a Los Angeles smack and sex trafficking ring, Foxy Brown foreshadows her revenge. Vigilantism, she says, is “as American as apple pie.” At the very least, Pam Grier is.

Foxy Brown is the second of Grier’s most iconic ‘70s films (after Coffy, also by director Jack Hill). These are the movies that made her an action star the likes of which Hollywood had never seen: a Black heroine with a pearl-grip pistol, a knack for barroom brawls and no qualms about exacting the gnarliest revenge possible on mobsters and pushers.

To celebrate Foxy Brown’s 50th anniversary, Grier returns to the Hollywood Theatre on Saturday (she previously visited in 2017 for a screening of Coffy).

It also bears mentioning that the 1974 exploitation movie party continues Feb. 13 with Black Belt Jones on 35 mm. The Hollywood’s head programmer, Dan Halsted, says he’s been searching for a print of this Jim Kelly-starring kung fu film for 20 years before recently locating the only known copy in the U.K. Feb. 10, Hollywood.

ALSO PLAYING:

5th Avenue: Personal Problems (1980), Feb. 9-11. Academy: Valley Girl (1983), Feb. 9-15. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Feb. 9-15. Cinema 21: The 39 Steps (1935), Feb. 10. Cinemagic: Spaceballs (1987), Feb. 9-10. Star Wars (1977), Feb. 9, 10 and 12. The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Feb. 10 and 13. Return of the Jedi (1983), Feb. 10, 11 and 14. Rogue One (2016), Feb. 11 and 15. Clinton: Top of the Heap (1972), Feb. 8. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971), Feb. 10. Ghost World (2001), Feb. 11. Dry Wood (1973), Feb. 13. Pleasure (1978), Feb. 13. Tomorrow Theater: The Fits (2015), Feb. 9. Memphis (2013), Feb. 10. Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy (2013), Feb. 10.

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