A Blaxploitation movie—in Kentucky!
What They Say:
HOTTER ‘N’ COFFY MEANER ‘N’ FOXY BROWN!
Fresh off her career defining roles for Jack Hill in Coffy and Foxy Brown, Pam Grier returned to pure Blaxploitation (after turns in Blaxploitation-horror and action), in cult filmmaker William Girdler’s (The Manitou, Abby) ‘Sheba, Baby’…
Grier plays Sheba Shayne, a private eye based in Chicago who is called to her hometown to stop the local mob boss (played by “that bad D’Urville Martin”, Black Caesar, Dolemite) from moving in on her father’s loan business. Aided by her father’s partner, Brick Williams (Austin Stoker, Assault on Precinct 13, Battle for the Planet of the Apes), Sheba finds out that the violent thugs aren’t going go away with a fight. Car bombs, gun fights and boat chases ensue whilst armed with her curves, street smarts and a .44, Sheba is in for a bloodbath!
Grier would appear in three Blaxploitation classics in 1975 (the others were Bucktown and Friday Foster), where she was at the top of her game and genre, with the Los Angeles Times calling her “cool, tough and glamorous – a female fantasy Wonder Woman”, further cementing her status as the first female action star.
The Review:
Audio:
While I had no issues with the audio, it is of its time, coming at you in glorious mono sound. There’s no directionality or other fancy audio tricks, but the important thing is you understand what each character says and the soundtrack and action sound effects don’t suddenly jump five levels and burst your eardrums like most modern DVDs. English subtitles are provided for the hard of hearing.
Video:
The movie is presented in fullscreen Standard Definition. Although this movie came out in the Seventies, the print Arrow Films found is very good and the picture is as crisp and clear as you can get with a work this old.
Packaging:
I received a screener copy, so there’s no packaging to review.
Menu:
If I could gay marry a DVD menu, I would this one. Various scenes from the movie take up the entire screen while the funky (and funkay) opening song plays. The title appears in the lower lefthand corner in a bright, but unobtrusive yellow font and beneath that are the various options. The option currently selected is white while the others are gray. It’s a great minimalist and functional design.
Extras:
There are some pretty sweet extras on this movie: audio commentary with producer-screenwriter David Sheldon, moderated by critic Nathaniel Thompson; an interview with David Sheldon; a documentary: Pam Grier: The AIP Years; the original trailer; and a gallery with rare publicity images and lobby cards. I typically don’t care about extras, but these were excellent.
I know there’s a lot of competition out there, but Sheba, Baby is possibly the greatest Blaxploitation movie filmed in Louisville, Kentucky.
The title character, Sheba, works as a private eye in Chicago. After gangsters rough up her father, she travels back to Louisville to take some names and kick some ass. And she’s all out of names. It turns out that the hoods want her father’s loan business for…reasons. That part was never made clear. Sheba tries to chase them off and save her pop, but when her dad gets iced, she goes on a rampage that ends up with a high-speed boat chase on the Ohio River complete with Pam Grier in a wetsuit shooting off a submachine gun.
And that’s basically it for the plot, but my mere descriptions can never do justice to the sheer funky fabulousness of this movie. Did I mention that it’s filmed in Louisville? Kentucky? That’s my old stomping grounds, and I got far more of a thrill out of seeing it on film than I should have. And it’s Pam Grier! In Louisville! That’s the like the Reese Cup of awesome B-movies: two great things that, combined, make something even greater.
At this point it’s pretty obvious that I greatly enjoyed this movie, but it’s definitely not perfect. The acting is a bit wooden, the framing of certain shots is fairly terrible, and the plot doesn’t make much sense, but none of that matters because it’s just so much fun. Part of that fun comes from Grier. According to the documentary, she loved the chance to play a private eye and do something different from Coffy and Foxy Brown, and that shows in the work. Her acting isn’t the best, but you can tell she was into it.
It’s going to sound cliché, but there’s definitely heart to this movie. You get the feeling that everyone was trying their best and genuinely cared about the production. There’s a definite charm to this movie, as there is to many Blaxploitation flicks. What it lacks in polish and production values, it makes up for in larger-than-life characters and earnestness. There’s an energy in this movie that gets under your defenses and makes you like it.
Of course, I am a fan of Blaxploitation, and I am from Kentucky, so this one might have been tailor-made for me. My only complaint is that the showdown should have taken place on the Belle of Louisville
In Summary:
The acting is wooden, the scenes improperly blocked and framed, and the plot doesn’t make a lick of sense, but damn if Sheba, Baby isn’t a fun movie. Like most B-movies of its time, this flick is full of charm, charisma, and attitude. As I said before, it may be the greatest movie where a private detective from Chicago flies home to Louisville, Kentucky to save her father from hoodlums who want to take over his loan business. Dr. Josh gives this one a funky….
Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A
Released By: Arrow Films
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
MSRP: $19.79 Blu-ray, $12.50 DVD
Running Time: 90 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080 i/p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Review Equipment:
Panasonic Viera TH42PX50U 42” Plasma HDTV, Sony BPD-S3050 BluRay Player w/HDMI Connection
