CLEOPATRA JONES (1973) (Warner Archive Blu-ray Review)

CLEOPATRA JONES (1973)

Label: Warner Archive 
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: PG
Duration: 89 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD-MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Jack Starrett
Cast: Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Shelley Winters, Antonio Fargas, Brenda Sykes

Blaxpoloitation meets 007 in Cleopatra Jones (1973) starring 6'2" model Tamara Dobson (Chained Heat) as the titular bad-ass federal drug agent, who at the start off the film is napalming a large swath of heroin producing poppy fields in Turkey. Jump cut to a scene of the film's baddie, a drug kingpin named Mommy (Shelley Winters, Poor Pretty Eddie), screaming about how that "black bitch" just destroyed thirty-million dollars worth of her dope. In retaliation Mommy has the corrupt LAPD cops that work for her bust the drug-rehab house Cleo's boyfriend operates, which brings the agent back to L.A.. Now Mommy's goons are out for her blood, but this bad-ass karate-kitten might be more than Mommy dearest bargained for! 

I don't remember loving this film all that much the first time I watched it years ago, but I think at the time I was too entrenched in my love of blaxploitation goddess Pam Grier (Coffy) to give it an honest appraisal, but watching it again ten-years or more later the action-packed has proven to more fruitful and rewarding. This viewing I was able to more appreciate Tamara Dobson, a goddess in her own right, her character's a bad-ass, kung-fu fighting mama with a sweet-looking '73 Corvette Stingray, and an ever changing array of stylish outfits throughout the film, all of which serve to separate her from the rest of the 70's black-action pack. 

The film co-stars Bernie Casey (Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde) as her lover, plus we have the rubber-faced antics of Antonio Fargas (Foxy Brown) as a drug dealer named Doodlebug Simpkins, with his girlfriend played by looker Brenda Sykes (Black Gunn). Shelley Winters is a ton of fun as the over-the-top baddie, regularly mistreating her crew of henchmen who repeatedly fail in their assignments to kill Cleopatra. Mommy is also attended to by a pair of attractive women who seem to there only to serve Mommy alcohol when she gets angry, also possibly hinting at the lesbian leanings of the kingpin. 

Directed by Jack Starrett (Race With The Devil) the film has some fun fight sequences and a killer car chase through the streets of L.A. and in the L.A. River, capping the film off with a finale that takes place in a junkyard, making this slice of blaxploitation cinema quite a bit of fun. While not on par with Coffy and Foxy Brown, the presence of the 6' 2'' Tamara Dobbs packs a solid punch, as does a great supporting cast, including the scenery-chewing Shelley Winters as Mommy! 

Audio/Video: Cleopatra Jones (1973) arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Archive with a brand new 2019 HD scan, presenting the film in 1080p HD widescreen 2.40:1. The presentation looks fantastic with a clean looking image free of dirt, debris and imperfection, aside from what looks to be one single moment of digital artifacting that shows up in the airport action sequence, a squarish grey patch that shows up on her pant leg mid kick, you check it out in the seventh screenshot in this review. That very small niggle aside, the grain levels are pleasing, the blacks are deep with colors looking quite nice when called upon, especially the yellows, reds and greens. The film is not visually stylish or particularly stunning but the presentation is quite filmic and natural looking. The vintage 70's decor, textures and wardrobe all have some great detail throughout, bringing this slice of 70's blaxploitation to life like never before on home video, I doubt it even looked this good on the first night it screened at the cinema on opening night. 

Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 mix with optional (ALL CAPS) English subtitles, the source is not the most dynamic but it's clean and well-balanced throughout, the excellent score from J. J. Johnson (Willie Dynamite) also sounds great. 

The only extras on this one is an HD trailer for the film, to bad we couldn't at least get a new commentary for this one, there's probably a lot that could have been gleaned from a film historian about this action-packed film, it is too bad they couldn't get someone like Dr. Todd Boyd who did the commentary track for WAC's Super Fly, or Sergio Mim's who did one for Arrow's Willie Dynamite.

  
Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailer (HD)

Warner Archive come through with a stellar presentation of Cleopatra Jones (1973) on Blu-ray, here's hoping they follow-up soon with the sorely undervalued sequel Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975).  This excellent looking Blu-ray can be picked up for under $20 right now, if you're  fan of blaxploitation and 70's crime film this is a very easy recommend. 

MORE SCREENSHOTS FROM THE BLU-RAY 

SUPER FLY (1972) (Warner Archive Blu-ray Review)

SUPER FLY (1972) 

Label: Warner Archive Collection
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 Mono with Optional English  Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Gordon Parks Jr. 
Cast: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazier, Julius W. Harris, Charles McGregor

70's blaxploitation classic Super Fly (1972) stars Ron O'Neal (The Final Countdown) as Youngblood Priest, a Harlem-based drug-dealer who has built himself a drug-empire, he sports long straightened hair and thick sideburns, always decked out in stylish pimpin' threads, he's a smooth operator who doesn't take shit from anyone. When one of his pushers, Fat Freddie (Charles McGregor, Blazing Saddles), falls behind in their payments he threatens to pimp out the guy's wife if the money owed doesn't show by the end of the night, and when a couple of junkie punks try to rob him he chases them down for several blocks before giving them a proper beat down, he's a straight-up bad-ass. Dealing coke has given him an envious lifestyle, but it's a hard life and he's looking to get out of the game, to that end he has devised one one last big score, with dreams of settling down with his foxy girlfriend Georgia (Sheila Frazier, Super Fly T.N.T.), but like pimpin', it ain't gonna be so easy. 

Priest's exit plan involves going all-in on a larger than usual quantity of uncut cocaine with his long-time partner Eddie (Carl Lee, Werewolves on Wheels), sourcing the white stuff from his former mentor, an aging make-it happen man named Scatter (the always great Julius W. Harris, Hell Up In Harlem), and then turning it on the street for a tidy profit, but to get out of the game he's gonna have to deal with betrayal by one of his pushers, a duplicitous partner who resents his desire to exit the business, and a crooked Deputy Commissioner with a small army of corrupt cops at his command. 

Drug dealers don't typically make admirable heroes in life and in the cinema, but the film doesn't paint a pretty picture of the drug culture, and Priest is a charismatic guy as played by O'Neal, so yeah, we're rooting for the drug pusher here, and in the face of all the other corruption happening around him it's actually not so hard to get behind the guy, he's really the only semi-decent guy in the whole damn film. 

The film was shot low-budget in gritty urban New York City locations with a documentary-like aesthetic, it's realism and tone is what makes it one of the best blaxploitation films of the era, a serious slice of seedy-cinema with Ron O'Neal as the drug-peddling pimp, he comes off super-cool, able to hold his own within his black community and also able to match wits with a powerful white nemesis with the power of the cops behind him, that he's able to get one over on the bad white guys is what makes him an anti-hero, you really wanna see him get one over on the man! 

Priest is always well mannered and dressed to the nines in 70's black fashion, he stands apart from the crowd, driving a sweet El Dorado with a Rolls Royce-styled custom grill that catches your eye right away, I love the 70's visuals here. The Curtis Mayfield score for this film is phenomenal, it's a score that actually adds to the characters and the story, tied to the movie like few soundtrack before it, it sort of reminds me the way the haunting Goblin score is so intrinsically linked to Dario Argento's Suspiria. I cannot imagine one without the other, though with classic songs like "Freddie's Dead", the album holds up just fine on it's own, but I think the film would be a bit less than what it is without the Mayfield penned soundtrack. 

Audio/Video: Super Fly (1972) arrives on Blu-ray from WAC with a new 2K scan of recently minted interpostive derived from the original 35mm negative, considering this was a low-budget production it looks good with tempered expectations. Super Fly was never a slick looking film, it was shot on the low budget with not a lot of style, it's gritty and that's how it comes across, capturing the urban environments with a docu-realism. That said, there's a consistent layer of film grain and the visuals look impressive compared to the previous DVD, skin tones look natural, colors are nicely saturated, with the reds and greens popping nicely on occasion, but overall this is a very earth-toned looking presentation set in the winter months, it's dreary looking. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono track that is well-balanced and free of distortion, with the phenomenal Curtis Mayfield soundtrack coming through with some nice distinction, optional English subtitles are provided. 

  
Warner Archive wisely carry-over all the extras from the previous Warner DVD, beginning with the great audio commentary from Dr. Todd Boyd, who goes deep into the culture, blaxploitation cinema and 70's style of the movie and era, it's a great listen, he's funny and animated throughout, never short of information. We also get a 7-min audio interview with Mayfield who speaks about making the score for the film, and what his creative process was like. 'One Last Deal: A Retrospective Documentary' is a 25-min featurette with surviving cast and crew, a 4-min interview with Les Dunham who custom crafted Priest's signature El Dorado used in the film, though it's worth noting he didn't make it specifically for the film, the car was spotted by a producer who cast the car in the film, even casting it's owner in the film in a small part as a pimp. Costume designer Nate Adams shows up for a 4-min interview, he pulls out some of the threads used in the film and some that didn't make the cut, each with a bit of backstory. The disc is buttoned up with a trailer for the film, plus star Ryan O'Neil shows up for a 7-minute interview, looking to date back to around the time of the film's release. I would have loved an isolated score on this one, that Curtis Mayfield soundtrack is killer and would have been appreciated a lossless option to listen to it, but this thing is well-packed with extras. 

Special Features: 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) 
- One Last Deal: A Retrospective Documentary (25 min) 
- Commentary by Dr. Todd Boyd, USC Professor of Cinema and Television and author of "Am I Black Enough For You: Popular Culture From the 'Hood and Beyond"
- Curtis Mayfield on Super Fly (7 min) 
- "Behind the Hog" with Les Dunham (4 min) 
- Ron O'Neal on the Making of Super Fly (6 min) 
- Costume Designer Nate Adams Goes "Behind The Threads" (4 min) 

Super Fly (1972) is a 70's blaxploitation classic, the tale of a drug dealer with aspirations of getting out of the game, Priest is an urban anti-hero for era. It might not be steeped in straight-up action and violence as some of it's counterparts but it more than makes up for it with a gripping story and Ron O'Neal's turn as Priest, he's just one of the coolest cats of 70's cinema. The new Blu-ray from WAC is nice upgrade from the previous home video release, and the Curtis Mayfield score has never sounded better, this is an easy recommend for fans of gritty 70's crime-cinema. 

J.D.'S REVENGE (1976) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

J.D.'s REVENGE (1976) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: A/B
Duration: 96 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Arthur Marks
Cast: Glynn Turman, Louis Gossett Jr, Joan Pringle, Fred Pinkard, David McKnight, Carl W. Crudup, Alice Jubert

Directed by Arthur Marks (Bonnie's Kids) and starring Glynn Turman (Gremlins) J.D.'s Revenge (1976) is a slice of supernatural blaxploitation, the tale of a meek man named Isaac Hendricks (Turman) living in the New Orleans in 70's who becomes possessed by the spirit a violent gangster from the 40's after a night out with his friends. He along with his girlfriend Christella (Joan Pringle, Original Sin), and friends Tony (Carl W. Crudup, The Monkey Hu$tle) and Sheryl (Barbara Taske) are out for drinks at a club which lands him on stage as part of a hypnotist act, but the experience opens him up to the possession. During the possession Isaac relives the murder of the gangster, J.D. Walker (David McKnight) who is framed for the murder of his own sister Betty Jo (Alice Jubert, Friday Foster), and is now out for revenge against  brothers Elija Bliss (Louis Gossett Jr., Jaws 3) and Theotis (Fred Pinkard), the murderers who are still very much alive. 

The film opens with a prologue of the murders at meat packing house in the 40's, the vintage look is achieved with that Vaseline smeared lens effect with a great throat slash that I found absolutely haunting, done in slow-motion it all has to do with the performance  and eyes of actress Alice Jubert who played Betty Jo. Additional flashbacks of the murders as experience by Turman's character are juxtaposed with scenes of cows being bled and hot blood flowing down the floor drains, it works to great effects, I loved it. 

Turman's Isaac is a law student who drives a Taxi by day,  nice guy who turns vile as he becomes more and more possessed by the spirit of the violent Walker, beginning by mistreating his girlfriend, and then there's a cab ride with an old lady in the backseat of his cab, he starts driving like a maniac which causes the passenger to be banged around in the backseat, smashing her head into the window, he then stops and drags her from the taxi, leaving her bleeding on the ground in a shady area of town. Isaac begins to dress, talk and act like the 40's gangster, putting him on a path to exact his revenge on the Bliss Bros. 

The movie is low on exploitative elements, we get some razor-blade violence and plenty of nudity, but it seemed pretty tame. Even the supernatural elements are not over-the-top, the transformation and possession are achieved by Turman through performance, we don't get any green spewing vomit or heads turning around, not even something flung across the room by an unseen force, just a straight-up physical transformation of character which was awesome. He's plenty bad-ass with a straight-razor, his signature weapon, no need for supernatural special effects, this guy was just straight up scary. Turman does a phenomenal job juggling the two personalities, turning from loving man to vile abuser at the drop of his fedora hat, and being remorseful for what his alter-ego has been up to when he is taken over.    

Audio/Video: J.D.'s Revenge arrives on dual format DVD/Blu-ray from Arrow Video in both region A/B formats, sourced from a brand new 2K restoration and framed in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) looking quite nice. The source shows some softness and white speckling, a brief glimpse of some fading but overall this looks great, the grain is nicely managed and the fine detail and textures look great in-motion. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 track, it's free of hiss and distortion, limited in it's range but nicely balanced and crisp, optional English subtitles are provided.

Onto the extras we get a 46-minute making of doc featuring screenwriter Jaison Starkes, director Arthur Marks, editor George Folsey Jr. and star Glynn Turman - it's a fine companion piece to the film with Turman going into how he achieved his character on screen, the transformation process and what it was like working on the film in New Orleans, plus we get input from the director and screenwriter. We also get an 18-min audio interview with actor David McKnight who played J.D. in the flashback scenes, speaking about his time on the film. The disc is finished up with an Arthur Marks trailer reel, a trailer for the film and radio spots, an image gallery and the retail copies features a booklet and reversible artwork which were not sent to us for review, just the disc.  

Special Features:
- Brand new 2K restoration from original film elements, produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release
- The Killing Floor - A brand new retrospective documentary on the making of J.D.'s Revenge featuring Screenwriter Jaison Starkes, Director Arthur Marks, Editor George Folsey Jr. and Actor Glynn Turman (46 min) HD 
- Here Lies J.D. Walker - A rare audio interview with actor David McKnight(18 min) HD  
- Image Gallery (65 Images)HD 
- Original theatrical trailer (2 min) 
- Radio Spots (2 min) HD 
- Arthur Marks Trailer Reel: Bonnie's Kids (3 min), Bucktown (2 min), A Woman for All Men (2 min), Friday Foster (3 min), The Monkey Hu$tle (2 min)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet containing new writing by Kim Newman, author of Nightmare Movies

J.D.'s Revenge (1976) is a thoroughly entertaining supernatural revenger, well put together and never a dull moment, anchored by a great cast and highlighted by a menacing dual-performance from Glynn Turman, a great detour from the usual soul cinema offering of the era.