Product Description

Soul Cinema superstar Pam Grier leads an outta-sight, all-star cast, including Yaphet Kotto (Alien), Eartha Kitt (TV's original Catwoman), Carl Weathers (RockyÂ(r)), Scatman Crothers (The Shining), Ted Lange ("The Love Boat"), Jim Backus ("Gilligan's Island") and Godfrey Cambridge (Cotton Comes to Harlem) in this ultra-slick, pulse-pumping actioner that brings a foxy camerawoman into the focus of danger! When photographer Friday Foster (Grier) unwittingly uncovers a white supremecist plot to knock off all of the country's top black leaders, she andher free-wheelin', trouble-dealin' P.I. friend, Hawkins (Kotto), go on a mission to stomp the killers' plans! From the backstage murders at a righteous fashion show to a pedal-to-the-metal car chase from a funeralin a hearse(!)this shutterbuggin' babe will go anywhere and do anything to expose the corruptiononly this time, the shooting isn't just with a camera!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44212 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-01-09
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 79 minutes

Amazon.com
Pam Grier is Friday Foster, a photographer's assistant at a glamour magazine assigned to cover the secret arrival of a reclusive black millionaire (Thalmus Rasula). "Just get your cute little behind out there and take your little pictures and goddammit don't get involved!" Of course she does: The scene erupts into an attempted assassination, and Friday digs up a conspiracy that reaches to Washington, D.C., and involves sassy, flamboyant fashion designer Eartha Kitt, lascivious but good-at-heart minister Scatman Crothers, and a powerful black congressman. Yaphet Kotto costars as a good-natured P.I. she tags along as a sidekick and bodyguard, and Carl Weathers makes a strong impression as a silent but deadly hit man systematically silencing potential witnesses. The script feels more like a comic book than a movie (it was inspired by a newspaper comic strip), with Grier playing Friday as a plucky, resourceful amateur, stealing cars and stalking killers armed with nothing but a fully loaded camera. She's better as the street-smart pistol-packin' mamas of Coffy and Foxy Brown, but still commands the screen every minute she's on. Arthur Marks fills the film with shootouts and (rather bland) car chases, but the highlights are an assassination by garbage truck and a free-for-all firefight at a religious retreat. Jim Backus costars as a wheelchair-ridden racist millionaire, Godfrey Cambridge plays a flamingly gay conspirator, and Ted Lange is a flashy, fast-talking pimp in two comic scenes. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Slam, Bam, Thank You, Pam!
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!

Worthy film for Pam Grier / blaxploitation fans
"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.

[3.5]- "Is she crazy or something?" - "No, she's just all woman"
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.