Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) is a super special agent working for the American government. She coordinates a bombing of a poppy field in Turkey. Ruthless crime lord Mommy (Shelley Winters) is pissed that she lost her poppies. Cleo's man Reuben Masters (Bernie Casey) is a black community leader who has to deal with racist cops.
It's blaxploitation with a side of a feminist heroine. It is better made than most but it's still not good. It has some value as a step in the progression of Hollywood. It also has some cheese value. It tries to take advantage of the success of Shaft but it falls short. It doesn't have the iconic song. It's important to break through the clutter and that song's greatness does that. This movie doesn't have the same thing. It simply doesn't have the same energy. Part of that has to be the acting or the lack of acting from Tamara Dobson. Her karate fighting is not so good either. I can only imagine Pam Grier being a so much better Cleo. It does have its fun moments like shooting the fake old couple and a pretty good car chase with some stunt work. They have some great black actors and Shelley Winters is overacting her villain as much as possible. It's an interesting cinematic moment but the movie is not actually good.
It's blaxploitation with a side of a feminist heroine. It is better made than most but it's still not good. It has some value as a step in the progression of Hollywood. It also has some cheese value. It tries to take advantage of the success of Shaft but it falls short. It doesn't have the iconic song. It's important to break through the clutter and that song's greatness does that. This movie doesn't have the same thing. It simply doesn't have the same energy. Part of that has to be the acting or the lack of acting from Tamara Dobson. Her karate fighting is not so good either. I can only imagine Pam Grier being a so much better Cleo. It does have its fun moments like shooting the fake old couple and a pretty good car chase with some stunt work. They have some great black actors and Shelley Winters is overacting her villain as much as possible. It's an interesting cinematic moment but the movie is not actually good.