MBunge Cleopatra Jones is a well made little movie, which isn't something you can say for all of its "blaxploitation" brethren. While the genre has its own distinct charms, they often don't include finely tuned storytelling or high quality filmmaking. This one, though, can stand up side-by-side with the mainstream drive-in fare of its era. More wish fulfillment than earnest tale of urban struggle, this motion picture combines a statuesque leading lady, some decent 1970s karate, the exaggerated antics of Shelley Winters and a surprisingly strong performance by Bernie Casey into a tale that never loses its cool or its sense of humor.Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) is a U.S. special agent fighting the international drug trade who is summoned back to Los Angeles to combat the evil machinations of Mommy (Shelley Winters), a drug lord with an explosive temper and a vaudevillian personality. Mommy uses her contacts in law enforcement to put the squeeze on a neighborhood center that helps recovering addicts which just so happens to be run by Jones' proud and defiant lover, Rueben (Bernie Casey). But Mommy has more to worry about than a super-stylish fed. One of her criminal underlings, Doodlebug Simkins (Antonio Fargas), is rebelling against her rule. That dispute is what ultimately gives Jones, Rueben, the karate-chopping Johnson brothers (Caro Kenyatta and Albert Popwell) and a whole African-American neighborhood of butt-kickers the chance to take down Mommy once and for all.If you're wondering where this flick fits in the "blaxploitation" spectrum, the cops here are all white and they're all basically decent guys except for one racist who's laughed at more than feared and gets what he deserves in the end. This story runs on white guilt instead of black pride.Though she's the star and the title of the show, Cleopatra Jones is a passive bystander for much of the plot. The story largely turns on the ambition and tribulations of Doodlebug Simkins while Jones mostly saunters into situations, dishes out beautiful smiles and beatings with equal relish and then is on her way again. Tamara Dobson has such a striking presence, however, that you barely notice and don't care.Clocking in at just under 90 minutes, this is a fun romp that doesn't carry a lot of social or cultural weight to it. It's not going to make you think about much, unless it's the sheer awesomeness of Jones' sports car. It's so compact and low to the ground, the driver's side roof has to swing up so she can get in and out with her headgear or gorgeous afro intact. If you're looking for a gentle introduction to "blaxploitation" cinema or just a good time, give Cleopatra Jones a try.

Poseidon-3 Though this entry into the "tough black chick" subgenre of 70's Blaxploitation doesn't feature the undisputed queen Pam Grier, it's sure to live on, thanks to the bizarre presence of two-time Oscar winner Winters as the colorful antagonist. Dobson, a true Amazon if there ever was one, plays a larger than life Federal agent who does everything in her power to rid the streets of illegal drugs and stop the trafficking at its source. She is shown at the start of the film ordering a massive poppy field to be burned. This ticks off drug queen Winters who proceeds to declare war on Dobson. Meanwhile, a shelter for reforming druggies, run by Dobson's beau Casey, is targeted by some over-eager members of the police force, chiefly nasty, racist McKinney. Also stirred into the mix is streetwise pusher Fargas, who reports to Winters, but would like his own territory. The various factions take each other on, frequently betraying one another until Dobson has to face down Winters in a campy finale. Dobson, a towering presence draped in designer clothes and furs who drives a mean corvette, is not a particularly strong actress, but she makes an unforgettable visual impression. Unusual for this type of film, she works hand in hand with the law, though she isn't afraid to branch out on her own when she wants to. Casey adds a nice dose of reality and concern into his role. He's basically got the "girlfriend" role, but he and Dobson make a nice couple. Winters is way, way out there, abandoning all subtlety. Sporting a series of garish wigs, most of them vibrant red, she wails and rails at everyone around her when she isn't fondling her female assistants. It's a shrill, outrageous performance, but she's never boring. Fargas is engagingly flamboyant. He would later play a lighter variation on this type of role (and others he specialized in during this time) on "Starsky & Hutch." Sykes appears as his main squeeze. She sings (badly) and makes almost no impression at all until the end when she registers fear and despair fairly well. Frazer is authentic as a police captain. He would essay similar roles on "Kojak" and "As the World Turns." McKinney, legendary as the depraved hillbilly rapist in "Deliverance", gives another effectively nasty performance here. Reportedly, he was quite a caring and considerate man in real life! Other familiar faces include Warren as a motocross racer, Rolle as a soul food restaurant owner and Popwell (notable for his roles in the "Dirty Harry" films) as one of Rolle's adventuresome sons. This film remains one of the less graphically violent and sexually exploitive of the genre and, on that point, may disappoint some viewers. Still, it's got decent music, acceptable production values, interesting locales and costumes and some snappy dialogue. This was likely one of the films that inspired the short-lived TV series "Get Christie Love" (a show that was partly derailed when its star Teresa Graves got religion and refused to do most of what her character was intended to do as a focal point of the series!)

mu_min It deserves to be seen because it features the incredible Antonio Fargas, as a mob little boss, with cool clothes and hilarious jive talking. In my opinion Antonio is a great actor, each time i saw him i was stunned by his rhythmic talking and the way he moves. It deserves to be seen because it features Shelley Winters as Mommy, a lesbian red-head old mob chieftain whose angriness and sadism are really funny to see (in my European DVD, there is no scene in which she receives a feet massage!). Plot, kung-fuish fight scenes are not fantastic, Tamara Dobson who plays the leading role is a nice-looking tall woman who does not play very well and does not do really sexy stuff (she does not match with Pam Grier), but i nevertheless had a good moment seeing this movie, and i hope you will too. Cleopatra drives an awesome car, the car chase scene is good, and she wears a majestic afro haircut, and like Pam Grier in Foxy Brown she changes clothes before each scene, it's like a fashion review, it is cool.

counterrevolutionary I suppose that as a conservative, I should give this movie points for avoiding the normal anti-establishment "blaxploitation" theme (you can't get much more establishment than being a federal agent during the Nixon Administration) and showing blacks working within the system to effect change.But I can't.The only thing that makes John Shaft the cultural icon that he is, is the fact that he was meant to frighten middle-class white people. Without the whole "black man standing up to whitey's system" aspect, *Shaft* is just another dime-a-dozen, derivative private-eye flick (and the sex scenes, effective in the 70s as a play on the "oversexed black man" stereotype, seem pretty sleazy now).And *Cleopatra Jones* is just another dime-a-dozen, derivative supercop flick. Here, the "black thing" is merely a gimmick. It could have been made with an all-white cast with very few changes.Even considered purely as an action movie, it fails. Even the cool car chase has some editing problems, and Tamara Dobson, though a stunningly beautiful woman, simply doesn't have the moves for the fight scenes.About the only really enjoyable scenes are those involving Doodlebug (Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas) and his henchmen.