Seventies exploitation movies didn’t make many household name-level stars, and that goes extra for women, who were generally just used as disposable T&A. Yet five decades after her onscreen debut as “partygoer” in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, just the mention of Pam Grier’s name, or her face on a T-shirt, is enough to turn heads. Director Jack Hill knew it when he saw her working the phones at American International Pictures, and she soon eclipsed all her male co-stars with her sheer badassery. Following up her first headlining role in 1973’s Coffy, Foxy Brown pits the queen of Blaxploitation against rapist drug dealers, and you know who’ll come off worse. – Richard Whittaker
