In Balladeer’s Blog’s fourth look at blaxploitation films from the 1970’s I’ll examine some of the pulp-action heroines. I’ve already covered Pam Grier’s various characters in a previous post, plus I dealt with Syreena, the leader of the black female biker gang in Darktown Strutters in my post on blaxploitation films that transcended their genre. “Sugar” Hill and her legion of zombies were addressed in my Halloween post on blaxploitation horror films. Christy Love is not included because as a television character she lacked the edginess of her big-screen sisters.
4. VELVET SMOOTH (1976) – Along with The Guy From H.A.R.L.E.M. this film occupies the very bottom of the blaxploitation action barrel. It also sports one of the least memorable theme songs from a category of movies known for their kickass songs and music.
Johnnie Hill plays the title heroine, a private eye who finds herself hired by a drug kingpin called King Lathrop to find out who’s behind the masked goons moving in on his territory. The plot jumps all over the place, however, and the film’s efforts at presenting action scenes are utterly ridiculous. The characters move very, very slowly but the scenes are not in slow motion. Instead it’s just that the actors, who obviously weren’t skilled martial artists, look like they’re concentrating so hard on their choreography that their moves are comically sluggish. At other times the Continue reading →
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