Coffy (1973)

A black nurse takes vigilante justice against inner-city drug dealers after her sister becomes their latest victim.

Director:

Jack Hill

Writer:

Jack Hill

Stars:

Pam Grier, Booker Bradshaw, Robert DoQui

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pam Grier	...	Coffy
Booker Bradshaw	...	Howard Brunswick
Robert DoQui	...	King George
William Elliott	...	Carter
Allan Arbus	...	Arturo Vitroni
Sid Haig	...	Omar
Barry Cahill	...	McHenry
Lee de Broux	...	Nick
Ruben Moreno	...	Ramos
Lisa Farringer	...	Jeri
Carol Locatell	...	Priscilla (as Carol Lawson)
Linda Haynes	...	Meg
John Perak	...	Aleva
Mwako Cumbuka	...	Grover
Morris Buchanan	...	Sugarman

Storyline

Nurse "Coffy" Coffin leads a double life. During the day, she's a nurse at work. At night, she's an avenging angel on a personal vendetta, tracking down the drug pushers who hooked her younger sister on drugs. Along the way, she meets a honest police detective who also is leading a double life.

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Plot Keywords:

nude black woman | topless dancer | corrupt politician | limo driver | murderess | 

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Taglines:

She's the "GODMOTHER" of them all.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Coffy

Filming Locations:

Glendale Freeway, Glendale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP), Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Ryder Sound Services)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vitroni's home was actually that of western movie legend Roy Rogers.

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Goofs

When Harriet comes back and catches Priscilla talking to Coffy, she throws a chair at Coffy and it misses and hits the wall. After the impact, Harriet audibly says to Coffy, "Come on, bitch!" But if you look at her mouth during the impact a moment earlier, she clearly said the same line just then as well, and it was dubbed out by the foley used for the sound of the chair breaking.

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Quotes

Priscilla: Now, listen. My old man's coming back any minute, and if SHE catches you here, she's gonna wanna kick your ass!

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Alternate Versions

The film was initially rejected for UK cinema under the title "Coffey" and then passed 6 months later with minimal BBFC cuts (to the stabbing of Omar). All later releases were fully uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in The Last Boy Scout (1991)

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Soundtracks

Coffy Is The Color (Main Title)
Composed by Roy Ayers (Music) and Carl Clay (Lyrics)
Arranged, produced and performed by Roy Ayers
Sung by Dee Dee Bridgewater (as Denise Bridgewater)
Backing Vocals by Wayne Garfield

User Reviews

Wham! Bam! Thank you, Pam!

What a great film! After seeing "Friday Foster" last week which was a quite disappointment Pam found back to old qualities with this movie! The nerve-straining and tame political correctness of "Friday Foster" is fortunately totally missing, because "Coffy" follows straight up to some unwritten genre laws: the white are the bad guys, black ones the good - that´s how the rules of blaxploitation normally function! The story is simple: nurse Coffy takes revenge for her little sister, who was maltreated by the drug syndicate. Sometimes the film reminded me on Michael Winner´s "Death Wish", however Charles Bronson is a little milk boy in comparison to the tough and sexy Coffy: Pam shows her breasts every five minutes and when she doesn´t she kills a dozens of people instead. The scene when she blows away the head of an evil pimp is next to William Lustig´s "Maniac" the greatest headshot ever featured in a film! Loved also the hilarious girl brawl at the buffet! A great fun flick!!