Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Coffy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 30, 2015

Jack Hill's "Coffy" (1973) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; new video interviews with Jack Hill and Pam Grier; new video essay by writer Mikel J. Koven; gallery of stills; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Cullen Gallagher and a profile of Pam Grier by Yvonne D. Sims, author of Women in Blaxploitation, illustrated with archive stills and posters. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Coffy

Pam Grier is Coffy, a busty nurse with an attitude who goes after an ambitious pusher when she discovers that her 11-year-old sister has become an addict. Coffy kills the pusher and then decides to confront the big boys so that the neighborhood is safe again.

Her first big target is King George (Robert DoQui, RoboCop), an old-timer who also runs his own escort agency. After a quick session at his office, King George sends Coffy as a gift to his boss, Vitroni (Allan Arbus, The Electric Horseman), who loves to humiliate the women that visit his bedroom. The two meet, but before Coffy can kill the pervert one of his goons discovers her true identity. She is promptly taken on the outskirts of the city, where she is to be drugged, raped, and killed. But one of Vitroni’s goons, Omar (Sid Haig, Pit Stop), makes an amateurish mistake and Coffy escapes.

In a long interview included on this release, Jack Hill mentions that at the time when he was offered to direct Coffy he hadn’t seen any blaxploitation films and felt quite uncomfortable with the initial description of the project. Nevertheless, he accepted the offer, wrote the script for the film and even convinced Samuel Z. Arkoff that Grier was the only person that can play Coffy. The rest is history -- Coffy surprised everyone at American International Pictures (AIP) and became one of the studio’s biggest hits.

Now this may sound like a series of luck breaks and coincidences, but if one takes a closer look at Coffy and the socio-political climate in America at the time when the film was released, it is anything but surprising that it become a hit. Indeed, the material is hardly original, but the film has an utterly unapologetic attitude and it really does bring to light quite a few disturbing facts of life America wasn’t in a rush to confront -- racism was alive and well, women were still marginalized by their identities, the police had different relationships with different communities, etc. All of these realities are made painfully obvious in Coffy and a large group of people simply liked the honesty.

It would be a mistake, however, to view Coffy as some sort of an odd Godard-esque genre film. Its main goal is to entertain and in the process show as much of the bad as it can without getting in trouble. It is a colorful time-capsule, nothing more.

Grier is unquestionably the star of the film. She looks terrific -- with and without the sexy outfits -- but also has a great personality. DoQui is hilarious as the extravagant pimp. Arbus looks a bit stiff at times but is also likeable. Booker Bradshaw has a memorable cameo as the corrupt Howard Brunswick.

The film was lensed by cinematographer Paul Lohmann, who later on collaborated with Robert Altman on Nashville.

The soundtrack was created by Roy Ayers. It blends jazz and funk but it has that psychedelic edge the likes of Riz Ortolani and Piero Piccioni popularized in Italian genre films from the early ‘70s.

Coffy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jack Hill's Coffy arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Video.

A pre-existing master has been used to produce the release. Unsurprisingly, the film has a somewhat dated appearance. This being said, detail and clarity are pleasing. When there is plenty of light, image depth is also good (see screencaptures #4 and 13). The darker footage, however, is uneven. In some areas blacks levels are pushed up quite a bit, affecting depth and shadow definition and causing some fluctuations (see screencapture #6). Grain is visible throughout the entire film, but it should be better resolved. There are no traces of recent sharpening adjustments, but some inherited light halo effects are visible (see screencapture #7). Generally speaking, colors remain stable, but saturation can be more convincing. There are no serious transition issues, but during select sequences some shakiness within the frame can be spotted (see the hotel room sequence around the 00.45:19 mark where the shakiness is present in the lower right corner). There are no large damage marks, cuts, or stains, but tiny flecks and scratches can be spotted. The encoding is good. All in all, this is a decent organic presentation of Coffy, but it is easy to tell that the high-definition transfer was struck from a dated source and even easier to see that there is room for improvement. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Coffy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles have been provided for the main feature.

There are no serious issues to report. Generally speaking, depth and clarity remain pleasing throughout the entire film, though if remastered depth and balance will be improved. What is important to note is that there is no distracting background hiss and distortions. The diverse soundtrack also breathes quite easily.

Coffy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Coffy. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Image Gallery - a collection of production stills.

• A Taste of Coffy with Jack Hill - in this new video interview, Jack Hill recalls how he was approached to make Coffy, and discusses the film's financing, its tone and atmosphere (and specifically the fact that the initially he was not comfortable with the blaxploitation genre), the filming of some of the more explicit scenes (the killing of the pusher), Pam Grier's nude scenes, the film's cult status, etc. In English, not subtitled. (19 min).

• Blaxploitation! - in this new video essay, writer Mikel J. Koven discusses the history of the Blaxploitation genre, its key qualities and the manner in which they evolved during the years. The essay was produced exclusively for Arrow Video. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• Pam Grier: The Baddest Chick in Town! - in this new video interview, actress Pam Grier discusses the socio-political environment in the United Stated during the early '70s when Coffy and Foxy Brown were shot, the violence and sex in the two films and how they changed attitudes and perceptions, the filming of Coffy, her professional relationship with Jack Hill and Roger Corman, etc. In English, not subtitled. (18 min).

• Commentary with Jack Hill - director Jack Hill explains in great detail how Coffy came to exist, and discusses some of the unique challenges he was presented with during the production process, how specific scenes were shot, the film's financial success and cult status, etc. The audio commentary also appears on MGM's Soul Cinema DVD release of Coffy.

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Cullen Gallagher and a profile of Pam Grier by Yvonne D. Sims, author of Women in Blaxploitation, illustrated with archive stills and posters.

• Cover - reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx.

Coffy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jack Hill's Coffy is clearly a product of its time, but this is what makes it so fascinating to behold. It is very rough and mean and it has a star with a massive personality that simply demands respect. Admittedly, Coffy isn't for everyone, but folks interested in blaxploitation films should not miss it. Arrow Video's upcoming Blu-ray release comes with some very good new supplemental features, including an excellent video interview with Pam Grier. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.