Early Adaptation

The other night the missus and I were looking though our instant queue on Netfilx and settled on an exploitation film. These kinds of films are kinda defined by being low budget, churned out quickly so the production values are slight, and generally made for a specific audience and set to be released in their neighborhoods.

This was a Blaxpoitation movie, and starred a young lady that was the reason we put it in the instant queue in the first place: Pam Grier.

Made in 1975 in Los Angeles, the movie is called Friday Foster. Pam Grier plays a young lady named Friday Foster, a young former model who lives with her younger brother, and now makes a living as a fashion photographer.

I was surprised to learn that this premise was actually based on a daily comic strip, and when I looked it up, I found this:

This is the Dell Comics edition/collection(?) of Friday Foster stories, where she splits her time between photography and sleuthing.

This is an early comic adaptation movie, and shows that non-superhero comics have a long history that spans to this era (Road to Perdition, From Hell).

As an exploitation movie, this is pretty good. The story and plot are convoluted and will keep you on your toes (uhh, with a grain of salt of course), and, if you compare it to Superfly or Shaft, it looks very good.

Also: if you've ever had any idea why Pam Grier was an "it" girl, watch this movie. She's smart, resourceful, loyal, has more moxy than power, is fearless, has a sense of humor, and is a young fox, showing off her stacked chest in non-gratuitous ways. It kinda reminded me of watching the 1989 Tim Burton's Batman for the first time in many years back in 2007. Having seen Kim Basinger in things like L.A. Confidential I remember thinking of how in love with her I was back during the Batman days when I was a kid. Then, 2007, and I was reminded what it was that did it.

Seeing Pam Grier in Friday Foster reminded me of a feeling that I didn't have specifically for her, but was the, "Oh...now I get it," epiphany.