Fox in a Box

Pam Grier, the once and forever queen of blaxploitation films, is in peak form in the three starring vehicles collected in this four-disc boxed set. In Coffy (1973) she's a nurse by day and an avenging angel by night, bringing down the drug pushers that got her sister hooked and killed (a surprise hit, Coffy established Grier as an action star with knockout looks and considerable athletic ability). Foxy Brown (1974) cast Grier as a tough cop who went undercover as a call girl to ferret out the killer of her boyfriend, while Sheba, Baby (1975) featured her as a Chicago-based private eye summoned home to help her father vanquish mobsters. The formula didn't vary much from picture to picture: in the gritty tradition of the genre, Grier's characters were occasionally brutalized, but always bounced back and triumphed over adversaries, using sexuality as well as smarts. Truth be told, the films date rather badly, and offer up many unintentionally comic moments (Grier really does use such expressions as “jive turkey”), but on the whole they remain extraordinarily entertaining—albeit as camp. A bonus disc contains special features including reflections on Grier's career by such notables as Kanye West, Vivica A. Fox, and rap singer Foxy Brown, who took her stage name from…well, you can probably guess. Recommended. (E. Hulse)