Friday Foster

1975. Rated R, 90 minutes.
Cast: 
Pam Grier
Yaphet Kotto
Godfrey Cambridge
Thalmus Rasulala
Carl Weathers
Ted Lange
Eartha Kitt
Scatman Crothers
Jim Backus

Friday (Grier) is a photographer for “Glance” magazine who witnesses an assassination attempt on billionaire Ford Malotte (Cambridge). We don’t get the normal butt-kicking Pam Grier. Instead, we see her both in super-sleuth mode and using her considerable feminine wiles. Pause. Extended Pause. Catch my breath. Okay…I needed a moment. I mean we are talking about Pam Grier here. Anyhoo, most of the action is handled by the rest of the cast. That cast is dripping with 70s goodness. It includes Carl Weathers as the featured henchman and Ted Lange (Isaac from The Love Boat) as a jive-talking pimp trying to recruit Friday for his stable. There’s also Scatman Crothers as a high-profile reverend and Eartha Kitt hamming it up as a famous fashion designer. Even Jim Backus who played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island shows up. Throw in a plot to kill “all the Black leaders” (whatever that means), some random nudity and a 12 year old kid who gets left home alone apparently for days on end and you get a dumb but fun blast from the past.

MY SCORE: 6/10