Post by petrolino on Jan 20, 2018 1:55:32 GMT
'Friday Foster' is writer-director Arthur Marks' adaptation of the syndicated newspaper comic strip 'Friday Foster' (licensed by the Chicago Tribune) which was illustrated by Spanish artist Jorge Longaron and American comic book artist Gray Morrow of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Pam Grier stars as Friday Foster, a photographer employed by Glamour fashion magazine who used to be a model. Friday is handed a dangerous assignment by her boss Monk Riley (Julius Harris) who warns her to take the snaps and get out quick. On assignment, she witnesses a botched assassination attempt against influential business tycoon Blake Tarr (Thalmus Rasulala) led by hired killer Yarbro (Carl Weathers). Scared for her life, Friday teams with secret investigator Colt Hawkins (Yaphet Kotto) to uncover the truth behind the operation.
The crime thriller 'Friday Foster' is a fast-paced comic strip adventure with flowing edits and spine-tingling action. It has sharp photography from Harry J. May who'd previously shot Arthur Marks' crime features 'The Roommates' (1973) and 'Detroit 9000' (1973). There's an incredible rooftop sequence, built using an aerial p.o.v. shot, when a chopper makes a surprise landing on the City National Bank and finds Friday cornered. Luchi De Jesus' bangin' sonic score is seriously funky, with propulsive drumming and a wah-wah guitar that talks throughout the movie, as well as a pumpin' theme track to get your juices flowing.
Pam Grier dominates proceedings as silent photographer Friday, a crime-fighting gemini with twin personalities, and she's surrounded by a charismatic line-up of performers. There's striking turns from Yaphet Kotto as methodical investigator Colt Hawkins, Carl Weathers as lethal assassin Yarbro, Julius Harris as unorthodox publisher Monk Riley, Eartha Kitt as catwalk queen Madame Rena, Godfrey Cambridge as nightclub queen Ford Malotte, Jason Bernard as legal counsel Charles Foley, Jim Backus as fading gangster Enos Griffith, Paul Benjamin as smooth politician Senator David Lee Hart, Rosalind Miles as experienced model Cloris Boston, Ted Lange as freelance pimp Fancy Dexter and Scatman Crothers as man of the cloth Minister Noble Franklin. 'Friday Foster' is a crackerjack action picture filled with spicy dialogue and larger-than-life characters.
"Forget about Marc Rich. If you want news about a far more controversial presidential pardon or commutation, go to the National Archives and listen to Richard Nixon cutting a deal to free Teamsters legend Jimmy Hoffa. Previously undisclosed Nixon tapes leave no doubt that the Christmas 1971 commutation of Hoffa was heavily influenced by self-serving Nixon political considerations involving his 1972 re-election campaign and an obvious quid pro quo with Hoffa's successor as leader of the union. For starters, the tapes prove that former Atty. Gen. John Mitchell lied to Watergate prosecutors in denying any political considerations in the Hoffa action. In addition, they bolster long-held, never-proven conspiracy theories about a deal between Nixon and Frank Fitzsimmons, Hoffa's successor, who wanted to make sure that his mentor would not be able to get his old job back. They show Nixon and Mitchell agreeing not to release Hoffa before making sure that White House Counsel John Dean crafted a "conditional commutation" by which Hoffa would face clear restrictions on any return to the union. In the process, as Dean recalled Friday, they bypassed the normal Justice Department process, avoiding the department's pardon attorney. It was all part of a Nixon payback to the clearly duplicitous Fitzsimmons, who was secretly trying to undermine the same Hoffa who engineered his nominal stewardship of the union while Hoffa was in prison. In return Nixon would get Teamsters political and other support. And this all happened as Fitzsimmons was a member of the Pay Board, a key federal advisory panel making recommendations on wage and price controls to an independent Price Commission. Nixon needed labor members' votes on the board, but many were opposed to his desired wage restrictions. While the tapes don't provide unequivocal evidence that the Teamsters union illegally funneled six-figure, perhaps seven-figure contributions to Nixon, as was conjectured, Nixon is curiously halting and discrete as he alludes in hushed tones to how Fitzsimmons had "been damn good in all of his private, ah, he's, you know, he's, he's, I know, he's done some things privately that are very helpful." At bare minimum he is alluding to Teamster help like providing goons at anti-Vietnam War demonstrations."
- James Warren, The Chicago Tribune
- James Warren, The Chicago Tribune
'25 Or 6 To 4' - Chicago
The crime thriller 'Friday Foster' is a fast-paced comic strip adventure with flowing edits and spine-tingling action. It has sharp photography from Harry J. May who'd previously shot Arthur Marks' crime features 'The Roommates' (1973) and 'Detroit 9000' (1973). There's an incredible rooftop sequence, built using an aerial p.o.v. shot, when a chopper makes a surprise landing on the City National Bank and finds Friday cornered. Luchi De Jesus' bangin' sonic score is seriously funky, with propulsive drumming and a wah-wah guitar that talks throughout the movie, as well as a pumpin' theme track to get your juices flowing.
Pam Grier
'Fri-day,
Fri-day,
Get it on,
Fri-day,
Fri-day,
Do it,
C'mon girl,
Do it,
Hey Friday,
Do it,
Do it,
Do it ...'
Fri-day,
Get it on,
Fri-day,
Fri-day,
Do it,
C'mon girl,
Do it,
Hey Friday,
Do it,
Do it,
Do it ...'
Detroit Bass Demon Suzi Quatro
Pam Grier dominates proceedings as silent photographer Friday, a crime-fighting gemini with twin personalities, and she's surrounded by a charismatic line-up of performers. There's striking turns from Yaphet Kotto as methodical investigator Colt Hawkins, Carl Weathers as lethal assassin Yarbro, Julius Harris as unorthodox publisher Monk Riley, Eartha Kitt as catwalk queen Madame Rena, Godfrey Cambridge as nightclub queen Ford Malotte, Jason Bernard as legal counsel Charles Foley, Jim Backus as fading gangster Enos Griffith, Paul Benjamin as smooth politician Senator David Lee Hart, Rosalind Miles as experienced model Cloris Boston, Ted Lange as freelance pimp Fancy Dexter and Scatman Crothers as man of the cloth Minister Noble Franklin. 'Friday Foster' is a crackerjack action picture filled with spicy dialogue and larger-than-life characters.
"Pam is such an icon. To one degree or another, it is like casting John Wayne in a movie. You cast John Wayne in a Western, you are not just dealing with this unknown figure walking in there that you have got to learn about. For some audiences that will be the case, but that is not where I am coming from. John Wayne has got a whole past behind him, and his past is built up from these other movies. That is good baggage. Some baggage can be very, very good. By casting Pam, I did term this in my mind to a Pam Grier movie, but it was a Pam Grier movie with its feet on the ground more. That is not putting anything down, because Coffy is one of my favourite movies, actually; I love Coffy. Jackie Brown is a real human being. She is not a super bad momma - she is a kind of super bad momma to tell you the truth! - she does not get razor blades in her Afro, and she is not Kung Fu-ing people, and she is not pulling a sawn off shotgun and blowing a guy's head off. She is realistic; she is a real lady in those dire circumstances that I described. One of the things I liked about the opening credit sequence is if you are familiar with Pam's movies, a whole lot of them start with Pam just walking, and beholding the glory that is Pam. I thought, OK, I will make me the greatest Pam Grier opening sequence of all time. I think I pulled it off actually. The structure of it is very interesting. It is not supposed to be naked to the eye, but it starts off that she is on the conveyor belt, and you see her, you are drinking her in, you are taking her in, and she is walking down the airport and she just looks like the baddest creature a guy ever created. She has just got all this power and strength - and she is Foxy Brown 20 years later, she is Coffy 20 years later - and she has all this womanness, and it is great. In the last part of it you see she is running and running, and you realise she is just trying to get to work. She is not walking down the street to burn Harlem to the ground. She is a woman working in this world, and she is late for her job, and she is going to get fired if she does not get there. After the big bad *ss opening credit sequence, two minutes later she is serving peanuts. So it starts off as this mythical, super hero figure and then by the end of the credit sequence we have brought it back down to earth."
- Quentin Tarantino discusses the making of 'Jackie Brown' (1997) in 'The Guardian'
- Quentin Tarantino discusses the making of 'Jackie Brown' (1997) in 'The Guardian'
TAGLINE : 'Wham! Bam! Here comes Pam!'
