Pam Grier is a super hero and a righteous angel of vengeance. People must’ve lost their minds when they first saw this! Is this exploitable and violent and transgressive and “problematic”? Hell yeah!
But most of all it is a tour de force performance by Pam Grier, who is backed up by Roy Ayers equally remarkable score.
Coffy is a fascinating study in “exploitation” cinema that features characters with more agency and integrity than more “modern” depictions.
You can draw a straight line between Coffy and Perfidia Beverly Hills - but Coffy is given more righteous motivations - and ultimately has more power.