"Cleopatra Jones is a United States Special Agent assigned to crack down on drug-trafficking in the U.S. and abroad. After she burns a Turkish poppy field, the notorious drug-lord Mommy is furious at the loss of her supply and vows to destroy Cleopatra Jones. Mommy uses her connections with bad cops on the force to cause trouble for Cleopatra's friends and set her up for an attack. Meanwhile, Mommy is having trouble with some of her pushers, like the renegade Doodlebug." (IMDb)
This is a fun blaxploitation movie which never takes itself too seriously. The movie was made in 1973 and it was directed by Jack Starrett. The cast is cool: Tamara Dobson (Chained Heat), Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas, Shelley Winters, Dan Frazer, Bill McKinney etc.
Dobson is supercool as Cleo wearing some awesome and crazy outfits. She has a new set of clothes in every scene. She drives a nice Corvette, she can shoot and kick butt Hapkido style.
Fargas is great as always and i like the Johnson brothers played by Albert Popwell and Caro Kenyatta. You can also see Michael Warren (Bobby Hill from Hill Street Blues) in a small role.
Wicked car chase, good action sequences, nice and funky score and hilarious characters. Recommended!
They just don't make them like this anymore. You got it, aTomiK. These are fun tongue-in-cheek blaxploitation films. Cool.
Posted by Johnny Roarke is reckless (Member # 9826) on :
Yeah, miss Dobson indeed had tremendous screen presence. Sadly she passed away at age 59 about 5 years ago.
Max Julien, star of blaxploitation classic The Mack (1973), was writer and co-producer of Cleopatra Jones.
I have both movies on dvd. I remember that they both have very good-looking transfers, courtesy of Warner Brothers. I espacially like the sequel with its Hong Kong settings, which look really gooooooood in widescreen.
I think i'm gonna revisit both of them any time soon. Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
"When fellow operatives (and childhood friends) Matthew Johnson and Melvin Johnson disappear during an undercover mission in Hong Kong, Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) travels there to find them. With the help of local detective Mi Ling, Cleopatra discovers that her friends' disappearance has to do with The Dragon Lady, a much-feared blonde "lipstick lesbian" who runs a Macao casino and controls a major chunk of the local drug trade." (IMDb)
Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold is a highly entertaining sequel and like Johnny said, itīs set in Hong-Kong. The film was made in 1975 and it was directed by Charles Bail who directed Choke Canyon in the mid-80s.
Tamara Dobson is once again ultracool and has almost ten different sets of clothing. Yes, this time i counted The Johnson brothers are back which is great and i also liked Mi Ling, played by Ni Tien, very much. Stella Stevens was cool as the evil boss "The Dragon Lady". Dobson and Stevens met again in Amazons (1984) which iīm gonna watch again soon.
Casino of Gold includes some nudity and itīs a bit more violent compared to the original.
Awesome HK locations and settings, car AND a motorcycle chase, gambling in Macao, funny one-liners and great action sequences. Too bad they didnīt make another sequel. Recommended!
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