Friday Foster (Pam Grier) is a magazine photographer who is given the assignment of covering the airport arrival of the richest black man in America. But Friday gets more than she bargained for as this routine assignment turns into an assassination attempt. Because Friday was able to get some shots of the would be killers, her life is in danger. Soon, everywhere she goes, people end up dead. Friday's investigations lead her to corrupt government officials, a renowned preacher with an eye for more than the Bible, and something called The Black Widow.

Friday Foster is literally a Who's Who of 70s black actors. In addition to the always delightful Pam Grier, the movie features Yaphet Kotto, Eartha Kitt, Scatman Crothers, Carl Weathers, Ted Lange, Godfrey Cambridge, Thalmus Rasulala (what an awesome name), and more. While many members of this large cast have little more than cameo appearances, it was a fun to see them all together. I especially enjoyed seeing Kotto work with Grier. I wish the pair had made more films together. They have a good on screen chemistry. Plus, regardless of how silly the situation, Kotto brings an air of credibility to the proceedings.

Unlike some of Grier's other films, Friday Foster has a decided lighthearted tone in comparison. That's not to say there aren't plenty of killings, but it never feels as depressing, downbeat, or serious as something like Coffy. It's a nice change of pace to see Grier laughing and joking with Kotto in many of the film's scenes. The action scenes are also good. One of my personal favorites is the rooftop chase with Kotto and Weathers. Very nice.

I'm a fan of 70s Blaxplotation (and Pam Grier in particular) and Friday Foster is a welcome addition to my video library.

Friday Foster (Pam Grier), an ex-model magazine photographer, goes to Los Angeles International airport to photograph the arrival of Blake Tarr, the richest black man in America... and things go awry.

I love blaxploitation films and I love Pam Grier (which is pretty much necessary given how much the two overlap). Here she is made out to be a very strong woman in a variety of ways -- head-strong, smart as a whip... and someone who sexually knows what they want (this is a fine line between "easy" and "determined", and Foster walks it well).

Is it the best of its kind? Probably not. But well worth a watch for fans of the genre, with some great supporting actors -- including Scatman Crothers, Eartha Kitt and Carl Weathers, among others. Unfortunately for us, this was Grier's final film with American International Pictures.

Just a couple years earlier, Pam Grier starred in COFFEY--one of the best of the so-called blaxploitation films. Then, she made FOXY BROWN--a very similar film but still very watchable nonetheless. Now, by 1975, she was making lousy films like SHEBA BABY and Friday FOSTER--films that were just pale imitations of these earlier successes.

Friday FOSTER finds Ms. Grier as a hot-shot photographer for Glance magazine. She gets a lead on the arrival of some big-wig and sneaks onto the runway at the airport. However, she walks into an attempted assassination! After that, she's pulled into all kinds of intrigue that never really scores. Too bad her character is more like a Black Barbie doll instead of the usual bad @ss she played in her good films. All her brashness is replaced by high fashion clothing and a by-the-numbers plot that could have been a "Charlie's Angels" plot--seriously.

Now this film could have been a lot better. After all, it had a very good cast (including Carl Weathers, Julius Harris, Yaphet Kotto and Godfrey Cambridge. However, it all just seemed so unreal and poorly written. Pam with a camera instead of a gun just didn't pack much entertainment punch. Heck, you know it's lame when instead of blowing away bad-guy Weathers, she shoots him with pepper spray. Lame! And, when the evil assassins strike, they only chose methods with the lowest probability of success!!! Knives, runaway cars that inexplicably miss the heroine and explode and gunmen who can't hit anything make for one of the weakest gangs in film history! The only good hit (and it was GREAT---almost worth seeing the film just for this one) involved a phone booth and a huge truck--but naturally this was aimed only at a minor character and not Ms. Grier.

If there was a reason to watch this movie, it's so you can see the zombie fashion show about 25 minutes into the film! It's a high fashion show starring a strange Eartha Kitt (by her performance, I think she thought she's supposed to be Catwoman). As she introduces the models, each comes out in atrocious 70s dresses and moves about exactly like the undead as Kitt purrs like Batman's rival---seriously! It is meant to be hot, but frankly it's one of the funnier scenes in a bad blaxploitation film you can find.

Another possible reason might be to see Ted Lange (from "Love Boat") playing a completely stereotypical 70s pimp. Instead of mixing drinks and dispensing wisdom, here he spouts Huggy Bear-like dialog that can't help but elicit laughs. I really wish he'd acted this way on "Love Boat"--it would have been hysterical! Or, perhaps people who hate Godfrey Cambridge would want to see it because this film couldn't help but sink his career. His mincing homosexual routine is pretty embarrassing--as well as awfully offensive when seen today--at least to some in the audience. Others might just laugh at its lack of subtlety.

A final reason to see the film is to witness the most amazing and warmest winter in Washington, DC history. I grew up there and was amazed to see all the trees were filled with green leaves and people were dressed like it was May! I was there in 1975 but somehow missed out on this anomaly! My recall is that the temperatures were in the 30s...like every other winter in this city!! I also loved the mountains in the outskirts of DC (and no, I am NOT talking about the Appalachians). Strange how they looked like the same ones in Los Angeles! Great continuity, huh?!

However, other than for laughs or curiosity or a hatred of Mr. Cambridge, I just can't see why you'd want to see this until you've first seen and enjoyed GOOD blaxploitation films! Trust me--you can do a lot better than this overly-polished but bland film.

You know this is a REAAALLLY lame film where "Mr. Big" turns out to be Jim Backus!! So apparently THAT'S how Thurston Howell III got all that money!!