Olive Films Announces Four Blaxploitation Classics From The 1970s For Blu-ray And DVD On June 9

Olive Films goes for a Blaxploitation vibe on June 9 with four classic films on both DVD and Blu-ray from the Golden Era of 1970s — one each from 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975, with three of the four starring the timeless Pam Grier.

In chronological order we kick off with director Bruce Clark’s 1972 film, Hammer, starring former Oakland Raider football player Fred Williamson in the title role.   He’s an up-and-coming boxer who gets tangled up with some questionable promoters, but when they grab his girl (Vonetta McKee) and threaten to do harm to her, if he doesn’t throw a fight, it is hell to pay … smash, smash, smash goes the HAMMER!

The selection on Blu-ray and DVD from 1973 is writer/director Jack Hill’s Coffy, starring the tough-as-nails Pam Grier as Coffy, a sweet young nurse who takes on the mob when her sister falls victim to their drugs. 

She becomes the perfect vigilante, but when she discovers that someone very close to her is not only crooked, but sleeping around, it is a vengeance she deals out that he (Booker Bradshaw) will not soon forget!

So good was Pam Grier in Coffy — both acting and as a commercial success (money maker) — iconic filmmaker Jack Hill (The Big Doll House, The Swinging Cheerleaders, Switchblade Sisters, etc.) re-teamed with her in 1974 for Foxy Brown.  While Coffy made her a rising star in the world of exploitation cinema, Foxy Brown made Pam Grier an out-and-out superstar.

The same revenge formula that worked so well in Coffy is repeated — this could almost be a sequel — as Foxy Brown (Pam Grier) takes to the streets as a hooker to ferret out those who were responsible for her lover’s murder.   They can run, they can try to hide and they can beg when found, but there is no mercy!!!

Lastly, the 1975 film entry is director Arthur Marks’ Friday Foster, which also stars Pam Grier, who is teamed with Yaphet Kotto (fresh from the success of Across 110^th Street and as Bond villain Mr. Big in Live and Let Die) in a more elaborate story.   Grier gets to go more up-scale as a character, playing a magazine photographer who gets caught-up in an international scheme to assassinate various black leaders from around the world.