Tough-as-nails Chicago private eye Sheba (Pam Grier) is called back to
her hometown Louisville because gangsters want to take over her father's
(Rudy Challenger) realty company. Daddy is of course to proud to give up
hiw company, but also to proud to let Sheba help - even though she soon
proves herself a good asset in warding off thugs. So good an asset
actually that the man behind it all, Pilot (D'Urville Martin) eventually
sends a crew of hitmen along to riddle the company headquarters with
bullets and shoot daddy dead. This only makes Sheba furious of course, and
once she has tortured the identity of Pilot out of a street pawnbroker
(Christopher Joy), she goes after Pilot. She might fail to capture him,
but she manages to get hands on one of his cronies - who spills the beans
about Pilot's boss Shark (Dick Merrifield), a decadent white man who likes
to party on yachts. Sheba attends such a party, with the express purpose
of being recognized to show Shark who he's up against. Sure, she has to
make a hasty getaway, but comes back later that night - only to walk into a
trap carefully set up by Shark ... One of Pam Grier's last archetypical blaxploitation
films, Sheba, Baby! isn't exactly trying to re-invent the wheel -
quite the contrary, the movie relies very heavily on Pam Grier's
well-established persona of the tough-as-nails chick, and she's thrown
into surroundings and situations well-enough known from her other movies.
Also, William Girdler's direction is rather on the functional side. But at
least seen from a retro-perspective, this film is way cool, it's fast
paced, features plenty of action and jive-talking, Pam Grier's outfits are
as awesomely stylish, as her attitude is badass, and the whole thing is
just so much fun!!! So no, don't expect the greatest movie ever, not by
a longshot, just great entertainment.
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