Review for Sheba, Baby

In the mid-70’s, hot on the incredible success of ‘Coffy’ and ‘Foxy Brown’ it seemed Pam Grier could do no wrong. She was now hot property and getting offers from major studios. In order to retain their home-grown talent (after all, Grier had been spotted working as a secretary at American Independent Pictures), AIP knew that they’d need to continue to give her top-billing, something major studios were not yet prepared to do. They’d also need to acknowledge Grier’s increasing frustration at having to undress unnecessarily in her films; she loved the powerful woman persona but felt it was somewhat undermined by AIP’s insistence on her showing flesh. So AIP had to adjust their standard sexploitation formula a little and they came up with ‘Honor’; the name of a new female private detective. But at the eleventh hour, when filming had already begun, the film title was changed to ‘Sheba, Baby’ which the producers thought would get better box-office.



So ‘ Sheba, Baby’ was the third in a run of cheap Blaxploitation movies fronted by Pam Grier. Directed by William Girdler in his hometown of Louisville during 1974, it was released in 1975 to mixed-reviews. Most of the ingredients were still intact; a fiery female out to avenge the murder of a loved one (this time her Father in particular) but this time around there’s less sex and less overt violence. As a result, and I feel ashamed to say it, it’s less good; well, certainly less enjoyable.
It’s not a bad movie. It’s just that, when making inevitable comparisons with ‘Coffy’ and ‘Foxy Brown’ it pales a little in the adventure stakes and the narrative it less convincing, with an ending so sudden you’ll be wondering what happened.



So why would you want to bother? Well, it’s still a lot of fun. The soundtrack is great, opening with funky track ‘Sheba, Baby!’ which tells us again and again that she’s a ‘dangerous lady’. After the titles settle, the story kicks off in a hurry, full of all the usual clichés, some quite wooden acting, and some poorly recorded live sound (though parts of the film have clearly been post-dubbed so who knows why this should be).



Grier plays Sheba Shayne, a private eye based in Chicago who is called to her hometown to stop the local mob boss (played by "that bad D'Urville Martin", Black Caesar, Dolemite) from moving in on her father's loan business. Aided by her father's partner, Brick Williams (Austin Stoker, Assault on Precinct 13, Battle for the Planet of the Apes), Sheba finds out that the violent thugs aren't going go away without a fight. After a car bomb goes off seconds after she starts her Father’s car, she knows that things are getting serious. So when the local mobster sends in some out of towners to ‘shoot up their place’ he didn’t figure on anyone getting shot, least of all Sheba’s father.

So when he does, all hell breaks loose. Sheba starts with the locals but, realising that they’re just cogs in a bigger machine, she is determined to get to the source of the evil and sets about finding out who heads up the organisation. Once she has him in her sights, (Shark - Dick Merrifield), she sets out to take him and his stooges down single-handedly. Cue plenty of boat chases, hand to hand combat and lots of gun-fire. I won’t spoil it for you, but there is clearly only going to be one winner.
It’s all good fun and rattles along nicely, playing out more like an episode of ‘Police Woman’ than ‘Coffy’ but it has plenty of style and sass and there is no shortage of action.



Arrow have done their usual brilliant job (just as they did with Coffy and Foxy Brown) with a beautifully sharp picture and a clean transfer of a nice print – probably as good as this is ever going to get.

There are also a bunch of worthwhile extra features including two commentaries; the first by writer David Sheldon and the second by Patty Breen of WilliamGirdler.com (yes – it exists), both of which are enjoyable enough for a short time.

Also included are a couple of excellent featurettes; ‘Sheldon, Baby’ which is a 15 minute interview with David Sheldon about his work at AIP and on ‘Sheba, Baby’ in particular, and ‘Pam Grier: The AIP years’, which is a 12 minute video-essay by film historian Chris Poggiali about Grier’s films for AIP.

Also included is an image gallery, a trailer, a reversible poster cover and a booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Patty Breen, webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com, illustrated with archive stills and posters.

If you have ‘Coffy’ and ‘Foxy Brown’ as Arrow Blu-Rays, like me, then you’ll want to complete the ‘trilogy’ with this release. It may not be the best of the three but it’s still great fun and, as an Arrow release, comes with great contextual extras, making in an essential addition to your collection.