I still remember the first time I saw Pam Grier in a movie.
It was my early cinephilia days, I was on a Quentin Tarantino marathon, a.k.a. keeping up with releases before “Inglorious Basterds,” which was probably the first QT movie I ever saw. I had seen Pulp Fiction at a film criticism workshop screening before; it was a required viewing as part of our “curriculum,” but it still hadn’t grown on me as a film lover.
Jackie Brown was the penultimate Tarantino film I watched. I remember how back then I finished the marathon with a sense of euphoria that, of course, left me back in 2017 with the illusion of “Here’s to many Tarantino movies to come!” only to get one only in 2019 and be faced with the epic Tarantino drought ever since.
But the experience of watching Jackie Brown for the first time, to me, was incomparable. There’s always a magical moment when I watch a movie, then I get fascinated by a particular actor in it, so I isolate them from the entire movie and start fantasizing about them for a long time afterward, hunting them down as people, not just the characters in the movie I watched. It happened to me most recently with Austin Butler in Elvis, but way before that there was Maggie Cheung in In the Mood For Love, and Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce Vita.
Pam Grier here took my breath away, although this wasn’t even the Pam Grier of her heyday as the Blaxploitation bombshell. But there was something about her performance here that spoke to me on strange levels, ones I couldn’t comprehend when I was watching this masterpiece at the time. Grier plays Jackie Brown with such fluidity; earthy toned and calm, serene, despite playing a scary woman living in a scary world. There is something about a tired, aging woman who carries her sexuality and independence with grace and pride, but also feels wary of the burden she’s been carrying all her life. I can’t imagine any actor other than her to play this woman. To me, she embodies the experience of a Black woman over forty, a non-White woman with zero privilege, growing older, and tired of chasing life and the dream of a luxurious retirement. Her street smart and her coy seduction of Max Cherry (Robert Forster), but also that sultry voice that she uses to deliver her lines in the perfect tone and rhythm, that’s why she stands out in every scene she’s in, even opposite major actors and mega movie stars.
After Jackie Brown, I was expectedly blown away by the dazzling Grier. I searched for her every other project, and opened the Blaxploitation goldmine, consuming one hit after the other; Coffy, Sheba, Baby, and Foxy Brown. Blaxploitation is a fun genre, and no one can imagine it without Grier, whose athleticism, eroticism, and beauty have helped carve those movies into the hearts and souls of fans for many years. She has been a passionate advocate for the genre, and rightly so. It was likely the first time Black people had a distinct voice in American art, despite the negative criticism associated with it, particularly regarding the reinforcement of stereotypes about Black individuals. In every Blaxploitation film she is in, Grier plays an action star. She handles guns like a pro. She kicks men to the curb and she does that in heels. She’s smart, she’s energetic, and she’s seductive. Her afro and her wigs, as well as her form-fitting dresses make it difficult to keep your eyes off her anytime she’s on screen. I adored Grier’s Blaxploitation performances. I saw her as a badass, brave, tall, sexy, and violent, unafraid of committing whatever visceral act of depravity to save herself. Admittedly, the sexual violence was at times too much, but seeing her coming on the other side strong and avenging the men who wronged her was so cathartic.
I see Grier as an icon. A form of sexuality on screen mixed with a physical presence unlike any action star pre the sexy sultry action star of the late ‘90s and aughts. But how she plays it in those films; unabashed, sexual, violent, and sometimes sadistic, gives her an aura of fearlessness and intensity that are usually preserved for other more “airbrushed” stars, favored by Hollywood while the big execs have tried to not-so-coyly shove her accomplishments under the rug, delusionally thinking they can shove her into the pit of forgetfulness.
But no one forgets a face like Pam Grier, or the sweltering, intense performances she has given in every role she plays. Happy 76th birthday to this icon and hopefully we get to see a Grieraissance sometime soon.
