DON'T MISS!: FOXY LADY
Jennifer Lawrence, eat your heart out. Pay homage to the original female action hero this weekend as the Film Society of Lincoln Center honors Pam Grier. ‘‘Foxy: The Complete Pam Grier’’ will show a range of the badass actress’ work from early pulp gems like 1973’s “Scream, Blacula, Scream” to “Jackie Brown,” Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 love letter to her.
Grier, 63, may be known as a “blaxploitation” star, but says she was never a fan of the term, which was really more about women than race anyway. “There were quite a few black male leads in films with the same formula back then — bad guys, women in skimpy clothes — and they didn’t call them blaxploitation until I stepped into a man’s shoes,” she says, citing her many gun-slinging, butt-kicking roles with directors like Jack Hill (“Foxy Brown). “I crossed the boundary.”
The actress, who will be hosting Q&A’s at several screenings, sees her legacy in the likes of today’s boundary-pushing action thrillers, like “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” by David Fincher. “When Rooney Mara turns the tables on that guy for revenge? I applaud it!” she says. “For me to do that in the ’70s, they would have called it porn!”
Screenings of 11 Grier films will take place today through Sunday at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 W. 65th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Schedule and tickets available at filmlinc.com.
— Sara Stewart
Getty Images