History Film / Coffy

** The exception to this is King George who is framed for Coffy's mistakes. He doesn't seem to engage in anything other than UnproblematicProstitution (all of his hookers are seemingly loyal to him and volunteers). [[spoiler: He ends up being dragged to death behind a car.]]

** The CatFight mentioned above results in most of the women having their tops torn off.

* DirtyHarriet: Coffy uses this tactic to work her way through the ranks of the underworld.

* FinGore: During the big CatFight scene, one woman grabs Coffy by her hair without realizing that she's tied razorblades into her afro. She is later shown with big bandages on her hands.
* GroinAttack: Some of Coffy's gun blasts were aimed pretty ''low''.

* PimpDuds: King George has an amazing wardrobe, most notably the yellow-orange outfit with the prominent moose knuckle.

%% * ShowerScene
* ShowSomeLeg: This is a standard method of seduction for Coffy. Of course, she shows much more than her legs...

* WhatADrag: Poor King George. He didn't even know what he did wrong.

* BadAss: Coffy's attitude - and it's not just attitude.

** Coffy seems to be wearing a bra and panties in most of her scenes, but the white dress she wears as Mystique makes it quite clear that she is not wearing anything at all underneath it.

** Almost all the women, including Coffy in many scenes, are obviously braless. It is TheSeventies, after all.
** The white dress Coffy wears as Mystique makes it quite clear that she is not wearing any kind of underwear at all.
** Subverted by Coffy in some scenes where she is shown wearing a bra and panties.

* DrugsAreBad: This movie had a very strong anti-drug message, which was unusual for its time.
** That's usually taken as a conservative message on the part of writer/director Jack Hill, although he has stated that he wasn't trying to to send a message, but simply to do the opposite of what all the other movies were doing. Another noted example is ''The Swinging Cheerleaders'', where a campus radical leader is a rapist who gets his comeuppance from the football team. Most movies of the time would have pitted savior radicals against rapist jocks.

* ActionGirl: Coffy was among the first.
* AfroAsskicker

* BadAss

* {{Blaxploitation}}: A typical example of the genre, except for having a female protagonist.

** In an early scene a gangster threatens a waitress who took a picture of some night club patrons. He tears open her blouse, exposing her breast.

* MsFanservice: Well, we ''are'' talking about Creator/PamGrier.

* {{Pun}}: When trying to kill Coffy with an overdose of heroin, the bad guys unknowingly put sugar in Coffy.
** Perhaps this is an example of Irony.

* ShowerScene

** Many of the women are obviously braless. It is TheSeventies, after all.
** The white dress Coffy wears as Mystique makes it quite clear that she is not wearing any kind of underwear.

* BlackBraAndPanties: Coffy strips to these during one of her DirtyHarriet scenes.

Although it wasn't her first movie, ''Coffy'' (1973) was the production that made PamGrier a star of cult cinema. It was among the first notable {{Blaxploitation}} films, and one of the first action movies featuring a strong heroine. Writer-director Jack Hill, the creator of several [[ExploitationFilm exploitation flicks]], found enough success with this movie to spawn a SpiritualSuccessor, ''FoxyBrown'' (1974).

* AntiHero: However, Coffy's later reactions about her antiheroic actions are played out more realistically. In the beginning of the film she kills a drug dealer and a user, and later she is unable to do her job as a nurse because the sight of a patient's wounds reminds her too much of the bloodshed earlier. She even questions her friend Carter about vigilante justice, and Coffy's tone of voice and questions implied that she was fishing for Carter to give her a reason she could believe in to stop her crusade. But Carter being hospitalized finally pushed her plans forward.

* CoolCar: The crime bosses and pimps ride in big, flashy cars.

* MsFanservice: Well, we ''are'' talking about PamGrier.

* AntiHero: It should be noted, though, that Coffy is notably troubled by her actions after she commits them, specifically after she kills two dealers in the beginning of the movie.

* CynicismCatalyst: When her little sister is brain damaged from her drug use and hospitalized, Coffy takes a very cynical view of the system and starts thinking that the only solution is to kill off all the drug dealers. When her cop boyfriend is brutally beaten -- and brain damaged, he too -- for refusing to take bribes, she's driven to action.

-->'''Coffy:''' Ooo, my love! Are you sure you're not just [[BlackIsBiggerInBed a little black]]?

* BlackBraAndPanties: Worn by Coffy during one of her seduction scenes.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Meg, one of King George's primary prostitutes, is intensely jealous of "Mystique" when introduced. She [[AccidentalMisnaming refers to her as "Miss Stick"]] and bumps a tray of drinks on her white dress.

* TheMole: [[spoiler: Howard Brunswick: Politician, Coffy's lover, and total bastard.]]

* FashionDissonance: King George's outfit in his first scenes may have been cool on a pimp in TheSeventies. Today it would raise a few eyebrows.

* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Coffy herself makes several comments about the size of her lovers and almost-lovers throughout the film.

* CharacterTitle

** In an early scene a gangster threatens a waitress who took a picture of some night club patrons. He tears open her blouse, exposing a breast.

* NippleAndDimed: The movie does not shy away from showing female nipples. Or female breasts. Or topless women.

* HammerspaceHair: Coffy hides blades in her afro before starting the aformentioned CatFight.
** She also hides a sharpened shiv during her captivity in a sauna, used later to escape rape and death.

** The white dress Coffy wears as Mystique makes it quite clear that she is not wearing underwear.

* FashionDissonance: King George's outfits may have been cool on a pimp in TheSeventies. Today the would raise a few eyebrows.

* TheSeventies: It's not just the clothes that makes this film a PeriodPiece. The photo and the treatment of social issues are also typical of the decade. An exception is the very unequivocal "drugs are bad" message.

* TheSeventies: It's not just the clothes that makes this film a PeriodPiece. The photo and the treatment of social issues are also typical of the decade.

-->'''Coffy:''' Ooo, my love! Are you sure you're not just [[UnfortunateImplications a little black]]?

* ClothingDamage: The CatFight mentioned above results in most of the women having their tops torn off.

* Blaxploitation: A typical example of the genre, except for having a female protagonist.

* ContrivedClumsiness: This is what starts the aforementioned {{cat fight}}. Meg the call girl plays this very straight, trying to genuinely convince her audience that her act of spilling drinks on Coffy/Mistique was really an accident. One man who watched the whole thing calls her out on it.

* SassyBlackWoman

* ShowSomeLeg: This is a standard method of seduction for Coffy.

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Coffy plays her role as the prostitute "Mystique" with a Jamaican accent, but she doesn't quite seem to get it r—oh wow, [[DistractedByTheSexy she just took her clothes off]].

* ClingyJealousGirl: Meg, one of King George's primary prostitutes, is intensely jealous of "Mystique" when introduced. She [[MyNameIsNotDurwood refers to her as "Miss Stick"]] and bumps a tray of drinks on her white dress.

Coffy is a young nurse whose [[DeadLittleSister sister is permanently brain damaged]] from having used tainted heroin. Traumatized by her sister's condition, Coffy hunts down the dealer who sold her sister the bad drug, seduces him under the pretense of needing heroin, then [[YourHeadAsplode blows his head off]].

* DeadLittleSister: Coffy's motivation is her little sister, who was severely brain damaged as a result of taking tainted heroin.

* [[spoiler:TheMole: Howard Brunswick: Politician, Coffy's lover, and total bastard.]]