By Last Caress.

(She’s a dangerous lady)
And she’s well put together,
(She’s a dangerous lady)
Who can change like the weather,
(She’s a dangerous lady)
You don’t wanna know her better,
(She’s a dangerous lady)
Sheba!
Sheba, Baby
Sheba!
Sheba, Baby

Andy Shayne (Rudy Challenger) and Brick Williams (Austin Stoker) run Shayne Loan Co., the last honest loan company in downtown Louisville, KY. All the others have been either run out of business or bought up by local villain Pilot (D’Urville Martin), and Pilot’s been squeezing Andy and Brick, to take their business away too. Brick’s scared and wants to talk to Pilot, see if there’s a way he and Andy can at least escape with their lives. Andy wants no part of that, but after the Shayne Loan is broken into and Andy beaten up, Brick sends an urgent telegram to Andy’s daughter Sheba (Pam Grier), a former Louisville cop now working as a P.I. in Chicago, pleading with her to ask her daddy to see sense before he’s really hurt, or worse. Sheba travels down to Kentucky and talks to Andy but, just as it looks as though he might parlay with the bad guys, a bomb in Andy’s car convinces Sheba that things have gone too far for talking, and it’s now time for her to start kickin’ ass and takin’ names as she works her way up the crime ladder to Pilot and his boss, Shark (Dick Merrifield).

In 1972 Lawrence Gordon, head of development at exploitation cinema specialists American International Pictures, was looking for a project which would present as something akin to Cleopatra Jones (Starrett, 1973), a movie being made at that point by Warner Bros and upon which Gordon had erroneously passed. What he had immediately to hand was an early treatment called Honor by David Sheldon which he kicked to director Jack Hill, to see what he could do with it. Hill thought he had an actress to compete with Cleopatra Jones‘ Tamara Dobson – a woman he’d worked with a couple of times previously in the last year by the name of Pam Grier – but he wanted to run with a script of his own. The movie he made in the end – Coffy (1973) – was more edgy and violent than Cleopatra Jones but it made more money with a fraction of the budget, and made a genuine leading lady out of Ms. Grier. Honor was shelved for the time being.

By 1975, Pam Grier had become reluctant to make any more pictures which involved baring her flesh unnecessarily, something which had been a prevalent feature of her movies up to that point. There was still a deal in place for her to make one more picture for AIP but thanks to the success of Coffy and Foxy Brown (Hill, 1974) in particular, Ms. Grier was now calling the shots. What could they give her? Well, David Sheldon still had his Honor treatment and, along with Kentucky filmmaker William Girdler with whom he’d wanted to work, set about re-jigging Honor into something specifically for Pam Grier; an action-filled Blaxploitation pic as one would expect, but a considerably more tasteful one in its approach. One late late name-change later, and the result was Sheba, Baby, directed by William Girdler in his hometown of Louisville, released to cinemas in 1975 and released on blu-ray by Arrow Video this week. 

So, is it any good? Well, yes, it is. For this reviewer’s tastes it’s not quite as essential as either Coffy or Foxy Brown but it’s an easier piece of Blaxploitation cinema than either of those. Action-packed but light and friendly for the most part, and often funny without ever being silly, Sheba, Baby‘s simple-as-you-like revenge plot – ne’er-do-wells try to bully the little guy until an unlikely hero stands up to them – wouldn’t look entirely out of place in an episode of The A-Team or The Equalizer. Pam Grier is a good actress, a dynamite action star and you’d have to be blind, insane or both not to find her easy on the eye, and whilst the rest of the ensemble here – mostly locally-sourced Kentucky actors – simply aren’t in her league, they all do enough to keep things jogging along briskly (interestingly, one of the smaller “henchman” roles was filled by Maurice Downs, a Kentucky gangster who was killed several years later in Los Angeles).

As usual, Arrow Video have done a fantastic job with Sheba, Baby as they continue their quest to bring Ms. Grier’s greatest hits to blu-ray, having already released Coffy and Foxy Brown in fine blu-ray packages. The picture is as sharp as a tack, and the original mono soundtrack came through my sound bar with crystal clarity, particularly highlighting the rare groove score. The extras include two commentaries, the first by writer David Sheldon and the second by Patty Breen, webmaster at WilliamGirdler.com. Both are light, enjoyable and informative although Mr. Sheldon’s is more anecdotal and less concerned with what’s happening on-screen at the time; a couple of featurettes: “Sheldon, Baby”, a 15-minute interview with Mr. Sheldon about his work on Sheba, Baby, with AIP in general and with director William Girdler with whom he collaborated several times prior to Mr. Girdler’s untimely death in 1978, and “Pam Grier: The AIP Years”, a 12-minute look by film historian Chris Poggiali at Ms. Grier’s movies for AIP; a trailer for the movie; and a small gallery of stills and posters. The whole thing is packaged inside one of Arrow’s now-customary reversible sleeves featuring classic and original artwork.

All in all then, Sheba, Baby is not as wild as many of its peers but Arrow Video’s Blu-ray comes recommended to fans of the movie and to fans of Blaxploitation cinema in general.

[big_title2]Arrow Video’s blu-ray presentation of Sheba, Baby is out now.[/big_title2]

Pocket Listing stars James Jurdi, Rob Lowe, Jessica Clark and Burt Reynolds.  

From director Conor Allyn and writer James Jurdi (Reaper); 

Jack Woodsman (Jurdi) is a hot-shot Realtor in LA who lives the high life until he gets too greedy and gets on the wrong side of his employer (Reynolds) when his fortunes take a turn for the worst until the offer of one last deal pulls him back…….

This plays like a ‘Wolf of Wall Street‘ tale for the L.A. property market however in the third act this turns into more of a Cohen-brothersesque dark comedy of betrayal and adultery; therefore the film is trying to pull off two tricks as once. This does give the film its own unique twist however I feel like having all these loose ends doesn’t help move the plot along. In the closing act of the film however there is a lot of fun action sequences and plot twists that redeem it.

Jurdi’s performance as Jack is perfectly affable and comic however I can’t help but feel the character of Jack deserves more of a presence than he delivers here. There are also enjoyable performances from Rob Lowe as psychotic property owner Frank Hunter and the equally psychotic reality shark Aaron Glass (Logan Fahey).

With the setting of L.A. there was the opportunity for some very dramatic shots and landscaped however I feel like the visual aspects of this film were underplayed and rather dull compared to the story. All this being said this still a fun little flick; I enjoyed Jurdi’s previous writing effort Reaper so there is some promise here for the future.

Written, directed and starring rising star Clare Mamet, Two-Bit Waltz is a dysfunctional indie comedy-drama tells the story of Maude (Clare Mamet) and her idiosyncratic family as Maude falters and stumbles through her teenage years, searching for inspiration as she’s faced with a difficult life choice.

Starring William H. Macy as benign and silent father figure Carl, Rebecca Pidgeon as the eccentric and seemingly absent mother Anita as well as star of Moonrise Kingdom, Jared Gilman as the ‘supportive’ brother Bernie, Two-Bit Waltz is an entertaining fast paced and intelligent coming of age drama. Despite the obvious comparisons to Wes Anderson and the pedigree of Clare Mamet’s parents, this truly is a brilliant standalone feature, with its own merits and its own beauty. Seemingly a depiction of Maude’s internal monologue, and despite its overtly quirky nature, Two-Bit Waltz is a brilliant presentation of teenage angst, hopelessness and seemingly inevitable confusion. Mamet’s seamless switches between Maude’s internal voices, manifested with a man with an elephant’s head and Maude’s declarations to an empty park and the reality of life; this is a picturesque, well directed and well acted film.

Some may criticise and comment on the appearance of numerous actors related to Mamet’s father’s production company. Some may also critique this film for it’s over precociousness and extravagant eccentricities. But whilst, they may gawk at a family that seemingly only eats toast and wonder why, calling reviewers like me indie snobs, I nonetheless believe that this film uses these tools to effectively reduce the dramatism coming from Maude and makes it a much more relatable situation where the world doesn’t see her depression and fatalism as something to be concerned with, but simply teenage angst and indecision.

Inspired, moulded and clearly derived from the depths of Wes Anderson’s filmography and specifically guided by The Royal Tenenbaums, Clare Mamet show’s her directing and writing skills to be a diamond in the rough, not yet perfected, but truly on the way greatness, or at least, indie greatness. Weird and wonderful, but ultimately, relatable, Two-Bit Waltz is the coming of age film that world may not know it wants, but undoubtedly needs.