Cleopatra Jones

Screening and book talk with author Odie Henderson

1973. 89 m. Jack Starrett. Park Circus. US. English. Rated PG.

Series

Join former Preview Club host Odie Henderson for a screening of Cleopatra Jones and discussion about his new book, Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation Cinema.

A Turkish poppy field is torched – and a U.S. drug trafficker known as “Mommy” (Shelley Winters) is feeling pretty burned. She phones the local cops she owns and orders a retaliatory strike on an inner-city antidrug headquarters. Mommy’s next call should be to 911. For now she’ll have to mess with Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson). Mommy is relentless in her vendetta – but Cleo responds with catlike karate stealth. (Bong So Hon, technical advisor on Billy Jack, supervised the karate sequences.) Doodlebug, Pickle, Snake, and more of Mommy’s offbeat stooges add glide to the story’s stride. Their antics, Mommy’s chortling sleaziness, and Cleo’s class shape the power and pizazz of Cleopatra Jones.

Presented on 35mm

Tickets: $20 (members), $25 (nonmembers)

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Book Talk Event with author Odie Henderson

Monday, Feb. 19 2024, 7:00

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Odie Henderson has been film critic for the Boston Globe since 2022. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics whose work has appeared in The Criterion Collection, Slate, The Village Voice, Cineaste Magazine, Slant Magazine and other outlets. Prior to the Globe, he spent 11 years at RogerEbert.com as a regular contributor. Before his change to a fulltime career as a critic for the Globe, Odie spent 35 years in the Information Technology sector. Odie’s new book, Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras, is a definitive account of Blaxploitation cinema—the freewheeling, often shameless, and wildly influential genre—from a distinctive voice in film history and criticism

Copies of Odie Henderson's new book Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation Cinema will be available for purchase courtesy of The Village Bookstore