Cleopatra Jones
Tags: comedy, murder, violence, cult, humor, blaxploitation

Plot synopsis:
Cleopatra "Cleo" Jones (Dobson) is an undercover special agent for the United States Government. Overseas modeling is only a cover for her real job. Cleo is a Bond-like heroine with power and influence, her silver and black `73 Corvette Stingray (equipped with automatic weapons), and her martial arts ability. While she evokes the glory of a funk goddess, she remains loyal to her drug-ravaged community and her lover, Reuben Masters (Bernie Casey), who runs B&S House (a community home for recovering drug addicts).
The film opens with Cleo overseeing the destruction of a poppy field in Turkey belonging to the evil drug lord, Mommy (Shelley Winters). Mommy employs an all-male crew and a bevy of beautiful young women catering to her many wants. When she hears about her poppies' demise, she plots revenge, ordering a corrupt policeman to raid the B&S House.
When Cleo returns to LA to arrest the police responsible for the raid, she continues to take apart Mommy’s underworld drug business, thwarting her minions along the way. Cleo and Mommy face off in a showdown, in which she is trapped by Mommy in a car crusher but is saved by her friends from the B&S House. In the final showdown, Cleo chases Mommy to the top of a magnetic crane where the two women fight. Mommy proves to be no match for Cleo, who hurls Mommy over the side of the crane to her death, while Cleo's friends defeat her henchmen. At the end of the film, as Reuben and the members of the community celebrate victory, Cleo departs the scene. She sets off to complete her mission of stemming the tide of drugs that flow into her community.

Review: "Cleopatra Jones" was one of the first "blaxploitation" movies that I ever saw back in the '70s.
Tamara Dobson plays Cleopatra Jones, a government agent that must crack a drug ring run by Mommy, Shelley Winters.
Shelley Winters is funny and over-the-top with her role as Mommy, the Queen of drug trade.
Tamara Dobson plays the title character, the best dressed United States Agent in the history of cinema.
Her rival is Mommy, played by Shelley Winters, who gives a subtle, restrained perf...naw, I'm fooling ya, she's re-defining over-the-top as she GNAWS on every single piece of scenery, all in a variety of Eva Gabor wigs.
Seeing her rub the bottom of her young girlfriend, and then get her feet rubbed by the same girl...I wasn't sure if I was going to vomit or thank the movie gods that created this.Plot is virtually unimportant as Cleo battles the fuzz, Antonio Fargas and anyone who gets in her way.
I want to be just like her!"  Then, when you are older and see it scheduled to come on t.v. again, or see it in the video store, you arrange to watch it with all sorts of anticipation and end up laughing through the entire movie-the choreographed fight scenes, the extreme villains, the jive "put downs".
Either way, it is a cool movie to watch, whether you want to go "WOW" or joke it.I think Tamara Dobson is absolutely stunning in the movie.
Blaxploitation films had their place back in the day (and they still do).Shelly Winters played a "surprising" role as the villain.
Of course Cleopatra Jones is mentioned.While the movie can be classified as "cheesy" by many, it does have action, adventure, and romance.
If you don't take it too seriously this is fantastic fun.Tamara Dobson is beautiful, sassy and kick ass as Special Government Agent Cleopatra Jones, enemy to drug pushers everywhere.
Cleo suspects the involvement of a crooked cop (the always menacing Bill McKinney - 'Deliverance'), and local drug big wig Mommy (Shelley Winters as a larger than life lesbian leather queen!).
A total fantasy, but as a middle-aged woman now, I still sometimes ask myself "What would Emma Peele do?" I found the early '70's heroines to be complete wimps compared to the late 60's heroines.So when the ad campaign hit in 1973 for "Tamara Dobson IS Cleopatra Jones," with the poster of the tall gun-toting Ms. Dobson, I begged and begged to go.I went downtown with an older woman friend of the family, and the two of us were literally the only white people in the entire packed theater of black people.In the film.
This is probably not something you would notice watching the film on T.V., but believe me, if you are one of two white people in the theater, it makes a big impression.There was also a well-written and clever scene in the film in which one of Cleopatra's male assistants is lying in wait for the white villains.
This "blaxploitation" movie seemed to be about blacks who were superior in every way to whites, both morally and physically.2) It is really scary and uncomfortable being in the minority..
Black writer Max Julien (also an actor, playing the lead role in the pimpsploitation classic The Mack) offered AiP his script for a female alternative but passed.
Warner was quick to snatch up the rights, and in 1973 foisted the first black superchick onto the American public: Cleopatra Jones.The film opens with a blazing opium field somewhere in Turkey.
Lesbian drug baroness Mommy (Shelley Winters, fresh from Corman's Bloody Mama) is furious her poppy fields were torched, and threatens an all-out war between the Brothers and the Mothers.
Tamara Dobson as Cleo Jones reportedly stood 6"2, and that doesn't include what must've been the BIGGEST afro in the business!
It deserves to be seen because it features Shelley Winters as Mommy, a lesbian red-head old mob chieftain whose angriness and sadism are really funny to see (in my European DVD, there is no scene in which she receives a feet massage!).
Plot, kung-fuish fight scenes are not fantastic, Tamara Dobson who plays the leading role is a nice-looking tall woman who does not play very well and does not do really sexy stuff (she does not match with Pam Grier), but i nevertheless had a good moment seeing this movie, and i hope you will too.
Cleopatra drives an awesome car, the car chase scene is good, and she wears a majestic afro haircut, and like Pam Grier in Foxy Brown she changes clothes before each scene, it's like a fashion review, it is cool..
It is too bad that characters such as Cleopatra Jones, Foxy Brown, and Coffy do not get the credit they deserve.
One thing's for sure - Tamara Dobson is very very cool in the title role of Cleopatra Jones, the sexy heroine of this satirical blaxploitation flick.
That being said, Cleopatra, a Special Agent who fights drug lords and other bad guys in a fire-spitting black corvette, is the only true reason to watch "Cleopatra Jones" of 1973.
Apart from the cool heroine the film has not very much to offer, as it is simply not as explicit and exploitation-style as most blaxploitation-highlights of the time, such as "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" starring the incomparable Pam Grier, for example.
Sure, the film has a cool heroine, funky music, action and lots of funny moments, but when I am about to watch a film often labeled as a blaxploitation classic I expect a little more.
Namely - a little more violence and sleaze.Take "Coffy", for example - one of the greatest blaxploitation movies ever made, one of the coolest heroines ever, played by the great Pam Grier, loads of sleaze, brutal violence, and one out of two words is the F-Word.
The main weakness of "Cleopatra Jones" is that it is an blaxploitation movie without most of the elements that make exploitation interesting, probably because it was intended for wider audiences.
Not that I need these elements in any movie I see, but for blaxploitation flicks from the 70s they're mandatory, in my opinion.The film is very satirical, however, the villains are simply ridiculous (and most of them quite annoying).
Funnily the main villain, a very annoying, but also somehow funny white drug-queen called "Mommy" is played by the great Shelley Winters.
The main reason, to watch "Cleoatra Jones" is Tamara Dobson however.
Dobson is certainly not nearly as unforgettable as the great Pam Grier in her many blaxploitation roles, but she still makes a great, sexy and super-cool blaxploitation heroine, and that alone makes the movie worth the time!
If you're looking for truly great blaxploitation cinema, however, go for films like "Coffy" or "Foxy Brown"..
Fun blaxploitation flick about a karate-kicking special agent named Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) taking on a vicious lesbian drug lord named Mommy (Shelley Winters).
Though from my movie-watching experience, I find that I tend to prefer films from before 1970, these films from the 70's are great too, and are a lot more enjoyable to me than most films I see today.I sincerely hope that, like in 'Cleopatra Jones', the filmmakers of today could concentrate on actors' presence and stunts, rather than simply go with CGI.
Sympathetic film belonging to a genre in full boom as was the Blaxplotation in the 70s, in this case trying to make a film similar to those of 007, with a woman in this case, the model Tamara Dobson.What we have here is not a marginal, dark or ultraviolent film like many Blaxplotation, but in this case we find a film oriented to a wider audience, more sweetened than similar films like Foxy Brown or Coffy.It is an action and adventure film with a beautiful hard and skilled woman as protagonist, but with an elegant and sotisficada tone and not as hard, violent and badass as Pam Grier, which may or may not like according to those who expect stronger emotions.In any case Cleopatra Jones, is a worthy, fun and curious film that will surely pass a good time to anyone who contemplates it.Thank you..
Cleopatra Jones has some fun stuff to it, but it also had a hard time keeping my attention.
Average is better than bad I guess.The movie starts with the title character looking fantastic and showing up in a country filled with terrorists and heroin-producing poppies.
Not bad, just dull.While Cleopatra Jones has its moments, the movie as a whole just doesn't entertain enough to look past its flaws.
I figure it's worth at least one watch, but more for those interested in Blaxploitation than action films..
tamara dobson was one fine looking black woman, but doesn't look she could kick anybody's butt.
anyway, cleopatra jones is a total hypocrite in that she's claims she's fighting to get drugs off the streets of the ghetto and make it a better place for her downtrodden brothers and sisters while she rides around in an expensive corvette and wears expensive clothes.
I suppose that as a conservative, I should give this movie points for avoiding the normal anti-establishment "blaxploitation" theme (you can't get much more establishment than being a federal agent during the Nixon Administration) and showing blacks working within the system to effect change.But I can't.The only thing that makes John Shaft the cultural icon that he is, is the fact that he was meant to frighten middle-class white people.
Without the whole "black man standing up to whitey's system" aspect, *Shaft* is just another dime-a-dozen, derivative private-eye flick (and the sex scenes, effective in the 70s as a play on the "oversexed black man" stereotype, seem pretty sleazy now).And *Cleopatra Jones* is just another dime-a-dozen, derivative supercop flick.
Even the cool car chase has some editing problems, and Tamara Dobson, though a stunningly beautiful woman, simply doesn't have the moves for the fight scenes.About the only really enjoyable scenes are those involving Doodlebug (Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas) and his henchmen..
This is a thoroughly routine blaxploitation feature, with clumsily edited and often unconvincing fight scenes, an imposing but unsexy female lead, a hammy and nearly ludicrous villainess (played by Shelley Winters), and generally a very dated "feel" about it.
Cleopatra Jones features Tamara Dobson, whole 6 feet 2 inches of her as a sassy government Special Agent burning down poppy fields in Turkey and going after drug traffickers like Mommy (Shelley Winters.)When her boyfriend's (Bernie Casey) halfway house for recovering drug addicts is under threat from crooked cops, Cleopatra suspects Mommy is behind it all and decides to kick ass with her kung fu moves and driving her fast Corvette Stingray.Tamara Dobson is certainly statuesque and glamorous as a blaxploitation female version of James Bond but Dobson lacks the screen sensuality and charisma of Pam Grier.
However Shelley Winters more than compensates with a scenery chewing performance as the lesbian Mommy appearing with several different types of wigs and in one point clad in leather.The plot is rather so-so but Warner Brothers certainly put some money in this movie as it benefits from better production values and has good pacing..
This film sure has a lot of familiar faces--Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas, Shelly Winters (as "Mommy"), Esther Role and even Don Cornelius (from "Soul Train") are all here to support Tamara Dobson as Cleopatra Jones.
Considering it's only 682 to 1, it's reasonably certain that Cleo will be victorious by the end of the film.This movie has some similarities to COFFY and FOXY BROWN, as all three films are about an angry woman's attack on the drug trade.
One major difference was that in these two Pam Greer films, the title character wasn't a special agent--just a vigilante wanting to rid the world of dope fiends.
Heck, one of the victims even calls Dobson "Wonderwoman"!Overall, this film is far less gritty blaxploitation and more like an episode of "Get Christie Love" or "Charlie's Angels"--the music, the plot, the acting--the whole package.
While I'm not saying that "Cleopatra Jones" is a BAD example of the blaxploitation genre - it's fun to a certain degree - there are some aspects of it that will likely disappoint viewers in this day and age.
The movie is indeed well produced, and while Tamara Dobson is a little awkward in the moments involving action, she does otherwise make a charismatic lead.
As the lead bad guy, Shelley Winters is campy and a lot of fun in her scenes.
It is occasionally fun, and it's one of the few blaxploitation movies outside of Pam Grier movies to showcase a black actress in a lead role..
A really witty film starring the striking Tamara Dobson in the title role.
Director Jack Starrett keeps things moving at a fast clip with a lot of great set pieces: Dobson taking out would-be assassins at a baggage carousel; a really great car chase sequence through LA; an out-of-left field car crash involving two tow trucks & a Rolls.
"Cleopatra Jones" (Tamara Dobson) is a Special Agent for the United States whose primary mission concerns itself with drug interdiction.
As a result she travels to Turkey and oversees the destruction of a huge poppy field which just happens to be a main source of heroin for an American mob boss by the name of "Mommy" (Shelley Winters).
Needless to say the destruction of this poppy field infuriates Mommy who decides to get her revenge by closing a halfway house in Los Angeles which is near and dear to Cleopatra Jones.
Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that even though this isn't the most realistic "blaxploitation movie" ever filmed it does have a few good things going for it.
The first good attribute is the presence of Tamara Dobson who was both sexy and elegant at the same time.
Another good aspect of this film pertained to the excellent timing of the movie during a period when quality blaxploitation films like this were in high demand but low supply.
Though this entry into the "tough black chick" subgenre of 70's Blaxploitation doesn't feature the undisputed queen Pam Grier, it's sure to live on, thanks to the bizarre presence of two-time Oscar winner Winters as the colorful antagonist.
Cleopatra Jones (the stunningly classy and statuesque Tamara Dobson), a no-nonsense government agent, ace martial artist and funky fashion plate, is determined to rid the inner city streets of heroin.
Cleopatra's crusade against smack incurs the venomous wrath of ruthless lesbian drug kingpin Mommy (a positively volcanic portrayal by the redoubtable Shelley Winters).
The terrific cast have a field day with their colorful roles: Bernie Casey as a dedicated drug rehab center counselor, Antonio Fargas as preening, flamboyant dope pusher Doodlebug, Bill McKinney as a despicable racist corrupt cop, Stafford Morgan as an on-the-take detective, Brenda Sykes as Doodlebug's sexy singer girlfriend, and soft-core film regular John Alderman and a Brit-accented Paul Koslo as two of Mommy's flunkies.
Former model Tamara Dobson struts around in some wacky fashions with one mean afro, taking on drug dealer Shelley Winters who really is the quintessential embankment to protect low land from being flooded, if you know what I mean, in this oddity that also features Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas, Bernie "Lamda Lamda Lamda" Casey, Bill "Squeal" McKinney, Esther "Movin' on up" Rolle, and Albert "I gots to know" Popwell.
Yeah, Cleopatra Jones may be silly, but it's a lot of fun too..
Yeah, Cleopatra Jones may be silly, but it's a lot of fun too..
True that the script was nothing but shadows and echoes of another story lines at another flicks and TV's shows but Hey, it's the year 1973, so those folks were quite pioneers particularly when this kind of low budget Action movies ruled afterwards, and made its mark on later ones too.*The Things That Turned Me off !1 – (Tamara Dobson) to begin with.
Moreover how her acting was more terrible than the hairstyle of everybody in the movie!2 – Of course the hairstyle of everybody in the movie !, and (Antonio Fargas) saying "My Hair Is Like A Woman If I Treat It Well It'll Treat Me Well !"..So that's the very much why he got himself killed !3 – (Tamara Dobson)'s alleged beauty !, and the way she impresses every man, boy, Martian in the movie to make them smack their lips and say "what a mama", "look at that" !
However I personally think how it would've been perfect with another woman, despite how (Tamara Dobson) mastered the way character like that moves.
Cleopatra Jones is a well made little movie, which isn't something you can say for all of its "blaxploitation" brethren.
More wish fulfillment than earnest tale of urban struggle, this motion picture combines a statuesque leading lady, some decent 1970s karate, the exaggerated antics of Shelley Winters and a surprisingly strong performance by Bernie Casey into a tale that never loses its cool or its sense of humor.Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) is a U.S. special agent fighting the international drug trade who is summoned back to Los Angeles to combat the evil machinations of Mommy (Shelley Winters), a drug lord with an explosive temper and a vaudevillian personality.
That dispute is what ultimately gives Jones, Rueben, the karate-chopping Johnson brothers (Caro Kenyatta and Albert Popwell) and a whole African-American neighborhood of butt-kickers the chance to take down Mommy once and for all.If you're wondering where this flick fits in the "blaxploitation" spectrum, the cops here are all white and they're all basically decent guys except for one racist who's laughed at more than feared and gets what he deserves in the end.
This story runs on white guilt instead of black pride.Though she's the star and the title of the show, Cleopatra Jones is a passive bystander for much of the plot.
If you're looking for a gentle introduction to "blaxploitation" cinema or just a good time, give Cleopatra Jones a try..