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Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes, Antonio Fargas, Bill McKinney ... see more see more... , Shelley Winters , John Alderman , Don Cornelius , Dan Frazer , Angela Gibbs , Christopher Joy , Caro Kenyatta , Paul Koslo , Hedley Mattingly , Stafford Morgan , Albert Popwell , George Reynolds , Esther Rolle , Joe Tornatore , Mike Warren , Theodore Wilson , John Garwood , Keith Hamilton Cobb , Brenda Skyes , BrendaSykes

Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones in Jack Starrett's blaxploitation programmer that, in its own way, deals effectively with the ravages of drugs in inner-city black communities. Cleopatra Jones i... read more read more...s a jive female James Bond, a special drug agent for the United States government who wears sleek and hip clothes, drives a fancy car with a submachine-gun compartment in the front door, and travels all over the world to stomp out drugs at their source. Cleopatra has a loving relationship with Ruben (Bernie Casey), the well-meaning head of a drug rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles. When Cleopatra travels to Turkey to oversee the destruction of poppy fields owned by Mommy (Shelley Winters) -- a lesbian drug dealer -- Mommy becomes upset. She exacts her revenge on Cleopatra by having the police close down Ruben's drug clinic. Nevertheless, Cleopatra continues to wreak havoc upon Mommy's drug business, and Mommy continues to try to do Cleopatra in, until finally there is a major confrontation between Cleopatra and Mommy and her minions. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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25% want to see it

2,545 ratings

Critics

89% liked it

9 critics

R, 1 hr. 29 min.

Directed by: Jack Starrett

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DVD Release Date: March 30, 1999

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Flixster Reviews (140)

  • matertenebraum
    October 16, 2009
    matertenebraum
    Back in the Seventies, mainstream audiences still reeling from the one-two punch of Shaft and Superfly were subjected to a barrage of ghetto avengers - Black Caesar, Willie Dynamite, The Candy Tangerine Man and the rest - all covering depressingly familiar terrain. Black writer M... read moreax 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. Cleo Jones, hap-ki-do expert and international do-gooder, returns to America to report on her success as a 'special agent' in her one-woman war on dope. 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. One of Mommy's uppity underlings, Doodlebug (Antonio Fargas, best remembered as Huggy Bear in Starsky And Hutch) is getting rich off stealing Mommy's coke, and provides a cautionary moral aside warning against living as a White Man's flunky (Cleo points to Doodlebug's white chauffeur, and asks "What next - two white jockeys on the lawn?"). With a "whacka-whacka" superfunk guitar in the background, Cleo does her chop-sockey routine on the coke dealers and crooked cops, and kicks Shelley Winters' portly ass for her wild overacting in the final showdown. Tamara Dobson as Cleo Jones reportedly stood 6"2, and that doesn't include what must've been the BIGGEST afro in the business! Despite her physical prowess, the script doesn't give Cleo any real motive for her cartoon crusade (unlike the later Coffy and Foxy Brown) and reduces her to a smug self-satisfied cardboard cutout. Add the sloppy direction by Jack Starrett and you get a surprisingly poor release by a major studio.
  • DrBenway
    March 20, 2009
    DrBenway
    Overall, pretty good. If your movie can't have quality, at least it can be highly ridiculous, which makes it fun to watch. One thing I like about blaxploitation in general is that it has a sense of humor about itself...

    All the right ingredients are here: a car chase, drug pus... read morehers, racist cops, hand to hand combat, nightclub scenes and, of course, the hilarious dialogue ("See you around, super honky!"), and if it's not deep, it is at least a fun way to kill ninety minutes.
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  • dhetteix
    June 15, 2007
    dhetteix
    Tamara Dobson defitley blends Bond and Blaxplotation well, from kung-fu action to a gaggle of vaugely similar looking crooks, and an absolutley implausable yet oh-so-cliched villian... and, the standard blaxploitation subplot of drugs and being busted by the cops who always recru... read moreit according to the 50% racist quota.

    Cleopatra Jones is cheesy, but entertaining, and well put together.
  • Fascade518
    February 26, 2007
    Fascade518
    An off tha hook 70's blaxploitation action packed flick...Tamara Dobson is no longer with us probably ran into Ron Super Fly) O'Neal up in heaven...may she rest in peace!
  • lesleyanorton
    October 9, 2009
    lesleyanorton
    "LAPD-officer-turned-UN-spy, Cleopatra Jones, hooks up with a handsome thief as she tries to keep a diabolical weapon from being used against the UN Secretary General". Well that's a pile of nonsense. Cleopatra Jones, US special agent, heroine and goddess to all fights the baddie... read mores (drug barons, dirty cops, Huggy Bear, etc etc) and frees the world of crime. Or something. Either way, you know the storyline is going to involve all your 70's favourites, such as made-fo-TV action sequences, funky outfits and dodgy dialogue. The script and the music aren't a spit on The Mack, but the plot sits easier on 21st century sensibilities and Tamara Dobson is beeeauttiful.... even if she can't fight for toffee.
  • primarycontradiction
    October 12, 2007
    primarycontradiction
    Fun, campy comic drama with a woman in the titular role. Cleo is a federal agent determined to destroy the drug empire of the kingpin Mommy!, played by none other than legendary actor Shelly Winters.
  • pieceofmind74
    August 18, 2007
    pieceofmind74
    Tamara Dobson was the personification of cool and strength. Where else could you see an African-American female portray a spy on screen. The former model was classy and fashionable on screen. her costumes were always incredible.
  • landerson11
    February 5, 2007
    landerson11
    Tamara Jones passed away late last year (2006) but her work as a black female hero lives on. This is a good late night or Sunday afternoon flick.

View All Cleopatra Jones Reviews

Critic Reviews

Kelly Vance
May 5, 2010
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

Six-foot-two-inch onetime fashion model Tamara Dobson isn't quite in the same category as Pam Grier, but on the strength of this she has to rank right up there. Full Review

July 22, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 9, 2005
Vincent Canby, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Don Druker
January 1, 2000
Don Druker, Chicago Reader

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
June 27, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Michael Dequina
December 5, 2004
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com

No review available.

Jake Euker
November 4, 2004
Jake Euker, F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

Jon Niccum
July 23, 2004
Jon Niccum, Lawrence Journal-World

No review available.

Spence D.
February 10, 2004
Spence D., IGN Movies

No review available.

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