Movie vigilantes will blow you away

“Foxy Brown” (1974) and “Coffy” (1973)
If there’s one kind of vigilante I never get enough of, it’s Pam Grier. In these two early ’70s blaxploitation films, she plays one tough lady who avenges all manner of crimes committed against her loved ones. She beats the crap out of women and blows the heads off racist white men. And she uses any means available, whether it’s a loaded pistol or her own earthy beauty. As one character says of Foxy Brown, “she’s a whole lotta woman.” Ain’t that the cold truth.

“Death Wish” (1974)
This is the worst kind of film imaginable: graphic, exploitative violence — which, includes, a brutal scene where a mother is beaten to death and her daughter raped. But it’s Charles Bronson’s wife and daughter, so he goes on a massive killing spree blowing away every mugger and thug he gets his hands on. And, of course, you cheer when as he kills them all. But after watching this film — which inexplicably used to be on TV on Sunday afternoons like it was “Sesame Street”  — you just feel dirty and in desperate need of a bath.

“Ms. 45” (1981)
It doesn’t get much worse than 1981’s “Ms. 45” (directed by Abel Ferrara). A cheap C-film about a shy and mute seamstress (Zoë Lund) who goes on a rampage after she gets raped — not once but twice — on the same night. Naturally she gets a .45 (remember the .44 was already taken by real-life serial killer Son of Sam) and kills everything in her path. At one point she’s got to pose as a nun to blow someone away. Now a nun with a gun — that’s original.

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