Friday Foster

Surprisingly mild vehicle for Pam Grier, targeted at the black urban audiences of the 1970s, isn't terribly good despite a varied roster of bemused supporting talents, including Jim Backus, Yaphet Kotto, Scatman Crothers, Godfrey Cambridge, Carl Weathers from "Rocky", Ted Lange from "The Love Boat", and Eartha Kitt, hamming it up as usual playing a breathless fashion designer. Grier (looking lovely) is cast as a professional shutterbug tracking down an assassination ring who target black politicians. Campy nonsense is hardly "The Manchurian Candidate", though it does have a fresh moment here and there. The assembly-line shootout-climax is tired, and the film's production seems cheesy, but Kotto just about steals the picture as Grier's sidekick. ** from ****