Sheba, Baby

She never looks like this in the movie.

By Zentilack

Summary

After learning that her father is being pressured to sell his business, private investigator Sheba Shayne (Pam Grier) comes home to Louisville to help.  When the local crime boss crosses the line, however, Sheba starts shooting, and she's not gonna stop until the bad guys stop moving.

What I Expected

Pam Grier's name is almost synonymous with the blaxsploitation genre, so I was expecting to see her really cut loose in a film where she's the headline.  Looking for a lot of wit and sass, a bunch of tail-kicking, and a load of Pam Grier looking hot.  Then again, I was expecting quite a lot out of Bucktown for having both her and Fred Williamson in it, so maybe I ought to dial back my eagerness a bit?

Special Notes

As a blaxspoitation film, one should expect a fair amount of racism and racial terms slung around.  Interestingly enough, there's not nearly as much of it as I expected to see.  As far as racism goes, this is one of the more tame movies of the genre that I've watched.

The Bad

Hoo, boy...  The editing was not very good at all.  Usually it's just a matter of someone having the end of their dialogue almost clipped off, or some notable bit of sound that abruptly ends or begins in the middle of a scene.  Other times it's much more obvious, like a boat that's on fire being jump cut out of the frame.  As in, the movie jump cuts to the exact same shot, but the boat has drifted out of frame, so it looks like it blinks out of existence.

Should've taken that left turn at Albuquerque...

The action is terrible and, again, not very well edited.  One particular scene in a train yard is really badly put together and it's not obvious that person A is about to get the jump on person B.  There's another part where the bad guys are trying to run her over and I kinda knew what was happening, it's just that the specifics weren't clear.  One guy acts like he's already been shot by her once when we haven't seen her fire her weapon at all yet.  I was watching Sheba stalking after a bad guy and I knew she was gonna find him, then she suddenly jumps on top of him.  I sort of sat back and said, "Oh, she was right next to him, I guess.  Okay."  It really kills action scenes that, even done right, would have only been mediocre to begin with.

When was this okay?

I don't know if this is really a bad thing or not, but I've been finding mild enjoyment in looking at the fashion trends of the 70's while watching this type of film.  There was no lack of weird outfits in Sheba, Baby.  Indeed, the carnival that she has one of her confrontations in proved to be a target rich environment in this respect.  I mean, really, this is almost worth the price of admission.  People say 80's fashion was bad, but holy cow, some of this was ridiculous.  Not all of it, or even most of it, but enough of it.

On the subject of appearances, Pam Grier really didn't do much for me here.  What a waste.  I've said before that Grier is, in my book, a very pretty lady, but here...  Oh, Pam, what did they do to you?  Her outfits, with the exception of one, ranged from "okay, I guess" to "that's just terrible."  Her acting was sub-par, as well, though that could have been the fault of the director, the script, or the editor making her reactions sound weird.  I hate to say it, but even with all that, I've got to lay some of the blame at her feet.  This was just not a very good performance.

D'Urville Martin: Mid-Boss

The story might have been okay with a little more cohesiveness.  It's like they had a series of plot elements that, on paper, should have led from one to another (more or less), but the movie somehow managed to lose that sense of connection from plot-point to plot-point.  There was no foreshadowing, either.  Sheba is dealing with who I thought was the "final boss," (D'Urville Martin, another well known blaxploitation face) until about 55 minutes into the movie.  At this point, we learn that she somehow knew that the "final boss" was actually some kind of "mid-boss."  I have no idea how she knew there was someone over him, and in hindsight there was only the flimsiest hint of another hidden mastermind around the 30 min mark.  There's mention of a connection with an insurance company, but I assumed that "mid-boss" was the one heading that up.  It was a mess.

The Good

While most of Pam Grier's outfits were shrugworthy at best, there is a brief scene where she's wearing a little dress that she looks quite good in.  This is the one scene in the film where the viewer gets to see just how gorgeous she can be.  Her outfit here definitely goes in the 'good' column, though we don't see her in it for nearly long enough.

The music is both good and bad, but I liked the music itself so it's going here.  It's catchy, fun, and there's a decent variety.  The stuff playing during the carnival scene is particularly good.  The problem is that the tone of the music clashes with the tone of the scene.  I know that it's kind of a thing for some funky tunes to be playing during an action scene, but it's too much sometimes.  A minor issue, I guess, and I really do like the music, so it's going in the 'good' column, too.

The Pimp Who is Not a Pimp.  I always get a chuckle out of pimp garb, it's just so outlandish and absurd.  This guy's outfit is no exception.  Neither is his ridiculous behavior and overblown ego.  I was entertained by this guy the moment he appeared, but that's not even the funniest part.  Do you want to know what the icing on the pimp cake is?   He's not a pimp at all.  He's basically a pawn shop owner who runs his operation out of the trunk of his car.   When I realized this I had to pause the film I was laughing so hard.  How could anyone take him seriously within the story?  Did all pawn shop guys dress like this back then?  If so, then I need to build a time machine just to see that.

There's also this ridiculously clumsy bad guy that is just so goofy and inept you can't help but get a chuckle out of him.  He's the guy who has a beard, but is not the Pawn Shop Pimp.  You can't miss him, especially in the carnival scene.

Overall Thoughts

Sheba, Baby is not a good film.  Oh, it has some moments here and there, to be sure, but not enough to salvage it.  The editing and story are poor, the acting is average at best (except the Pimp), and the action is lackluster and dull.  When I said in another review that you should watch some other examples of blaxsploitation before seeing Bucktown, this is not what I was talking about.  Unless you really like the genre, or you really like Pam Grier, I'd pass on this one. 

For those of you who really want to see the Pawn Shop Pimp, you can find Sheba, Baby streaming on Instant Netflix, or you can purchase it on DVD at Amazon for under $10.