10 Best Pam Grier Movies, According To IMDb

Pam Grier started her career playing tough women in some of the best Blaxploitation films of all time. As time passed, she continued to work in a variety of roles that gave her a chance to show off her range as an actor.

She has become a beloved screen icon and she generally elevates any project that she is a part of. Though she starred in a lot of B-movies, she also had her fair share of big-budget blockbuster roles throughout her career. What are the best movies she ever made, according to IMDb?

10 Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) – 6.2

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Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls was Pam Grier’s first role on the silver screen. The film follows a small group of women who move to Hollywood to pursue acting but quickly find that the life isn’t what they thought it would be.

Though the film paled in comparison to its predecessor, Beyond has garnered a cult following since its release. Though she only gets a little bit of screen time, Grier shines and her future star power is evident right from the start.

9 Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) – 6.3

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The sequel, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey gave fans of the original everything they could want from their favorite funny duo, Bill and Ted. A pair of android copies of Bill and Ted are sent to the past to destroy the originals, and their time-traveling adventure continues.

Pam Grier plays a music manager and delivers her angry dialogue with the laser precision she is known for. Though the film wasn’t as well-received upon its initial release, fans of the first entry have softened towards it, and the all-star cast helps make it better.

8 The Package (1989) – 6.4

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The Package showed that Pam Grier could play parts that fell on both sides of the law. The film follows a military police officer who is escorting a high-profile prisoner back to the United States. The prisoner escapes and leads the officer through a dark world of political intrigue before he is caught.

Pam Grier plays a lieutenant, and she proved she could excel in roles as an authority figure. By 1989 she had been acting for nearly two decades, and the roles she began receiving were different from the outlaw characters she was known for playing.

7 Mars Attacks! (1996) – 6.4

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Mars Attacks! is a loving tribute to the cheesy flying saucer movies of the 1950s, with a tinge of Tim Burton’s distinctive style. The film features a massive cast of screen legends and newcomers who witness the martian invasion from various perspectives.

The film was hilarious, campy fun, and Pam Grier got the opportunity to play a softer character than she was known for. She plays a mother who has to protect her children as the attack happens. Despite this, she still gets to show a bit of the tough side that typified a Pam Grier character. The strength of her performance allows her to stand out in a cast filled with big stars.

6 Foxy Brown (1974) – 6.5

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The early career of Pam Grier saw her star in some of the most kick-ass Blaxploitation movies of all time. Foxy Brown follows a woman who turns vigilante to get revenge on the mobsters who brutally murdered her boyfriend.

Pam Grier shined as Foxy Brown, just as she did in her other Blaxploitation roles, because she could be tough and sensitive at the same time. She’s far from a silent assassin, and viewers get to feel her emotions as she goes about getting revenge.

5 Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981) – 6.7

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Mirroring real-life problems, Fort Apache, The Bronx was a film that refused to pull any punches when it depicted street crime. The main precinct of the NYPD is the setting of a taut drama about a cop, played by Paul Newman, who has to deal with the day-to-day struggles of policing a dangerous city.

The movie was a dark mirror of the time, and many of the film’s supporting stars put in excellent performances. Pam Grier plays a violent criminal who kills two police officers at the beginning of the story and is never caught. Like a lot of her roles, she isn’t given a lot of screen time, but she is trusted with an important part that the entire film hinges on.

4 Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) – 6.8

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Ray Bradbury’s classic novel was adapted to screen and viewers got an opportunity to see another side of Pam Grier. The film tells the story of a small town that is invaded by a traveling circus and its darkly magical owner.

Pam Grier plays the Dust Witch and she is able to show off her character work excellently. While usually playing tough-talking women on a mission, Grier also shined as a mystical character and she gave the Witch an appropriate amount of mystery with her performance.

3 Coffy (1973) – 6.8

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Just a few years into her acting career, Pam Grier was given a chance to star in a Blaxploitation film and she knocked it out of the park. Coffy follows a nurse who goes on a revenge mission against the city’s drug dealers after her sister gets addicted.

Coffy is the defining role of Pam Grier’s early career and really set the standard for what could be expected from her performances. As Coffy she is cool and collected. When she goes about her mission though, she is filled with a torrent of inner rage that she shows subtly.

2 Fakin’ Da Funk (1997) – 7.4

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Besides all of her more serious roles, Pam Grier showed too that she could hold her own in the realm of comedy. Fakin’ Da Funk tells the story of a Chinese American boy who is raised by African American parents. The film explored the world of community race relations with a humorous edge.

Pam Grier plays the young man’s mom, and she is a perfect straight character to all of the wacky shenanigans going on around her. Considering her popularity within the Blaxploitation genre, Grier was a perfect choice for the film and lent a bit of credibility to it as well.

1 Jackie Brown (1997) – 7.5

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The true strength of an actor is shown when they can have longevity within their career and when they can find a way to reinvent themselves. Jackie Brown is about a flight attendant who turns informant in order to avoid getting nabbed for drug smuggling.

Pam Grier shines as Jackie and she is the best part of the star-studded Tarantino film. She is able to portray all of the traits that make her a great performer, all in one movie. She manages to be vulnerable and tough simultaneously and she fits in perfectly with Tarantino’s style of filmmaking.

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