Cast and Crew: Bill McKinney, Esther Rolle, Don Cornelius, Paul Koslo

What It’s About: Cleopatra Jones (Tamara Dobson) is a super cool, super fly, jet-setting international agent for the U.S. government.  She takes a break from torching fields of poppies abroad, however, when she’s called back to her old neighborhood to deal with the drug problem there, in the personage of the villainous drug dealer Mommy (Shelley Winters).

Why Watch it Today?: Star Tamara Dobson was born today in 1947.  Dobson was a model-turned-actress that Warner Brothers attempted to start a Blaxploitation franchise with, starting with this film and continuing with Cleopatra Jones and the Casinos of Gold. Both films are fun, if not groundbreaking, action/crime films, with Dobson providing striking looks and a good sense of humor, aided by able supporting players (in this case Bernie Casey and Antonio Fargas as well as Shelley Winters).

Where to Get It:  iTunes, Netflix, or Amazon