Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Mark Turner The late seventies were the heyday for the genre of film known as Blaxploitation. Action films that offered starring roles to black actors with stories urban audiences could relate to were made by low budget studies at first but once they showed they could draw an audience the larger studios jumped on the bandwagon. While male stars like Bernie Casey, James Brown and Richard Roundtree were topping the box office there was one female star that burst upon the scene as well. That she could continue to make a name for herself in more mainstream released from then until now speaks volumes about her abilities. But back then it was a combination of her sexuality and no nonsense characters that got her roles. By the time SHEBA BABY arrived Pam Grier had shone in both COFFY and FOXY BROWN. This time she toned things down enough for a PG rating but the box office still followed.Grier stars as the title character, Sheba Shayne, a top private investigator in Chicago who returns to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, when the mob tries to muscle in on her father's loan business. Apparently they weren't aware of who they were dealing with as Sheba deals out swift retribution for the attack on her father. Justice is dealt out street wise with little assistance from the local police and plenty from Sheba's old flame Brick (Austin Stoker). There's no need for more details than that. The genre was filled with cardboard cutout bad guys and street smart heroes that took no guff from both the police and the mob. Instead they sought to handle things on their own and did so quite well. While the films were not an attack on the established law enforcement they played up a sense of pride in community and being able to take care of oneself when it came to criminals. Characters like Sheba were defenders of all with a strong moral compass when it came to right and wrong crime wise. Grier's characters were a positive role model even if they meted out justice on their own.Many have faulted SHEBA BABY as the worst film Grier offered at the time but it holds up still and isn't near as bad as the naysayers claim. The problem is after such strong performances and stories as found in her two prior films this one isn't quite up to that standard she set. It remains a good film though.As with all Arrow Film releases, of which I am a solid fan, this one does what they do best. It offers the cleanest, sharpest and best looking rendition of the film with enough extras to keep fans entertained. Included in this release are: -Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) -Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing -Audio commentary with producer-screenwriter David Sheldon, moderated by critic Nathaniel Thompson -Sheldon: Baby - a brand new interview with David Sheldon -Pam Grier: The AIP Years - a look over the wonder years of the Blaxploitation queen with film historian Chris Poggiali -Trailer -Gallery featuring rare publicity images and Lobby Cards -Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips -Booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Patty Breen, webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com, illustrated with archive stills and postersFans of Grier and the genre will want to add this one to their collection to make it complete. If you've never exposed yourself to the genre then Grier's film are a good way to start. Perhaps one day the genre will make a comeback. Until then we have Arrow providing the best offerings of the past.

Scott LeBrun This lesser film from Pam Griers' days as a blaxploitation queen is nonetheless mildly pleasing. Because it's rated PG, it has less punch than Pams' best stuff. Some viewers will really miss the elements of sex and graphic violence. The script, by producer David Sheldon and cult director William Girdler, is somewhat less than inspired, with only one sequence - the pursuit through the carnival - that could be considered memorable. The cast is also more colourless than usual. But Pam, in her inimitable fashion, could make just about anything watchable. Hell, this is worth watching just to see her in a wetsuit.Pam plays our title character, Sheba Shayne, a Chicago-based private eye who returns to her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. It seems that aggressive gangsters are constantly threatening her father Andy (Rudy Challenger) and his loan business, which Andy runs with Shebas' good friend Brick (Austin Stoker). Inevitably, the bad guys will have a full scale war on their hands once Sheba steps into the fray.The ever engaging Stoker of "Assault on Precinct 13" fame is a good leading man for Pam, and D'Urville Martin is lively as "Pilot", a lowlife criminal. Christopher Joy is a hoot as a peddler who for whatever reason dresses more like a stereotypical pimp. Dick Merrifield is amusing enough as smiling, smarmy white guy villain "Shark". And it's nice to see Girdler regular Charles Kissinger as a mostly ineffectual white detective. Pam is great entertainment and eye candy as always, even if her role here isn't really on a level with her most famous ones.The action scenes are passable (one comeuppance offers a spin on something we'd previously seen in "Coffy"), and the music score by Alex Brown and Monk Higgins (with vocals by Barbara Mason) is good, even if, like so much else here, it's also unmemorable.Completists of the filmographies of Pam and Girdler will definitely want to check it out, no matter if it's not their best work.Six out of 10.

Scarecrow-88 If anything, William Girdler was an opportunist who wanted a piece of the action in regards to whatever was popular during the time. I mean, a blaxploitation flick in Louisville, Kentucky..who would of thunk it?!?! I can just imagine the enthusiasm he must've had getting Pam Grier, quite a hot item, to star in his picture. If you are pretty familiar with the genre, Girdler's Sheba, Baby doesn't necessarily stray too far from formula. Despite a change of venue, the film still deals with a ruthless businessman nicknamed Shark who muscles in on loan companies, using stooges to threaten them in order to get their signatures. Grier is Sheba Shayne, a former Louisville cop working in Chicago who returns home at the request of her father's partner, Brick(Austin Stoker, Assault on Precinct 13). Sheba's father, despite Shark's bullying tactics(..his man in town is Pilot, a wannabe gangster, equipped with stooges who aren't that menacing, rather buffoonish in nature, so thin-skinned they hire hit men outside of town to shoot up the Shayne Loan building), won't give up his company, and this eventually costs him his life when a warning through the use of brute force, leads to his being killed. Sheba will get her revenge on all those responsible for his father's death. In other words, Shark's ass is grass..can you dig it? Seeing Grier with a magnum is enough to sell this particular film, the novelty of the setting being in Louisville is part of the package. You even get to see a speedboat chase, Grier in shootouts with gangsters(..not necessarily the most polished kind one might be accustomed to seeing in a Chicago or New York during this period in blaxploitation), lots of blood spurting from bullet-riddled bodies torn apart by gun-fire, and colorful characters(..such as a wimpy loan shark in pimp-dress named Walker and Pilot who is one of the least scary mobsters you are likely to see)who show up during the film, most having the misfortune of coming in contact with a very angry Sheba. The plot itself is nothing special, but Grier is always worth watching, and Girdler orchestrates plenty of action sequences to keep his target audience entertained. A modest success for Girdler, and one of his more accomplished films.

MartinHafer When Pam Grier made COFFY in 1973, it was an exciting though flawed film. The plot was gritty and satisfying--even if the acting was often amateurish. It was so successful that American International Pictures decided to rehash the formula the following year with FOXY BROWN--not a bad film but certainly almost like "COFFY II". Now, only a year later, the studio had apparently given up on creating anything new for Ms. Grier, as SHEBA, BABY was essentially the same plot from COFFY and FOXY BROWN yet again. Because the idea was so recycled and because the acting and acting are so tired and low-energy, it's really scraping the bottom of the Blaxploitation barrel.Exactly like these other films, SHEBA, BABY begins with some local Black mobsters pressuring and eventually killing someone Pam Grier loves. In the past, it had been drug dealers and pimps, now it was mobsters trying to run all the loan companies and pawn shops out of town so they can corner the market. And, like the other films, Pam is a one-woman hit squad--dispensing justice and a good butt whoopin'. And, like the other films, there is a "cat fight" between Pam and a White lady right in front of "Mr. Big". And, like the other films, Mr. Big is a White guy pulling all the strings. And, like the other films, she is captured by Mr. Big. And, like the other films, he DOESN'T immediately kill her but gives her ample opportunity to escape (here, leaving a knife conveniently lying around). And, like the other films, she eventually gets free and kills his jive-@$$.While this formula did seem interesting in 1973, by this film it was frankly a predictable bore. Even if you hadn't seen the other films, it still was bad because the action was so slow--the punching and kicking seemed so slow and staged. The same could be said for the gun play. In one scene, four guys with machine guns, an AR-15 and shotguns attack. Pam responds by opening fire with a .357 revolver and killing 3 of the 4 and getting the other to surrender!!! Even if she's a good shot, she was rather slow and the guys just seemed to wait until she killed them!!! Plus, even a world champion shooter or Rambo couldn't have succeeded with such one-sided odds--after all, these guys had very impressive weapons and they were already pointed at her when she "cleverly" whipped out her pistol and easily dispatched these professional hit men!! In addition to slow and lame action scenes compared to any other Blaxpoitation film, the movie has many logical gaps that show the writing was terrible but the studio just didn't care. In one case, her boyfriend, "Williams", knew about the yacht and Nu-tronic at the end of the film but Pam never told him--how did he know about this? In another, the cops approach a boat filled with hoods and the hood immediately open fire. However, the cops had no evidence anything was happening and the crooks began firing with little provocation. And, the crooks had .30 caliber machine guns and other amazingly powerful weapons but in many cases were killed by cops wielding snub-nosed .38s! The bottom line is that this is a great example of "Been there/done that....a WHOLE LOT BETTER". I love Blaxploitation films, but this one is just too dopey and slow to merit watching except by very devoted fans of the genre.