Cleopatra Jones

Unforgettably portrayed by Tamara Dobson, Cleopatra Jones uses her sizzle as a statuesque supermodel to disguise her real work as an undercover special agent for the US government in this pillar of the blaxploitation genre directed by Jack Starrett. When Jones orders a napalm strike to wipe out a Turkish poppy field, the notorious drug lord Mommy (a scenery-chewing Shelley Winters) declares war. Gridiron star turned leading man Bernie Casey plays her lover, Reuben Masters, who runs a halfway house for people recovering from addiction, and Antonio Fargas (Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch) is memorable as “Doodlebug” Simpkins, one of Mommy’s associates.

Series curator Steven W. Thrasher introduces the screening on June 6.