- Year
- 1973
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Director
- Jack Starrett
- Updated
- 9 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- cult (39/100)
Cleopatra Jones
Tamara Dobson, six feet two, government agent. Shelley Winters overacts gloriously.
A government agent six feet two in heels wages war on a drug empire, and Tamara Dobson plays her as pure glamorous competence, never ruffled, always in couture. Shelley Winters is the cackling, over-the-top villain, and the film leans into style and scale more than grit.
It is slicker and more cartoonish than the Grier films, closer to a Bond picture, and Dobson's poise carries it. The fashion alone is worth the runtime.
Bigger and glossier than most of the cycle, and a fine star vehicle.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 9 Aug 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Written about
- Blaxploitation, 1971 to 1975
Melvin Van Peebles caught gonorrhea on his own set, filed a workers' comp claim, and bought more film stock with the settlement. Four years later the studios had mined the audience out and moved on.
Filed alongside
▶ watchobscurePetey Wheatstraw
Rudy Ray Moore makes a deal with the Devil to come back from the dead. Deranged and delightful.
▶ watchobscureTNT Jackson
Cirio Santiago's Manila blaxploitation at full tilt, remembered for one fight staged in the dark.
▶ watchobscureWillie Dynamite
A flamboyant pimp fights to stay on top as everything closes in. Sharper and sadder than most.
▶ watchobscureThree the Hard Way
Brown, Williamson and Kelly against a plot to poison the water supply.
▶ watchobscureDetroit 9000
A biracial cop pairing hunts jewel thieves in Detroit. Tarantino re-released it for a reason.
▶ watchcultSugar Hill
Revenge via Haitian zombies. The best of the blaxploitation horror crossovers.