CLEOPATRA JONES

       Cleopatra Jones is an agent with the U.S. Government.
       Exactly which agency she answers to is never specified but her beat seems to be the entire world as in her two scripted adventures, she operates in Turkey, the U.S. and Hong Kong, showing a wide range of territory.
       Wherever she goes, though, she goes with incredible style and panache for Ms. Jones loves to be flamboyant. Not for this tall (6'2") black beauty is the idea of quietly infiltrating a gang. She takes her cue from the James Bond approach to fighting the enemies of her government - step forward, proudly identify yourself, and then kick the bad guys' butts. Ms. Jones does it in stylish boots and bell bottoms with furs and feathers to match.
       When she is not travelling the world on assignments, she prefers to relax in her home in Los Angeles with her long-time boy friend, Reuben, who runs a halfway house for recovering drug addicts in the ghettos of that city. A woman who grew up in that impoverished region, Jones has never forgotten how bad her life was and how bad it remains for so many others, which makes her fight against drug lords even more personal.

       In 1973 at the height of the blaxpoitation movement in films, with Shaft dominating the action genre, Warner Brothers decided that a female action hero was called for. Actor and writer Max Julien, a veteran of this movement, created the character of Jones, from one account, for his girl friend but the role eventually went to the incredibly luscious Tamara Dobson, a former model who had only recently taken to acting. She definitely made it her own.
       Two years later, a sequel was made but this time the success was nowhere as good as the brief period of black action heroes was waning. No further adventures were made.

       Veteran writer Ron Goulart was given the task of novelizing the two adventures for paperback release.

       When I give a mediocre grade to a series, it usually translates to a bad job by the author. In the case of Ms. Jones, though, it should not. Mr. Goulart, an excellent and highly enjoyable writer who has written a lot of things I have been fond of over the years, did as good a job with the subject matter as anyone could ever hope. The problem is that the two novelizations were of action-oriented kick-butt non-stop go...go...go and not anything you can sink your teeth into.
       I would not recommend reading these for the reason mention above. I would recommend watching at least one of the movies only for nostalgia purposes. There is a very good reason why the blaxploitation sub-genre came and went so quickly. Watch either of the movies and you should see why.
       Nothing against Ms. Dobson, though, as she is a pleasure to watch at any time.