Sheba, Baby

Sheba Shayne works as a private detective in Chicago, but a threat to her father brings her back to Louisville, Kentucky. He runs a loan business there, and gangsters are pressing him to hand it over. Sheba stays to help him and starts looking into the people and companies backing the men who are trying to take the business from him. What begins as a family matter turns into a fight against organized crime in her home town.

Pam Grier plays Sheba, with Austin Stoker as Brick Williams, D'Urville Martin as Pilot, Rudy Challenger as Andy Shayne, Dick Merrifield as Shark and Christopher Joy as Walker. William Girdler directed and wrote the screenplay, and David Sheldon produced it for American International Pictures and Mid-America Pictures. Girdler made the film early in the run of features he directed, before Grizzly, Project: Kill, Day of the Animals and The Manitou, a run of five films that ends in 1978. The film runs 90 minutes and mixes action, drama and thriller elements.

Sheba, Baby was released on March 26, 1975. Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 5.7 out of 10 from around 2,200 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 5.7 out of 10, from a much smaller group of 47 votes. The two scores agree closely, which points to a steady, unenthusiastic reception rather than a sharply divided one.