A gang of high school girls who are “immoral, shameless and impudent”
A new girl in a neighborhood of Los Angeles joins a female gang that regularly pulls out switchblades in their activities. As she becomes the bestie of the leader, this naturally doesn’t sit well with the associate. Meanwhile the corresponding male gang is having a turf war with a bigger group in the area.
“Switchblade Sisters” (1975) is an exploitation film originally titled “The Jezebels” and helmed by Jack Hill, the writer/director of the previous year’s surprise ‘B’ hit “The Swinging Cheerleaders.” This one’s less serious, filled with hammy acting/dialogue and over-the-top violence, not to mention some off-putting sordid bits, such as a rape sequence that the girl just shrugs off and acts like never happened. Why Sure! The emphasis is on the degeneracy of young Americans after the decline of religious faith and loss of a moral compass.
It meshes the shocking elements of “The Wild Angels” with the comic book she-devils of “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” except that the girls come across way too harmless here. For instance, the leader of the gang, Lacy, is played by winsome Robbie Lee who’s only like 5’1”. She was 20 years-old when this was shot in late 1974, but looked 17. This isn’t helped by her sweetly feminine voice. Joanne Nail as Maggie was 27 during shooting and also somewhat petite; and not very convincing as a kick-axx rival of Lacy. Meanwhile Monica Gayle plays Patch, who’s basically the Lago character of the tale (Hill said he was influenced by Shakespeare’s “Othello”). I shouldn’t fail to mention Janice Karman as the peripheral Bunny, who underplays the material and comes off more realistic than the others.
Coppola's “The Outsiders” is a good option if you want a believable portrayal of Caucasians youth gangs in Big City, America (albeit the story take place nine years before the events of this film, which was shot in late 1974). But, if you can acclimate to Caucasian high schoolers using machine guns at a skating rink, this flick entertains. (I got into a couple of fights at the local skating when I was in my teens, inside and outside the building, but no one ever broke out freakin’ machine guns). Despite the sometimes laugh-out-loud lines, you get drawn into the characters and their melodramatic tale. I’m sure it influenced “The Warriors,” which came out four years later, it’s just eye-rolling by comparison. Yet, it entertains; and entertainment is the name of the game in cinema.
It runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles, Eagle Rock (Jobo’s Burger Palace), Glendale (roller skating rink) and the backlot of the studio in Culver City (the final action sequence).
GRADE: B-
