Switchblade Sisters Movie Review

Quentin Tarantino dug this Jack Hill oldie a lot, so he re-released it for audiences of the 1990s to reappraise. The plot revolves around the lives of girl gang members. The leader of the Debs is Lace (Robbie Lee). Maggie (Joanne Nail) gets into the gang, but Patch (Monica Gayle) is jealous and tries to diss her to Lace. The Debs get into a rumble with the Silver Blades, who are all guys, and Lace winds up in hospital. (You ought to see the guys, though.) Maggie takes over the gang and calls them the Jezebels, and then there's a merging with an even tougher girl gang, and so forth and so on. It's way violent, obviously; the acting isn't bad; and Lenny Bruce's then-chubby daughter Kitty, then 21, plays a gang member aptly named Donut. Asher Brauner, who went on to make 1979's well-received The Boss’ Son with director Bobby Roth (Yves Montand dug THAT one a lot), plays Dominic, and Kate Murtagh IS Prison Warden Moms Smackley. Leonard Klady of Variety kvetched about why the “marginal” Switchblade Sisters was revived “while truly great films are neglected and decomposing.” However, the Museum of Modern Arts’ Eileen Bowser wisely observed that Charlie Chaplin was once widely regarded as “a low, vulgar comedian.” Preserve and revive everything, if we can; what the heck does any one of us know about what's worth saving and seeing? Switchblade Sisters is a genuine artifact! Thank you, Mr. Tarantino! AKA: The Jezebels; Playgirl Gang.

1975 90m/C Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail, Monica Gayle, Kitty Bruce, Asher Brauner, Chase Newhart, Marlene Clark, Janice Karman, Don Stark, Kate Murtagh, Bill Adler; D: Jack Hill; W: F.X. Maier; C: Stephen M. Katz; M: Les Baxter, Medusa, Chuck Day, Richard Person. VHS, DVD