Switchblade Sisters (1975, Jack Hill)

" The "Dagger Debs" are a gang of snarling girls, and Maggie is their newest member."

One look at this poster and you know the film better deliver and in this case it does and does it way better than I was expecting it to. This movie is going to be a tough one to make people believe its great and given my extremely high rating it will make it even harder. But trust me if you were to see this movie and you are open minded to films like this one you will love it just as much as I did.

Switchblade Sisters comes from Jack Hill who is slowly starting to turn into one of my favorite directors. The thing that makes me love the guys direction and also the few films I have seen by him is one main thing...these movies should be bad but they are not at all! He handles everything perfectly in that he doesn't try to make it amazing but also doesn't make it bad. Its a well balanced mix between "camp" and "artistic" filmmaking that ultimately creates little odd works of cinema at its most funnest. Jack Hill knew how to work within a genre and make it all work and this is a prime example of that. For example Hill points out that Coffy is his take on Richard III and Switchblade Sisters is his take on Othello. It doesn't get much better than that!

You have rival gangs, cat fights, underage women in prison, lesbian prison guards, plot twists, and a roller rink showdown! This film has it all and I once again have to stress this point: the film is actually excellent! It sounds like it might be trashy and it might be "cheesy" (a word I am starting to hate) or pure camp but it really all does add up to one of the funnest and most enjoyable films I have ever seen.

It's a wild ride for 90 minutes that feels like it only lasted 15 minutes and I mean this in a good way. If your a fan of the genre go watch it and then belong to the group of people who love and adore this film. It deserves all the love it gets and then some.

- ****

Coffy (1973, Jack Hill)

"Coffy is a nurse whose younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin. Coffy sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path."

Quentin Tarantino once said in an interview that Coffy was his 2nd favorite revenge movie of all time and that he could watch it at any time and get really into it. Now after finally getting around to watching it, I can see what he means.

Although Coffy is far from flawless it is tons of trashy fun. I don't know if it's because the movie was made without much supervision from the studio or if it's because of Jack Hill's direction and writing but Coffy turns out to be a gritty,brutal, and above all sexy revenge story. While watching the film you can't help but get really into the story and begin to cheer for Coffy.

I also think this is because of it's exploitation nature. The thing I have learned to love from all these exploitation films are the freedom they can have with their characters and plots meanwhile still delivering a solid story...sometimes. For example in a Hollywood film a bad guy can be a really big evil character but there is always some reason behind it, or he can just be over the top and be a bad guy for no reason. However when he is just bad for no reason he comes off as over the top and silly. Now in these exploitation films every bad guy is over the top and just evil but given how crazy the plots tend to be the over the top bad buys just fit right in with the story. It's because of these evil characters that you can't help but cheer for Coffy.

These villains are so evil in this movie that it's incredible. These dope pushers are taking over the city and are even selling smack to little kids, the youngest being 9 years old! That's right, 9 year old kids shooting up. Not only are they selling it to kids, but they are also selling contaminated heroin to them which is causing the children hospitals to be filled with kids. Coffy's 11 year old sister is one of those kids and after the dope pushers also send Coffy's guy friend to the hospital it's up to her and her shotgun to clean out the city. From this moment on the movie's action never stops and it's just great scene after great scene after great scene. In other words, it's just pure fun to watch.

The only complaints I really do have with the movie is how it spends a little bit too much time with other characters and not Coffy. When you are watching a revenge movie you want to see the person getting their revenge as often as possible, not the bad guys planning out their business for the next couple of months.

The other flaw worth pointing out is Sid Haig's performance as a Russian goon. Haig gives one of the worst accents ever caught on screen along with Orson Welles' accent in Lady From Shanghai. This accent is horrible , but also hilarious. Just watch this movie to actually hear it.

Coffy lasts only 89 minutes and every single minute of it is fun to watch. You can't beat a movie where you can see half naked cat fights, a dope pusher getting his head blown off, or a black guy being dragged around on a rope by two evil Russian guys. It really is pure fun that deserves it's fan basis.

- ***1/2

The Big Bird Cage (1972, Jack Hill)

"Grier and Haig are thieving mercenaries who engineer a prison break from the outside."

I loved this one so much. I loved every single campy second of it and it will soon be in my favorite guilty pleasures.

The plot deals with a loving couple, Pam Grier and Sid Haig, who are revolutionists in the Philippines. One day their group of rebels decides that they need to build up their army by kidnapping woman. Instead of kidnapping them though, they decide that they should stage a prison break in the local evil women prison where the evil gay wardens torture the hot women non stop.

This is a very simple outline of the plot. We are treated to a lot of great stuff through out the movie. Most of these things take place during the prison scenes where we are treated to tons of classic stuff. We get the nympho prisoner who is more mad that she can not get some than the fact that she is in an evil prison. We get the hatred between the tall dyke and the short dyke. We get the gay wardens of course, The evil and intense prison warden. The wooden cage that drives woman wild and crazy! Half naked girls all the time. Mud fights and we of course get Sid Haig getting a job at the prison later on by posing as a gay man. This film has it all.

The film is always fast and pretty self conscious of what it is. It doesn't try to go for big emotions and because of this the film is a lot of fun. It also doesn't hurt that the direction is not bad at all given the type of film it is and it's also great to see some good acting for once in one of these old exploitation films.

There is once again not a lot to write about for this one. It's a fun ride while it lasts if you are able to just lose yourself in the camp. I was able to and I loved it more than I probably should have.

- Ridiculously Awesome