Some of the biggest names in Hollywood got their start making exploitation films. Martin Scorcese made BOXCAR BERTHA, Francis Ford Coppola made DEMENTIA 13, and Jonathan Demme started with CAGED HEAT. All were great exploitation films that foreshadowed a new generation of filmmakers. Sadly, exploitation king Jack Hill was never to escape cult status, but he was responsible for some of the genre’s best moments with films such as COFFEY, SPIDER BABY, and FOXY BROWN. Jack Hill’s 1975 film, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, pretty much ended his hot streak and his career. After Quentin Tarentino expressed interest in reviving the film for his new Rolling Thunder Pictures enterprise, the film was re-released to the midnight crowd and art house cinemas. The film became a cult hit, and soon Jack Hill’s other films (like SPIDER BABY and PITSTOP) resurfaced on home video and DVD. So SWITCHBLADE SISTERS not only killed the career of it’s director, but also was responsible for re-igniting interest in the films of Jack Hill. This DVD comes from none other than Quentin Tarentino’s Rolling Thunder Pictures and Miramax, of all companies. Tarentino puts in a special appearance to help first time viewers ease into the madness known as SWITCHBLADE SISTERS.

SWITCHBLADE SISTERS features a cast of actors and actresses in their late twenties, posing as high school students. Joanne (THE VISITORS) Nail is the protagonist Maggie, a loner who eventually joins an all-girl gang. Robbie (BIG BAD MAMA) Lee plays the corrupt gang leader, Lace. Monica (SOUTHERN COMFORTS) Gayle is the one-eyed gang member, Patch. Asher (TREASURE OF THE MOON GODDESS) Brauner portrays the sadistic gang leader Dom. Chase Newhart is rival gang leader Crabs. Don (EVILSPEAK) Stark is Hook, Dom’s right hand man. Kitty Bruce (Lenny’s daughter) portrays an oppressed overweight gang member named Donuts. And Marlene (THE BEAST MUST DIE) Clark plays Muff, the leader of a men-hating feminist gang.

The teenage gang, The Silver Daggers (and their female counterparts, the Dagger Debs) hang out at a hamburger stand. While the leader of the Dagger Debs, Lace, intimidates the customers to leave the premises, one of the patrons remains unimpressed. She is a young schoolgirl named Maggie, and the two quickly start a catfight. The police arrive and arrest Lace, Maggie, and some other gang members. Because they are all minors, they go to a juvenile detention center. The lesbian head mistress of the juvenile detention center has her guards humiliate Maggie. But, Lace organizes her members and they jump the guards and intimidate the headmistress.

Lace respects Maggie’s fighting spirit and asks her to join the gang. Maggie agrees and is set free from the detention center. Lace writes some poetry for her boyfriend, Dom (leader of the Silver Daggers) and asks her to deliver the letter to him. Maggie goes to the gang’s hideout and gives Dom the note. As he reads it, he laughs at it. Then he follows Maggie home, breaks into her house, and rapes her in the middle of the night. When Maggies mother tells Dom to get out, he tells her to get lost! Lace’s best friend, Patch discovers this shocking act, and when Lace is released from juvenile detention, Patch immediately informs Lace about the event.

Lace detects a change in her relationship with Dom. When Lace tells him she is pregnant with child (the sweet guy that he is), Dom tells her to get an abortion. Lace is crushed. The whole while, Patch keeps whispering into Lace’s ear that its all Maggie’s fault. Meanwhile, a rival gang led by Crabs (Newhart) muscles in on the Dagger’s turf. This leads to the inevitable gang war. The gangs meet on neutral ground (at a roller skating rink), but Crabs gang has bought more members and more weapons. The skating rink explodes with gun fire, and Dom is killed.

The Silver Daggers and Dagger Debs are devastated at the loss of their leader. Without Dom to guide them, the male faction of the gang quit. The women are more incensed than ever, and Maggie steps up and takes charge of the remaining female members of the Dagger Debs. Only she changes the gang name to The Jezebels. Patch snubs her nose at this revelation and keeps working on Lace to turn her against Maggie. The first thing on the newly-christened Jezebels’ agenda is revenge against Crab’s gang, but the Jezebels are seriously outnumbered and outgunned. So they recruit a feminist militant gang lead by Muff (Clark). Muff’s gang happen to hate Crab’s gang as well, so an alliance is formed. Maggie and Muff lead their gangs into a major turf war that even the cops can’t contain. To further complicate matters, are Lace and Patch, who now want to take Maggie out of the picture by any means necessary.

What at first seems to be just another exploitative gang flick, actually turns into a Shakespearean tangle of loyalties and conflicts. Therein lies the genius of SWITCHBLADE SISTERS. Jack Hill has a way of delivering the goods and meeting audience expectations, while simultaneously weaving in the Bard’s psychological motivations. If you think comparing this film to Shakespeare is ridiculous, just check out the character of Patch. The way she acts and tries to turn her friend against Maggie is right out of OTHELLO. Oh yeah, besides the Shakespearean similarities, Hill also gives us juvenile girls in prison, militant black gangs, roller rink shoot-outs, cowering adults, predatory lesbian matrons, youthful rebellion, armor-plated death mobiles, and the closing moment is a true spit in the face of authority. And Hill wraps it up with an element of sleaze that makes you say "cool".

Jack Hill is known to use his stock actors like Pam Grier and Sid Haig. In fact, Hill is solely responsible for giving the film world the many talents of Pam Grier (Grier starred in THE BIG DOLLHOUSE, COFFY, and FOXY BROWN). Even Hill’s films that didn’t work had some talent on screen to help carry the load. None of Hill’s regular actors appear in SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, and the film clearly lacks actors and actresses with talent and charisma. And none of SWITCHBLADE SISTERS cast of unknowns went on to any success elsewhere. One other hilarious thing about the cast is that they are all pushing 30, yet they are all playing high school kids!

At least Hill’s characters are all nicely conceptualized. Militant leader Muff goes around spewing quotes from Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book. Hill gave Lace the personality of a rattlesnake, with the look of a little girl. And actress Robbie Lee plays her role like an angry Barbara Stanwyck; when she gets mad, her lips stick to her teeth and she looks like she is smiling! Dom is established as a total asshole from the opening moments, and we don’t feel bad when he meets his maker. Maggie gets the most characterization and screen time. She is in truth the protagonist, but she is so emotionally disturbed that by the conclusion she is trapped in her own bloodlust (and looses the sympathy of the audience).

There were some incidents in SWITCHBLADE SISTERS that just didn’t make any sense. Early on in the film a repo man pays a visit to Lace’s house to confiscate a TV set. As he makes his way out of the building in an elevator, it stops at every floor and female gang members enter the elevator until they finally beat the guy bloody. How could Lace have arranged for this to happen? Is she supposed to be psychic or something? Speaking of no sense, the character of Maggie is raped by gang leader Dom. Instead of being pissed, she starts to fall in love with him. The women’s libbers must love that one. Also at the roller skating rink, clearly multiple people are shot in the crossfire. But later we discover that only Dom has been killed.

SIGHT

Despite the lack of 16x9 enhancement, Miramax produces another solid widescreen (2.35.1) transfer. Overall, for a low budget film from 1975, this is pretty good. Any anomalies in the picture are attributable to the film’s age and the technical limitations of the time. The only flaws are the occasional scratches, speckles, and of course film grain. The image is very crisp and well defined. Color reproduction is natural and vivid. We’ve seen recent films look much worse than this. The black level is tightly calibrated, and you can make out all the action even in the dark scenes (such as during the roller rink shoot-out). The clarity and detail level is good, and you can clearly see the goofy 70’s clothing (hot pants and leg boots on the women, open collar shirts and plaid pants on the men) and haircuts (feathered hairdos and afros). The climax involving gang warfare takes place in the center of a small town. The gritty look of these widescreen visuals hold up well on the transfer, with lots of detail. Especially interesting is the bloody knife fight in the end; the dramatic killing blows are delivered as shadows on the wall. There were no DVD mastering flaws such as bleeding, chroma noise, edge enhancement, or compression artifacts. A fine DVD presentation thanks to the folks at Rolling Thunder/Miramax/Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

SOUND

This is a very good Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 soundtrack on this DVD. The mix delivers a wide range of frequencies for a mono mix, and is not flat like most mono mixes. The sound is very crisp and natural. There is no hiss, pops, or distortion on the soundtrack. The car engine noises, gunshots, and other sound effects sound realistic, though they lack stereo fidelity. Les Baxter composes numerous musical cues that accentuate the drama and action. The rock group, Medusa, also create some fine acid rock songs that contribute to the rebellious spirit of SWITCHBLADE SISTERS. Lex Baxter’s score and Madusa’s music sometimes overlap and complement each other rather well. The score, the sound effects, and the dialog are well synchronized, and combined make for a good sound mix to support the visuals.

FEATURES

CONCLUSION

Acting and logic aside, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS uses its campy presentation to hold your attention throughout. There are some powerful scenes that will surprise viewers who expect the usual goofball exploitation clichés. There are some unexpected brutal remarks and odd comedic bits—such as the prostitution ring in the high school lavatories—that will keep exploitation fans entertained. Plus its always enjoyable to make fun of mid-seventies pop culture like roller skating, disco music, and poor fashions. Quentin Tarentino really shows his appreciation for the film and exploitation in general, so its nice to see a title of this caliber get the deluxe DVD treatment. It’s even better to have the Jack Hill along for the ride. Miramax really serves up a great presentation and extras and I find myself looking forward to the next Rolling Thunder release.

SWITCHBLADE SISTERS is available from DVDEmpire.com

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