THE JEZEBELS aka SWITCHBLADE SISTERS
Written and directed by Jack Hill
Starring Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail
Released in 1975
Written and directed by Jack Hill
Starring Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail
Released in 1975
We have the Jack Hill classic The Jezebels (1975), a movie that sometimes goes under the name Switchblade Sisters. Director Jack Hill quit the business after making this knife-fight-in-hot pants romance story, the rumor being that he and his wife wanted to find a lazy place to meditate and get in touch with their more spiritual inner workings. In his early film school days, Jack was tight with Francis Coppola and he even made his apprenticeship bones with Roger Corman. Hill is the man behind Coffy and Foxy Brown, both vehicles for Pam Grier. In The Jezebels, he introduces us to the cutthroat world of high school female delinquents, most of whom had to turn to crime because they sure couldn't act to save their lives. These gals rip off a bill collector in the community elevator and sling their chains at boys in the roller rink. They're quite a tough bunch, which is why Lace, the head Deb, comes off so ridiculous with her snarling kitten voice and bared teeth. See, Lace has got it bad for Dominic, the head of the Daggers, for which the Debs are the auxiliary group. Well, you know how guys can be. When Maggie, the new girl, joins up, Dom just has to take a run at her, thereby insuring that Lace will want to waste the new chick just about the time that one of them ends up preggers.
Then there's the rival gang, led by a guy named Crabbs, a dude who dresses like Robin Williams coming out of a thrift store. Crabbs' number two man looks a lot like Chevy Chase, and funny enough, that makes him scary as hell.
The cops are no better than the punks, and both fuzz and fiends drive most of the shopkeepers out of whatever city this is supposed to be. That is the extent of the social commentary offered by this film, although we do get to hang with a black militant Sappho society for a few minutes, mostly as an homage to the blaxploitation films that had become Hill's stock and trade.
Nothing much really happens in this movie except for grab-ass and defiance, but that's appropriate to the form. It's still visually pretty good, with lots of knife fights and the occasional under-age boob spillage. The story line is straight out of F Scott Fitzgerald by way of Marsha Brady on angel dust. You'll laugh. You'll giggle. You'll snort like a swine.
Then there's the rival gang, led by a guy named Crabbs, a dude who dresses like Robin Williams coming out of a thrift store. Crabbs' number two man looks a lot like Chevy Chase, and funny enough, that makes him scary as hell.
The cops are no better than the punks, and both fuzz and fiends drive most of the shopkeepers out of whatever city this is supposed to be. That is the extent of the social commentary offered by this film, although we do get to hang with a black militant Sappho society for a few minutes, mostly as an homage to the blaxploitation films that had become Hill's stock and trade.
Nothing much really happens in this movie except for grab-ass and defiance, but that's appropriate to the form. It's still visually pretty good, with lots of knife fights and the occasional under-age boob spillage. The story line is straight out of F Scott Fitzgerald by way of Marsha Brady on angel dust. You'll laugh. You'll giggle. You'll snort like a swine.
