Big Zapper (1973)

User Rating:

3.8/10   

Director:

Lindsay Shonteff

Writer:

Hugh Brody (writer)

Release Date:

January 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

A female private detective, Harriet Zapper, is hired by a rich old man to find his missing children, and becomes involved in counterfeiting and murder |

Plot Keywords:

Female Detective | Female Nudity | Independent Film

Cast

Linda Marlowe	...	Harriet Zapper
Richard Monette	...	Rock Hard
Gary Hope	...	Kono
Sean Hewitt	...	Fingers
Michael O'Malley	...	Strawberry Jim
Jack May	...	Jeremiah Horn
Penny Irving	...	Maggie
Stuart Lock	...	Septimus / Randy Horn
Bobbi Anne	...	Pandora Horn
Parnell McGarry	...	Lesbian Rose
William Ridoutt	...	Shawn Cobra
Graham Ashley	...	Mr. Cortina
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marc Arnall	...	Kono's Boy
Robert Breen	...	Kono's Boy
Keith Britto	...	Kono's Boy
Raymond Brody	...	Kono's Boy
Gaylord Burr	...	Kono's henchman
Sonia Camara	...	Prostitute
Joseph Cheng	...	Kono's Boy
Hock Chuan	...	Samurai swordsman
Michael Crane	...	Cecil
Brian Davey	...	Kono's Boy
Gavin Douglas	...	Kono's Boy
Anthony Edwards	...	Kono's Boy
Carl Forgione	...	Kono's Boy
Hugh Halliday	...	Kono's Boy
Tony Hiew	...	Samurai swordsman
William Hootkins	...	Kono's henchman
Peter Kenton	...	Kono's Boy
Kristopher Kum	...	Samurai swordsman
Al Lampert	...	Kono's Boy
Nova Llewellyn	...	Prostitute
Bob Miller	...	Kono's Boy
Jo Peters	...	Prostitute
Michael Redfern	...	Kono's Boy
Anthony Rowlands	...	Kono's Boy
Jim Russell	...	Kono's Boy
John Salthouse	...	Kono's henchman
Leon Taggert	...	Kono's Boy
Alan Thompson	...	Kono's Boy
Paula Tinker	...	Prostitute
Rod Wilmott	...	Kono's Boy

Also Known As:

The Sex Life of a Female Private Eye

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | Finland:(Banned) (1973) | USA:R | UK:X | Iceland:16 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Delta Film Company

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Swordsman (1974)

This movie makes 'Charlie's Angels' look good!

Having caught this movie late one night on cable, I had to see it again just to check if it was as bad as I remembered. It was actually worse. Big Zapper is an attempt to cash in on the 'Kung Fu' craze & also the U.S female action sleaze of Pam Grier & Cheri Caffaro which fails miserably.

Linda Marlowe stars as Harriet Zapper, a private eye who is targeted for elimination by a gangland boss. Ms Marlowe has absolutely no martial arts skills, and the inept director Lindsay Shonteff in the days before CGI has no means of disguising this. - usually she kills her inept opponents with a single limp punch!.

The film features plenty of action, but it's all badly done & the director can't seem to make up his mind whether this is a comedy or a thriller!. One minute she is punching her enemies through walls like a WB cartoon character, the next she's bloodily skewering a guy with a knife.

If the action is badly done, the comedy is even worse, her sidekick being a moron who spends the whole film trying to get her to have sex with him. Big Zapper is 70's British cinema at it's very lowest - the acting and cinematography are laughable & it's a film so bad it isn't even unintentionally funny. Shonteff was also responsible for a couple of equally bad spy spoofs featuring actor Nicky Henson & Gareth (New Avengers) Hunt .

If you are a fan of female action cinema, this has to be seen to be believed, just to make one appreciate Hong Kong cinema & U.S grindhouse even more!.