The Jezebels (1975)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jack Hill

Writers:

Jack Hill (story)
F.X. Maier (screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

They'd Rather Kill Their Man Than Lose Him

Plot:

The "Dagger Debs" are a gang of snarling girls, and Maggie is their newest member. Lace, the ever tooth-gritting leader...

Plot Keywords:

Gang | High School | Drugs | Murder | Eye Patch

Cast

Robbie Lee	...	Lace
Joanne Nail	...	Maggie
Monica Gayle	...	Patch
Asher Brauner	...	Dominic
Chase Newhart	...	Crabs
Marlene Clark	...	Muff
Kitty Bruce	...	Donut
Janice Karman	...	Bunny
Don Stark	...	Hook
Don Marino	...	Guido
Helene Nelson	...	Cherry
Bill Adler	...	Fingers
Paul Lichtman	...	Mr. Clutch
J.S. Johnson	...	Principal Weasel
Kate Murtagh	...	Mom Smackley

Also Known As:

Playgirl Gang (USA) (reissue title)
Switchblade Sisters (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 | Australia:R | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Centaur Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

Director Jack Hill, when interviewed at the 1996 re-release of the film, pointed out that it did have some authenticity - he interviewed girl gang members and rewrote the script. "But the idea of doing a realistic movie about street gangs with beautiful blondes in hot pants was preposterous, so we tried to make it a wacky fantasy."

Quotes:

Lace: If you go, it's gonna turn out *baaaaad*!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Switching believability on and off

****SPOILERS**** Movie about a girl street gang "The Jezebel's" who after wiping out all the street gangs in the city with an arsenal that can hold off the Red Army collapses in the end when it's two co-gang leaders blow the whole gang organization and all it's territorial holding over cute and handsome Dominic, Asher Brauner, the head of the gang "Silver Daggers" who the Jezebel's were part off.

Lace, Bobbie Lee, The "Jezebel's" gang leader and Dominic's girlfriend feels that fellow gang member Maggie, Joanne Nail, is stealing "Dom" away from her. Maggie of course is innocent of what Lace suspects her of and actually rejected Dom's advances and the only "affair" she had with him was when he attacked and raped her.

Crazed with jealously Lace sets up Dom, with the help of friend and gang member Patch, Monica Gayle, by telling his rival gang leader Crabbs, Chase Newheart, that "He's" being set up to be offed by Dom and Maggie at the local skating rink that Friday night. After Dom is shot down by the Crabbs gang Lace in her crazed state of mind plans, again with Patch, to silence Crabbs in order to keep him from spilling the goods about her and what she had to do with Dom's death and may well get to the bottom of it and exposes both Lace and Patch. This happens later when "The Jezebel's" with the help of the "Ghetto Gals" wipe out the entire Crabbs gang and when Crabbs is about to give himself up Patch shoots him down before he can talk.

Soon after that in the clubhouse Lace accuses Maggie in that she was the one who sold out Dom but none of the "Jezebel's" believed her. Maggie and Lace then have it out in a bloody and deadly knife fight where Lace gets slashed to death and finally the police coming to the "rescue" raiding the gang clubhouse with everyone involved being sent up the river.

Awful but entertaining movie with one of the most outrageous attempted prison rape scenes in a womens prison ever put on film. With the head of the guards, Mom Smackly, Kate Murtagh, getting worked over by the girls after she tried to examine Maggie to see if she had any social diseases.

The street battle at the end of the movie with the Crabbs gang was as fierce and bloody as "The Battle of Berlin" with the cops out to lunch during the entire fighting. The girls in the movie were so unconvincing that it seem impossible for them to hold on to their assault weapons after they shot them off just from the recoil. Still the fight between Maggie and Lace did come off realistic but was spoiled by the police using the knife fight and death of Lace as an excuse to barge in when they couldn't find any reason to intervene when dozens of gang members were gunned down in the previous street fighting.