The Female Bunch (1971) User Reviews

Lon Chaney Jr. in his final role

[kevinolzak · 4/10 · 7 December 2014]

"The Female Bunch" was completed in Aug 1969 under shooting title "A Time to Run," even more brutal and shocking than director Al Adamson's breakout success, "Satan's Sadists," on Western locations in Utah and the Spahn Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, at the very time the Charles Manson family was committing their most heinous crimes. The new title was inspired by "The Wild Bunch," going even further in its violence and nudity, even a full frontal shower scene, never topped by Adamson. A modern story about man-hating women living on an isolated California ranch, enabling them to run heroin from across the Mexican border. The sight of the bunch on horseback, constantly riding hither and yon, quickly grows tiresome, and even their sexual antics prove boring under Adamson's out of focus direction. Future HEE HAW girl Jennifer Bishop had an extensive exploitation career in Adamson films, "Blood of Dracula's Castle," "Horror of the Blood Monsters," and "Jessi's Girls," but hasn't the acting chops to truly convince as Grace, the 'queen bee' of this hive, and none of the other females stand out. The nominal male leads are Lon Chaney and Russ Tamblyn, only around long enough to justify their prominent billing, Chaney billed with the 'Jr.' for the only time since the 1942 Universal short "Keeping Fit." Tamblyn only arrives at the midway point, getting killed in glorious fashion with a pitchfork to the groin after being branded on the forehead by Grace. As Monti, aging former stuntman, Chaney is the only male working on Grace's ranch, believing that she'll eventually respond favorably to his amorous advances, only to be knocked out, tied to the back of a horse, and allowed to be dragged off to certain death. With only 6 1/2 minutes screen time, it's a disappointingly small role for the actor's last, but even worse is the quality of his cancer ridden voice, reduced to a terrible rasp, even when he's supposed to register emotion. There's a certain home movie atmosphere in the way that Adamson unflatteringly films his star, happily guzzling a bottle of vodka and spitting it out! It's a sad sight to see, but Lon Chaney's career comes to a close after 164 films in 37 years of dedicated work.

Silly Sleazy Grindhouse Fun!!

[Pumpkin_Man · 5/10 · 2 December 2020]

I recently bought the Al Adamson blu-ray collection, and this is the first one I started on. It was sleazy exploitation of strong independent women who hate men. The movie is told through a flashback from the P.O.V. of Sandy, a waitress who keeps falling in love with the wrong men. After attempting to kill herself, her friend Libby (Get it? Women's 'Lib') introduces her to a group/cult of women who live on a ranch, where no men are allowed. Eventually, Sandy wants out and tries to help a man that wondered on to the ranch. The other women want him dead. Will they survive? If you like trashy grindhouse films, you might enjoy THE FEMALE BUNCH!!!

Grubby sleaze flick

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 29 August 2020]

THE FEMALE BUNCH is another trash-tastic sleaze flick from indie filmmaker Al Adamson, who never let a lack of quality and expertise get in the way of him churning out Z-grade flick after Z-grade flick. This one's set in the desert, where a gang of female runaways run drugs and generally abuse men in their own vindictive ways. It's a tawdry effort regularly punctuated by bursts of violence against male supporting stars (including Russ Tamblyn), although Adamson's emphasis appears to be on sweaty couplings and nudity. Saddest of all is the presence of an aged, ill and tired Lon Chaney Jr. in his final-ever role. His voice is gone and he's regularly necking vodka straight from the bottle, and it's a sad way for any star to end up (and just as sad as the fate that befell his fellow Universal icon Bela Lugosi a couple of decades before).

Sexy, action packed, fetishy.

[franco-28 · 9 October 1999]

This film may not be high on many peoples list to see but it had a feel to it that made one feel for the characters. Drugs, sex, violence, were some of the more prevalent attributes, but it also had a touch of "I want to live outside of the known society & do my own thing" to it. I personally enjoyed this flick, & would suggest it to the rebel crowd.

Life is cheap

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 6 December 2023]

Shot in the summer of 1969 at Spahn Ranch, which was the home of the Manson Family at the time, The Female Bunch also has moments filmed at Hanksville and Capitol Reef in Utah as well as Las Vegas, Nevada. Adamson loved shooting outside. He must have loved every second of this movie.

All the bad men she's dealt with leaves Sandy (Nesa Renet) wanting to end it all. Her friend Libby (Regina Carrol) takes her into the desert to meet Grace (Jennifer Bishop), who leads a gang of women that run drugs and use men.

This is the last movie of Lon Chaney Jr., filmed after Dracula vs. Frankenstein. His voice sounds painful, the result of throat cancer radiation treatments. He plays Monti, an old Hollywood cowboy who is loyal to Grace. Kim Newman, who writes some great film reviews, wrote a short story about this movie, "Another Fish Story." In this tale, Charles Manson is trying to using one of the Ancient Ones to destroy the world while Lon Chaney Jr. Is given a mission in the desert that will keep The Family from bothering Adamson and crew.

To join this gang of women, you have to be buried alive in a coffin. I don't know if I'd go that far, but if I got to hang out with Chaney and Russ Tamblyn, I may let you throw some dirt on my grave.

No way to end the battle of the sexes.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 14 January 2021]

Interestingly enough, this view of misandry is written by men and directed by one, Al Adamson, a Z grade grindehouse sleaze fest with a bunch of embittered females who run a ranch where the intended target is the unsuspecting men who like naive flies crawl into their web. The initiation to become a resident of this house of harpies is to agree to be buried alive which is followed by a bunch of other initiation rituals to prove they've got what it takes to be a part of these alleged feminists who don't have a clue as to its real meaning.

The film is told in flashback by the sweet Jennifer Bishop, from her ill-fated relationship with an untalented Vegas club singer to her attempt to get out. She's rescued from her suicide attempt by cocktail waitress Regina Carrol, a rather rough looking female who makes Sylvia Miles seem classy. Once she's at the ranch, she's drugged up and basically raped by another one of the women, a disgusting scene with no point other than to titilate dirty minds. The only smart women are the ones told to leave because they don't pass the test. These females are also repulsive racists, truly vile as they verbally anniahilate a Mexican man they encounter when they go to Mexico.

The presence of Russ Tamblyn and Lon Chaney Jr. is a sad statement on their careers at this point, although Chaney died before this came out. The film only goes to show the hypocrisy of the director who used a serious theme to create an ugly view of that social issue. There's absolutely no point to this other than to exploit violence and show women in various states of undress. This is one of those films too that will challenge the viewer to even make it through half an hour of the film, let alone the full 80 minutes.

Amateur hour (and a half)

[pmtelefon · 2/10 · 14 September 2021]

"The Female Bunch" manages to pull off quite a trick. It somehow manages to make make nude scenes (with some rather dreamy women by the way) boring. Those scenes are embarrassing to watch. Those scenes are the only reason to watch a movie like this. Throw in some bad dubbing and a cheap look and "The Female Bunch" is the pits every step of the way.

Rowdy Women on Horseback

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 2 November 2022]

This film essentially begins with a man named "Jim" (Geoffrey Land) driving a car at high speed on a desert road near the Mexican border with a young woman named "Sandy" (Nesa Renet) urging him to go faster. As it turns out, the reason for their high rate of speed is to get away from a group of violent women who seek to kill both of them due to an earlier altercation. Unfortunately, the two of them are soon spotted by an airplane which then relays their location to several women pursuing them on horseback. Not only that, but an occupant in the airplane also manages to shoot out one of the automobile's tires which eventually forces both Jim and Sandy to find shelter in a nearby cave. It's at this time that Sandy has a flashback to several weeks prior which subsequently explains how they got into their current situation. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this is one of those low-budget types of films that were commonly seen in the 60's and early 70's that fell under the hot rod or biker sub-genre and were often produced by companies like American International Pictures or--in this specific case--Dalia Productions. On that note, one shouldn't expect great acting or even good film quality as, more often than not, the final picture is somewhat grainy or occasionally streak marked. It's just one of those things. Be that as it may, I personally don't consider this film to be one of the better productions of this sort due in large part to the very faults I just mentioned. The acting wasn't good and the overall picture quality was a bit less than average as well. Having said all of that, however, I still found it to be somewhat entertaining and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

THE FEMALE BUNCH FOR ME

[pmc-17741 · 6/10 · 25 April 2021]

I agree that this movie is disappointing and poorly directed and acted in many parts. No heath care benefits for Lon Chaney Jr or any other star who died before their time. Still, I was able to watch it all the way through on Tubi. I can think of far worse, Biodome, or any Pauly Shore movie.

Fantastic Adamson pro-female action flick

[Casey-52 · 8/10 · 27 May 2000]

After viewing Al Adamson's "Angels' Wild Women", I was wondering if it was such a good thing that I rented this as well. Since "Angels" didn't actually feature much footage with the women, I was nervous that "The Female Bunch" would be another wasted opportunity. Well, it wasn't.

Jennifer Bishop is Grace, the butch leader of a group of feminists who make up a secret society in an isolated desert ranch (in reality the notorious Spahn Ranch, home of the Manson Family). A new member, Sandy (Nesa Renet), is buried alive in a coffin to ensure she has guts (great claustrophobic scene)! Regina Carrol does a sultry go-go dance before once again getting an underwritten part (Al! She was your wife! Couldn't you have given her better roles?!).

The male cast members, Russ Tamblyn, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Geoffrey Land, are not in the movie that much, which makes "The Female Bunch" all the more true to the title. Tamblyn doesn't do much but be a victim of the sadistic ladies when he has sex with Denise (Leslie MacRae) and attempts to rape Grace! It's very hard to watch Chaney in his last role; his voice has been irreparably damaged from years of smoking and drinking and is barely audible. I much preferred his silent role in "Dracula vs. Frankenstein". Land only becomes a character in the last 15 minutes, so this really is the female bunch's movie. Thank God Adamson lived up to the title! Things to watch for: the opening scenes of ladies on horseback and a plane chasing a young couple through the desert is stunningly choreographed by Adamson standards; the heavily claustrophobic scene of Sandy being buried alive; Grace brands Tamblyn with a branding iron; and basically any scene where the women appear. A very, very good movie. It isn't "Satan's Sadists", but at times comes very close to topping it! Highly recommended!

Well worth watching if you get the chance

[VicTheDaddy · 9/10 · 15 June 2007]

I bought this as an ex-rental on VHS for 50p an thought i cant go wrong at that price its bound to be a load of rubbish,silly dialogue,silly clothes ridiculous script etc.Id never heard of the film before but had vaguely heard of Al Adamson the director so ill give it a try,you never know it may be good for a laugh at least. But how wrong i was,it turned out to be quite a good film and very watchable.The film is basically about a mean but sexy womens gang who live out on a ranch in the wilderness and the gang leader Grace has a drugs deal going on across the border in Mexico,which the girls frequently visit illegally indulging in drunken orgies and mayhem with the local men.But back on the ranch men are not aloud and as Russ Tamblyn finds out will be dealt with severely.The films main theme seems to be all about revenge,the women are taking revenge on men for being men and as the film moves along the men want revenge back and you have to see the ending to see what i mean,i don't want to give any more away as it would spoil the viewing.But if you get the chance to see this film you probably wont be disappointed by todays standards its pretty tame although when it was made in 1968 it must have been very shocking as there is quite a lot of nudity and some fairly graphic sex scenes which make it very ahead of its time,even today it would be strictly adult viewing.The only problem i have with this film is the character Scotti the Vegas singer who you see at the beginning of the film,his acting is well over the top and he is just awful,but his only in the film for a short while so you can forget him easily.The film was obviously made on a budget but that doesn't matter as there's no need for any special effects even though the plane chase across the desert is well directed.In all this is a very worth while film to watch and be entertained by if you get the chance as its unusualness makes it memorable. Try to get the VHS version released in the late 80's if you can as the DVD version whats been on sale has cut many of the interesting parts out,and the recording is really poor quality.What a shame.

Spectacular

[jameelrawls · 10/10 · 15 March 2013]

This is a historic film it was filmed at the Spahn ranch outpost of the the Manson family or at least parts of it were. There are too many similarities between the film and that group. Ironic Manson was also a Film Consultant at Universal Studios. Anyhow the film by its self has that classic 60's free Hollywood spirit , this was a time when Hollywood as the Motion Picture Film capitol was being broken up and auctioned off piece by piece and studios were scrambling around figuring out what was going to be the next big wave in show business. The creativity of the era is what balanced it all out this was a time when money didn't mean much and you didn't need to be a big shot to get licensing. Very unlike what we saw by the late 70's. Films like this are unique and they cannot be compared to your usual run of the mill productions. Now you have to literally go through a avalanche of regulations. The value is in the spirit of the film not in the acting even though much of the acting is good if you compare it by that standard as acting stands by itself. I'd rather watch this film over again than anything coming out of my local theater.