The Mini-Skirt Mob

The Mini-Skirt Mob - sounds like the coolest girl punk band you ain't heard of, or just another AIP biker movie. It's the latter. This isn't that terrible, one guesses. No, it's knowable: this is a gosh-darn B-movie if I ever saw one. Why the gosh-darn? The movie deserves one: it's a western in biker-movie skins, and it shows a sign, oddly enough, of where its director Maury Dexter would be headed a year or so later when he made a very good low-level-action biker movie called Hell's Belles.

It's set mostly out in the desert, where the leader of the Mini-Skirt Mob, the bossy Shayne (Diane McBain rockin the hard-to-frazzle blonde-top look), is after a former cowboy who left her to settle down and marry with an ordinary girl. She and the gang and some other rodeo-party-down type guys (such as Ross Hagen and Harry Dean Stanton) basically chase after these guys till they strand them in the desert, rip their tires, and force a stand-off... a long one, that'll need some beer, and relationship drama!

There's some time during the movie where the writer tries to make this less about the bikes and more about the characters, and this is where things get a little shaky. Sometimes it's just plain hysterical trying to see these guys emote, or try to have any kind of connection. The fact is what makes the movie so entertaining is that practically everyone, even the two leads (and especially that little lady) are just stupid. Shayne might just be sadistic or mean, but there's still a level of not knowing all where its at and is only a minimal bad-ass. The keeper though is Harry Dean, always dependable in a fix for a supporting role, who is a "dumb redneck" among the group, but also isn't much in the way of being a killer. He just wants to hang out and party, and that's where the other girls in the 'Mob' want to be at. You'd think they'd go off and have crimes or party down. Nope. Have a chick as the leader, bound to have some man-drama.

If you like a biker movie way past your bedtime, you could do worse than this. Its action isn't staged too well and the acting by the two leads (Slate and Jackson) is so stiff you can feel the strain in trying to make an argument scene look halfway convincing, but some laugh out loud moments are to be had, like when we see a shot of the bikers arguing about something and a pan of the camera shows boy-scouts hearing their every word! Goodness! This is actually fairly safe stuff, nothing too dangerous actually in the way of much violence and sex.... actually, I take that back, there is one semi-awesome explosion, a couple of awesome cheesy deaths by incredible launch-off-bike, and a person runs out on fire! Nothing exciting, but its... what it is.

I forgot how many of these drive in types were turned out in the 60's & 70's, but this is one no one could remember but the actors' families. What an embarrassment, especially for someone like Harry Dean Stanton, who turned out to be such a remarkable character actor, who in this film is the only "character" of note.

Diane McBaine is miscast badly. Yet, note that she allowed her hair to get messed at least once & to have a dirt smudge, of all things(!), to be placed on her face in the final chase scene.

If you are bored & need a good laugh & want to remember the old biker movies, rent this. But, if you then feel you've wasted your buck, don't say I didn't warn you!

The name of the production company - whose product nowadays regularly features in Incredibly Strange film festivals - alone should be enough warning as to what to expect in this silly, unintentional parody. "The Mini-Skirts" consist of four girl bikers, the brevity of whose skirts is compensated by the length of their eyelashes - plus, it seems, an equal number of chromosome-challenged boyfriends. The plot mostly consists of them "terrorizing", with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the pack leader's ex-boyfriend because he is now on his honeymoon in a caravan with another gal. Much of it naturally is an excuse for shots of the females riding around the wilds of Arizona on their Triumph motorbikes. Hmmm. Wouldn't it be rather cold dressed like that, how long would those hair-do's last? You also get regular glimpses of panties. As Leonard Maltin says in his movie guidebook, those who like the title should like the film.

"The Mini-Skirt Mob" is no classic (which, given that title, should come as no surprise) but it delivers enough action to make it worthwhile. Diane McBain stars as the leader of a female motorcycle gang, who is determined to punish the guy who jilted her. With the aid of her companions, including biker film veteran Jeremy Slate and future cult actor Harry Dean Stanton, she proceeds to harass both her ex-boyfriend (Ross Hagen) and his mousy new bride (Sherry Jackson). Along for the ride, and good in a sympathetic role, is ex-child star Patty McCormack, as McBain's little sister. The photography is excellent as is the color, and the movie doesn't take forever to make it's point. McBain is terrific as "Shayne". Very watchable. Incidentally, McCormack sang the title song, but, on the ''MGM Midnite Movies''DVD, her vocals have been re-dubbed by an unknown male vocalist. Nevertheless, picture and sound are both excellent, and the companion feature ''Chrome And Hot Leather'' (1971) while not as good a film,looks and sounds fine, too. And since it's soon to go out of print, now's the time to grab it!.

I am a fan of Sixties motorcycle flicks, and I've seen many (but not all) of them. This is certainly one of the lesser efforts. The plot bears more than a few similarities to SATAN'S SADISTS (q.v.). In this case, it's Shayne, the psychotic female leader of The Mini Skirts (Diane McBain and her hair-do) stalking the innocent young couple along with her flunkies. It seems that the man she's after used to be "her guy," but he got wise, dumped his rodeo/biker buddies and married some hot brunette wimp from the local bank. But such treachery could not stand! First the couple is stalked, then assaulted, and the whole thing just escalates from there until finally Molotov cocktails enter the picture, leading to one of the ubiquitous gags where a stunt man wears a fire suit and runs around the desert while flaming away.

Most of the actors were totally unconvincing. I found myself thinking "these aren't real bikers, these are bourgeois middle-class Hollywood types just playacting." They didn't seem threatening at all. These chicks wouldn't have time to menace society as maintaining their giant hairdos and false eyelashes probably required a lot of effort. Yes, Harry Dean Stanton is in this, and he exhibited his usual sleazy charm. The character of the wife was annoying. I know she was supposed to be a little flitty hummingbird, but her whining became like fingernails on a chalkboard almost immediately. Plus, what real biker gang rode TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES?! Yeah, right! I can only recommend this highly if you have a burning desire to see hot Sixties chicks in mini-skirts, go-go boots and huge hair.

Look, you people need to get way down the list of biker movies before this one comes up. Start off with THE WILD ANGELS, try HELL'S ANGELS '69, or THE CYCLE SAVAGES. SHE-DEVILS ON WHEELS is also a good pick. THE TORMENTORS is probably the most outrageous and entertaining one, if you can find it.