Savage Sisters

An exciting not totally serious film. Gloria Hendry is excellent as Lynn Jackson. She is a totally underrated actress and should have received the fame and acclaim of Pam Grier.

'Savage Sisters' is a valuable addition to the blaxploitation/women in prison genre, and is a must for all those into this stuff. It is actually, in my opinion, one of the better examples of the genre.

I saw it when it came out in 1974. It was then available on VHS for a while.

However, as far as I know, it is NOT available on DVD, although there is a boxed set with the same title it doesn't include the movie!

The boxed set of DVDs available entitled 'Savage Sisters'consists of blaxploitation/women in prison movies but DOESN'T include the movie 'Savage Sisters'! Very strange.

Filipino production for AIP about three lethal ladies who are imprisoned for stealing from the government to support the revolution. The film starts out as a standard women-in-prison flick, but when they escape, it becomes an outlaws-on-the-run storyline. From prolific director Eddie Romero, who specialized in filming low-budget genre films for schlocky American production companies, making everything from these sorts of women-in-prison films to horror to science fiction to even war films and westerns. He did it all. Although he has a cult following, his movies are merely competent and have little flair to them, as compared to fellow genre Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago (who made my favorite low-budget Mad Max knockoff, WHEELS OF FIRE), which is also the case with this film. SAVAGE SISTERS has a great title, a great poster, and for a movie of this sort, it was more entertaining than most, even if it was not all that original. Sid Haig (THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, SPIDER BABY) also appears as the rebel leader in the film.

I'm surprised this isn't more well known among exploitation fan circles. As far as women in prison movies go, this one is pretty amusing and works better than most of its ilk. Sure, it's not without flaws with some lame action scenes and a surprising lack of sleaze for the genre but the directing and acting do well with the zany script.

The lead women, which are a white, black, and Asian respectively, skip on the nudity but deliver some amusing dialogue and acting which the movie would have been pretty dull without. Performances are over the top lending to a cartoony vibe with John Ashley and Sid Haig being standouts. No ground is being broken here, but after watching countless exploitation movies, this one provides a fun lighthearted atmosphere missing from most.

I was warned that this would not be a typical women-in prison film. Cheri Caffaro may have tempted us with clothing that she was about to burst out of, but the key words are "about to." Even the shower scene with Caffaro and Rosanna Ortiz was a bust. Even Gloria Hendry in a bathtub was covered in soap. Even the matron (Rita Gomez), who jumps into bed with all the officers, hides herself well.

It's all about some crazy General, who has 10 stars and wears medals on his T shirt, who is after a million dollars the rebels stole. He enlists Capt. Morales (Eddie Garcia) with the promise of a star. Hendry takes Caffaro and Ortiz and they make a plan of their own with a shifty John Ashley, who plans to double-cross them.

Funny, but a big disappointment for WIP fans.

I caught this little biscuit over winter break from school. I've been a huge fan of 70's exploitation fare, and decided that my film diet needed a good injection of cheese, so I sat down to watch it. The plot is pretty basic, three very different women (an Asian revolutionary, a black bad-ass, and a rich white girl) team up to track down a desperado (an over the top performance by Sid Haig) who has one million dollars stolen from a corrupt third world dictatorship. The Asian girl and white girl are involved in a revolution (for very different reasons) and the black girl was a torture expert used by the government, but she switched sides to get the cash. Along the way, they meet up with a scumbag wheeler-dealer (John Ashley) who wants the cash for himself and are chased by an incompetent army captain trying to make a name for himself.

The plot is pretty standard cookie cutter exploitation fare, and it obviously was made on a budget, but it isn't without its charm. The jokes that they pull off, although extremely campy, actually are kind of amusing. The girls give solid performances and John Ashley seems to be having a good time playing the used car salesman type, but the real winner here is Sid Haig. I wouldn't say Sid is the only thing this picture has going for it, but he's obviously enjoying his role and gives a fantastic performance.

Recommended for anyone who likes the women in prison genre (even though there is no nudity in this one).