Bonnie's Kids

Drive-in exploitation movie that is teeming with unlikable characters. I would say that Alex Rocco is the most sympathetic person I could find, and he is a hit-man just trying to do his job. Rocco also provides far and away the best acting in "Bonnie's Kids". The story of manipulating sisters, Tiffany Bolling, and Robin Matson, often bogs down with meaningless small talk and titillating sexual teasing. 105 minutes running time seems excessive, but the story is way above average, and several catchy tunes are memorable. There are also some moments of dark humor thrown into the mix. Not exactly the "classic" others may think it is, but still quite entertaining. - MERK

Family bonds were meant to last a lifetime. But in the movie "Bonnie's Kids", it's a whole new story. Two sisters Ellie(Tiffany Bolling) and Myra(Robin Mattson) are stuck in a town where nothing exciting goes. They lost their mother, Bonnie. They have a stepfather who's a total jerk. He crossed the line with Myra when she was on the phone, and tried to rape her. Kellie comes home in time, and blitzes him with a shotgun. They would later travel to Texas, find their uncle who works for a fashion company, and takes the two under his wing. Unbeknownst to them, he's involved in shady business. If you think that's bad, the uncle's wife Diana(Lenore Stevens) goes through enough abuse from him, she takes a liking towards Myra, while Ellie is away on business. Ellie meets the private detective, and falls for him. Then the sister bonding begins to break slowly between them. When Diana began to comfort Myra, she takes it to a whole new level. And in that case, Myra wasn't cool with it. She berates and exploits her hard and fast. It was funny when she said, "You're Disgusting!" after Diana shot herself. Ellie wanted to have a better life, but her greed just got the better of her. A very classic movie, with a lot of humor to go along with. A little exploitive to say the least. 2 out of 5 stars

It may be a bit hard to fathom why this is called "Bonnie's Kids" when the mother character "Bonnie" is dead before the movie even starts and does not appear at all, even in flashbacks. But this is no doubt a reference to the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" which this film at times certainly resembles. Two sisters are living with their drunken, brutish stepfather after the death of their prostitute mother. The older sister (Tiffany Bolling) catches the stepfather trying to molest the younger sister(Robin Mattson) and shoots him dead. The two go on the lam and end up at the home of an uncle, who owns a fashion magazine, but (rather incongruously) is also a vicious gangster on the side. The older sister goes to pick up a "package" for the uncle from a dimwitted private detective. They fall for each other and when they discover the "package" is a large amount of cash, they flee with it with two of the uncle's dangerous associate (Alex Rocco, Timothy Brown ) in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, the younger sister is seducing practically everyone in her uncle's household from his studly gardener to his lonely lesbian wife. The ending makes the finale of "Bonnie and Clyde" seem positively cheery by comparison.

This movie has a real early 70's atmosphere of bleak pessimism to it, much like "The Candy Snatchers", another cult film of that era starring Bolling. It isn't just the downbeat ending though, but the fact that ALL the characters are totally amoral and unsympathetic, even the supposed heroines. The two sisters are more than willing to use their sexy bodies to get what they want and they seem completely untroubled by morals or basic human feelings. After convincing him to steal the money, the older sister is perfectly willing to betray her private detective beau and run off with a lecherous traveling salesman to save her own skin. The younger sister, meanwhile, is even more callous: she drives one of her lovers to suicide and then just laughs when she discovers the body. In the end, she doesn't even seem to care about the fate of her older sister.

These sexy but totally unsympathetic heroine roles were pretty much the specialty of Tiffany Bolling. So, not surprisingly, she's pretty good here. This is one of Mattson's first movies, but she would go on to a brief exploitation career (i.e. "Candy Stripe Nurses"), and a much longer career in American television. In way she almost manages to "out-Bolling" Bolling here. She was still pretty young when she did this role, but nevertheless men (and lesbians) everywhere will no doubt be thankful that they don't have a malicious temptress like THIS for a stepdaughter. Director Arthur Marks, who also produced "The Candy Snatcher" would go on to do a couple influential "blaxploitation" movies ("Detroit 9000", "J.D.s Revenge"). I can't say this movie will fit everyone's taste, but one things for sure--they don't make 'em like this anymore.

I've been watching quite a lot of arty-farty foreign flicks of late... so what better way to chill out and take out a break from all the pretentious posturing, than to take on the sort of movie that would have had the drive ins packed 40 years ago. You have a couple of gorgeous babes, senseless violence throughout, casual racism, rampant homophobia, a ramshackle story which goes in every direction and gratuitous nudity as a given. What more could you ask for?

Well, perhaps an ending which will p*ss a lot of people off... GUARANTEED. And maybe they could play the one tune they have on the soundtrack slightly less than every other scene. Other than that, you'll get what you expect. A passable time waster, but don't expect it to be too distracting when y'all smooching with ya babe in the front seat. Don't forget to brush your teeth!! Or at least chew minty gum...... 5/10

"Bonnie's Kids" is – plain and simply put – one of the absolute greatest and most entertaining exploitation movies to have emerged from the entire 70s decade; period! This movie is a totally bonkers and exhilarating thrill ride from start to finish and, with a little bit of crazy imagination, you could even state that this is bizarrely unhinged fairy-tale! Two beautiful young "princesses" named Ellie & Myra, sisters and daughters of the infamous Bonnie who's dead even before the movie begins and only referred to verbally, live with their violent and abusive stepfather. When he attempts to assault Myra, Ellie blasts him away with her shotgun and hides the body in the cellar. The two girls subsequently go on the road and head for El Paso, where they plan to live with their dubious Uncle Ben; owner of a nudie magazine and a notorious crime boss on the side. While young Myra develops a special bond with Ben's frustrated and oppressed lesbian wife Diana, Ellie gets asked by her uncle to do an errand. She has to go and pick up a package from the private detective that her uncle's henchmen have recruited, but she and Larry fall in love and discover that the package contains a gigantic amount of money in cash! They intend to keep the money, but find themselves relentlessly pursued by Ben's henchmen. Admittedly, this brief description makes the film sound rather ordinary but I guarantee that this isn't the case! The 105 minutes of running time are literally chock-full of versatile events that are alternately comical (the sleazy salesman) and brutish (the nihilistic killing of the young motel couple), as well as plenty of road-movie styled action and sleazy coming-of-age themes. But the most remarkable thing about "Bonnie's Kids" is undoubtedly the colorful cast of characters! Every single character is unique, and yet they all have something in common: every character – from the two protagonist girls to the most insignificant supportive role - is a totally amoral and self-centered individual. Myra doesn't care about anybody but herself and shamelessly uses her luscious young body to discover life, while Ellie quickly profiles herself as a stone cold and carnivorous killer bee. Then you have Ben's two goons Eddy and Digger, respectively played by exploitation veteran Alex Rocco and the Afro-wearing Timothy Brown. Like another reviewer already cleverly pointed out, it might very well be that Quentin Tarantino modeled his legendary characters Vincent and Jules (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) from "Pulp Fiction" after these two! Their looks and personal behaviors are similar, but they also spend their days chatting in their car, sipping drinks in cheap diners and ruthlessly executing people when necessary! Considering Tarantino's well-known taste in movies, I'm 200% convinced that "Bonnie's Kids" is a beloved favorite of his. Writer/director Arthur Marks was particularly specialized in Blaxploitation cinema and directed a handful of them ("J.D's Revenge", "Bucktown", "Friday Foster"…) but "Bonnie's Kids" is undeniably his best work: a fantastically deranged, unscrupulous, energetic and insanely imaginative exploitation masterpiece!

*edit: I just read in the trivia section that Tarantino is indeed a tremendous fan of this film and even paid tribute to it in "Pulp Fiction" by naming one of the segments "The Bonnie Situation". I didn't even think of that!