The Female Bunch

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!

"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.

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.

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!!!

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.