The Girls from Thunder Strip

When I randomly chose to watch this on a Tubi, I had no idea what I'd found. It took me all of 10 minutes to discover that this 1970 flick could easily be the inspiration for the "Dukes of Hazard," a 70s Good 'Ol Boyz moonshine-based series.

There's a few adjustments, but the basic idea is the same. "Dukes" was centered on 2 brothers whose family has been running moonshine for generations. "The Girls" are sisters who run a still, in an area littered with stills, apparently.

Both have inept sheriffs and goofball deputies. But "The Girls" sheriff is more laid back than dumb, as in "Dukes."

Both have bloviating politicians. Boss Hogg was the County Commissioner of Hazard County, and Casey Kasem is something connected to Washington, cuz he keeps threatening to "tell them back in Washington!"

While, both have lots of fast cars, hillbilly jokes and peppy banjo music, "Dukes" was on network T. V. "The Girls" has rape, plenty of senseless violence as well as the fast cars.

I don't have much more to say about it, other than if you remember the Duke Brothers' car, the General Lee, fondly you might just like this flick.

Three, tough talkin', barefooted, moonshiner sisters go on the run from the law after springing one of their number from the local jail, and unwisely allow three murderous bikers to escape with them... in a film that has its eye on the biker genre and its hand up the skirt of hickploitation. Despite director David L Hewitt, having form in the biker genre, helming The Tormentors and Hells Chosen Few, the greater allegiance here is towards all things country, y'all. The Girls from Thunder Strip might well be Hewitt's most enjoyable film, although given that we're talking about the man who brought The Mighty Gorga, The Lucifer Complex and Gallery of Horror into this world, the competition isn't exactly what you'd call stiff. A more tonally uneven movie you're never likely to meet. Good time humour, cartoonish sight gags and cheery banjo music go hand in hand with offscreen rape and onscreen, cold blooded murder as the film can't seem to decide if it wants to be another Satan's Sadists or a prototype for The Dukes of Hazzard. The cast is equally schizophrenic, featuring the sons of famous people (Jody McCrea, Lindsay Crosby) exploitation vets (Gary Kent, Bruce Kimball, William Bonner) and Casey 'voice of Shaggy' Kasem as an uptight out of towner who gets his pants blown off....Zoinks!!!

One of the lesser biker movies from the golden age. Fairly rough sledding. Big problems with tone here. One minute Casey Kasem is "blown up" by a stick of dynamite ala Wile E. Coyote, to cartoonish effect with tattered outfit and blackened face, the next minute the bikers (really just serial killers, nothing more) are just killing civilians at random with a gunshot to the middle of the forehead, hardcore. Focus, people!

I really doubt the supposed release date of this film: clearly this trash epic could have been neither made nor released in 1966. The fashions, hairstyles and attitudes are just wrong. 1969 might be more like it, but I could also imagine 1970 or 1968. The sideburns are too long, the bell-bottoms are too wide, the hair is too big and unsettled, and the hippies too smelly to be 1966. Having said that, enjoy one of the more mindlessly violent motorcycle dramas out there.

Casey Kasem has a couple of scenes in the film, sporting sharp suits and big sideburns. Old Casey got a lot of acting work in the late 60's and early 70's. Be sure to check him out in THE INCREDIBLE TWO HEADED TRANSPLANT. And check out some of David L. Hewitt's other epics, including the bizarrely indescribable MIGHTY GORGA, available on DVD.

Also enjoy Bruce Kimball aka Kemp, in one of his earlier outings as Deputy Orville. A dependable presence on the drive-in film circuit during this time frame, he usually appeared as doltish deputies or sheriffs. He also appears in such other Hewitt films as THE MIGHTY GORGA, and several Al Adamson shlock fests like Dracula VS. FRANKENSTEIN, as well as Lee Frost's LOVE CAMP 7 and CHAIN GANG WOMEN, and one of my favorite mistakes, THE TORMENTORS.

This movie starts on the wrong foot when a biker rapes a female hitchhiker. He and a couple of the cycle gang then encounter some women who run a moonshine operation and terrorizes them as well. To tell the truth, the only part I really enjoyed was when Casey Kasem showed up as a federal agent visiting the redneck sheriff. He really chewed the scenery and has some good laughs whether grimacing or getting through some scrapes. The rest of the movie was either depressing or boring. So I only recommend The Girls from Thunder Strip if you're a Casey Kasem completist.

The Girls from Thunder Strip (1970) is a movie that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows three sisters in the moon shine business during prohibition. A local biker gang wants to take their operations over and an FBI agent wants to shut them down. Can the sisters keep their operations up and running when it seems like everyone wants to shut them down?

This movie is directed by David L. Hewitt (The Mighty Gorga) and stars Jody McCrea (Bikini Beach), Maray Ayres (The Cycle Savages), Mick Mehas (Hells Chosen Few), Casey Kasem (Ghostbusters) and Gary Kent (Lost).

This is a classic grindhouse picture with grainy film, a beautiful female cast, a great soundtrack and a low budget. The acting is average and the camera angles, action scenes, kill and rape scenes are very inconsistent. There are some sudden violent scenes. The storyline had potential, but the other elements keep it from reaching its potential.

Overall, this movie is nothing special and a below average addition to the grind house genre; however, I would score this a 3/10 and still recommend seeing it once.