Five Loose Women

No one will mistake "Fugitive Girls" (the most common title for this film) for great cinema. The ultra-low budget, editing errors and continuity blunders alone guarantee that. But taken for what it is - a 1974 exploitation quickie, a drive-in nudie flick about female criminals - this movie really works. With the legendary Edward D. Wood Jr. contributing one of his finest screenplays and also acting in two different roles, the film won't disappear. "Fugitive Girls" is good entertainment!

The acting ranges from passable to good, the dialogue ranges from classic Woodian nonsense to decent, the music often works very well, and technically...well, this aspect doesn't usually manage to impress. Director Stephen Apostolof deserves credit, certainly, for the superb pacing and for bringing out the best in actresses Tallie Cochrane, the '70's adult superstar Rene Bond (now supposedly deceased) and the strangely overlooked but genuinely charismatic Margie Lanier.

Rarely do these no-budget grindhouse flicks deliver like this one does, and not because of overt sex or violence; "Fugitive Girls" succeeds on it's own quirky charm and likability. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is a *good* movie, but a great one for it's genre. Despite all of this, "Fugitive Girls" rarely receives extended mention in Ed Wood discussions, probably because it's such an oddity. It isn't family friendly like, say, "Plan 9 From Outer Space", doesn't feature any of his most famous players from his earlier period (like Criswell in "Orgy Of The Dead"), and this film barely qualifies as softcore, much less hardcore (such as "Necromania"). You get the idea.

"Fugitive Girls" is top-shelf exploitation and recommended viewing for Wood cultists, Rene Bond fans, B-cinema specialists and grindhouse followers alike.

(10 stars for genre excellence, not general brilliance)

Fugitive Girls (1974)

** (out of 4)

Director Stephen and screenwriter Edward D. Wood, Jr. teamed up several times throughout their careers with their best known film being Orgy of the Dead, which gets my vote for the worst film ever made but this film here isn't too bad. A sweet, innocent girl is sent to prison for a crime she didn't do but once in she's soon being forced to break out with her four cellmates. Soon the five women are on the run trying to avoid the police while searching for some money one of the women hid. This is pretty much your typical drive-in, sexploitation junk but it helps wonders due to the off the wall screenplay by Wood. The dialogue here is incredibly silly and offers some great laughs including some funny sequences where the racist woman gets into it with the black one. All five characters are the same we've seen in countless films like this as we have the sweet girl, the racist one, the tough black chic, the butch and the slut. While the characters are all unoriginal I must give Wood credit for really mixing up the screenplay and throwing all sorts of craziness into the mix. We get several fights, a scene where two of the women rape a man, hippies, bikers and a weird gas station owner played by Wood. All of the acting is rather poor but it does provide more laughs. There's also plenty of nudity on display but the DVD version is the theatrical cut, which is missing some nudity and extended sex scenes. Apparently a XXX version was also released in some theaters. This is certainly a poorly made film but if you're a fan of the WIP genre then you should get a few laughs out of this.

Out on a date "Paula" (Jabie Abercrombie) is sitting in the car while her boyfriend goes into a liquor store for some booze. What she doesn't realize is that he has just robbed the store and killed the clerk. When he tries to escape in the car she subsequently gets caught and is sent to a remote minimum security prison for women. On her first night there she is raped by another one of the prisoners named "Kat" (Tallie Cochrane) who is the leader of her particular cell block. Not long afterward all 4 women in this cell block decide to break out of prison and coerce Paula into going with them. After their escape it appears that each new scenario results in at least one of these ladies removing their blouses for one reason or the other. At least, that's what I considered to be the basic gist of the movie. As far as the actual quality of the film was concerned the script was weak, the acting was bad, the lighting was dismal and the action sequences were equally substandard. On top of that, other than Rene Bond (as the southern prisoner named "Toni") and possibly Janet Newell (as the hippie named "Calico") none of the women were that particularly attractive. In essence, while this may have been standard fare for a drive-in during the mid-70's it doesn't qualify as something anybody should rush out and view. At least I didn't think so. Below average.

(1974) Fugitive Girls/ Five Loose Women ACTION THRILLER

Produced, co-written and directed by Stephen C. Apostolof that has Paula (Jabie Abercrombe) who gets put in a women's jail facility after a set by her so-called boyfriend, and manages to escape with four other women to help her retrieve a stash of hidden cash. The four other women also includes Toni (Rene Bond(, Kat (Tallie Cochrane), Sheila (Donna Young) and Dee (Margie Lanier).

The movie got worse the longer it continued, for I did not care too much for the exploitation scenes as much as I cared how the characters are going to succeed.

A group of five extremely annoying female inmates plot their big prison break. This consists of them walking out of what looks like a rental cabin while someone off camera waves a spotlight around.

Next, they're "on the run", accompanied by "on the run" music. About now, we realize we're deep into Writer Ed Wood Jr. Territory. Thankfully, there's nothing whatsoever to be taken seriously.

The dialogue clunks along like a tin-can robot in anvil shoes. Of course, there's the obligatory nudity and hideous 1970's sensuality!

The best part is when the convicts stumble upon a commune of naked, performance artist-type hippies. Don't let their organic diets fool you! These hippies are into violence, man! Soon, the groovy tables are turned and the desperate women have some new, freaky threads!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The pursuing trio of plum idjit hillbillies! #2- The women's sexual assault on a male motorist! #3- The beatdown administered to the world's smallest biker gang! #4- The abuse-of-the-disabled home invasion sequence!

Yes, Rene Bond is in this film. All of her. If the likes of Roger Corman had directed it, it could have been a schlock masterwork...