Blu dinamite

This is an interesting example of a subgenre of seventies sexploitation movies, something one might call feminist jiggle. Claudia Jennings, queen of the B-Movies plays a woman fed up with the system who in a female bonding moment goes on a crime spree with an equally disatisfied bank teller. The movie has plenty of Claudia taking her clothes off and some action too. This is hardly a message movie and has all the flaws of the quickies churned out at the time, but it's entertaining nevertheless in a charming way that the virtual remake, Thelma and Louise, didn't have. The latter was far too self conscious in its gender pieties.

This is a classic 1970's sexploitation flick.

Two chicks (sorry ladies, but it IS exploitation) rob banks with dynamite.

That premise alone sustained the film. Putting the late great Claudia Jennings (Deathsport, Gator Bait) in the lead was a stroke (hehheh) of genius. She and her cohort basically drive around in shorts and seduce the local men. Basically, they act like male stereotypes.

Anyone renting or watching this probably did so because the title was a grabber. And because of said title, you HAD to know you weren't getting a multiple Oscar nominee.

Another pizza and beer flick for men's movie night.

Late, great 70's drive-in movie queen Claudia Jennings is at her brassy, sassy and smoking sexy best as Candy Morgan, a kittenishly irreverent prison escapee who teams up with saucy former bank teller Ellie-Jo Turner (winningly played by the very pretty and appealing Jocelyn Jones of "Tourist Trap" fame) and goes on an eventful crime spree, robbing banks and breaking hunky guys' hearts with equally joyful abandon. Directed with considerable verve by Michael Pressman, buoyed by a zippy, banjo-happy score by Craig ("Nightmares," "Warning Sign") Safan, further sparked by a cheerfully lowbrow sensibility and featuring a sidesplitting cameo by the ever-haughty Stefan ("Blue Sunshine," "Blood Beach") Gierasch as a stuffy hotel clerk who tries to refuse Claudia and Jocelyn a room, this extremely brash, funny and spirited hoot rates as a whole lot of top-rate infectiously trashy fun. The copious gratuitous nudity by the tall, slender, breathtakingly beautiful blonde Claudia and the more diminutive, but still comely and enticing Jocelyn constitutes as another substantial plus. Overall, this baby is an absolute must-see for Claudia Jennings fans in particular and aficionados of blithely amoral cheapo 70's redneck crime epics in general, which hopefully doesn't rule out too many folks.

The Great Texas Dynamite Chase features a pretty simple plot: two young women set-off across Texas with a plan to rob banks using sticks of dynamite. While it may be a simple plot, this is one of the better 70s-era exploitation films I've run across. So what makes this one so special? I'll be honest, I'm often turned off by these movies because they can be so mean-spirited, poorly acted, poorly paced, and often quite dull. The Great Texas Dynamite Chase is none of those things. It's really an enjoyable movie.

The biggest plus the movie has going for it is Claudia Jennings as Candy Monroe (in some of the most eye-catching hot-pants i've ever seen) and Jocelyn Jones as Elle-Jo. The pair have incredible chemistry - some of the best non-romantic chemistry I can remember ever seeing. They seem so comfortable together. Everything between the two is natural and easy-going. And while I'm familiar with Jennings (and what fan of 70s exploitation isn't), I admit that Jones is new to me. What a revelation! She has a screen presence you don't often see in someone with so little experience.

Beyond Jennings and Jones, I've got to give a lot of credit to director MIchael Pressman. He filled The Great Texas Dynamite Chase with plenty of action, comedy that works, some well placed explosions, sex scenes that are actually sexy, and a couple of enjoyable chase sequences. He also doesn't have to stoop to some of the typical exploitation fodder like rape and gratuetous violence. Good stuff all around.

8/10

One thing for sure, a wild flick like this won't tax the brain. When the two slinky gals, Candy and Ellie Jo, aren't robbing banks in bra-less outfits, they're seducing random guys, or racing somebody's car, or blowing up whatever gets in their way. Need a cup of coffee, just get some dynamite and find a bank. Yeah, this is early women's lib where the girls give orders, not take them-- so move over John Wayne. And guys, you can expect a hormonal surge from the many bed, body, and nude scenes that for sure ain't the 1950's. Speaking of the 50's, is that little Johnny Crawford of The Rifleman (1958-63), now all grown up and playing Slim one of the girls' chosen male desperados. Good to see him picking up a payday. Anyway, things do move along as the production turns LA's San Fernando Valley into a plausible version of rural Texas, especially the back-roads. And brace yourself for a defiant ending that should have those censors of movies past turning in their graves. But I doubt the ending would have been audience accepted even in the '70's had the dynamiters been two guys instead of two nutty gals.

A movie like this is hard to rate since it only compares awkwardly with more conventional types. But for guys especially, the 90-minutes amounts to a slam-bang time passer, while the slam-bang isn't just limited to dynamite or cars.