Um Punhado de Fêmeas

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.

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!!!

"The Female Bunch" was completed in Aug 1969 under shooting title "A Time to Run," even more brutal and shocking than director Al Adamson's breakout success, "Satan's Sadists," on Western locations in Utah and the Spahn Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, at the very time the Charles Manson family was committing their most heinous crimes. The new title was inspired by "The Wild Bunch," going even further in its violence and nudity, even a full frontal shower scene, never topped by Adamson. A modern story about man-hating women living on an isolated California ranch, enabling them to run heroin from across the Mexican border. The sight of the bunch on horseback, constantly riding hither and yon, quickly grows tiresome, and even their sexual antics prove boring under Adamson's out of focus direction. Future HEE HAW girl Jennifer Bishop had an extensive exploitation career in Adamson films, "Blood of Dracula's Castle," "Horror of the Blood Monsters," and "Jessi's Girls," but hasn't the acting chops to truly convince as Grace, the 'queen bee' of this hive, and none of the other females stand out. The nominal male leads are Lon Chaney and Russ Tamblyn, only around long enough to justify their prominent billing, Chaney billed with the 'Jr.' for the only time since the 1942 Universal short "Keeping Fit." Tamblyn only arrives at the midway point, getting killed in glorious fashion with a pitchfork to the groin after being branded on the forehead by Grace. As Monti, aging former stuntman, Chaney is the only male working on Grace's ranch, believing that she'll eventually respond favorably to his amorous advances, only to be knocked out, tied to the back of a horse, and allowed to be dragged off to certain death. With only 6 1/2 minutes screen time, it's a disappointingly small role for the actor's last, but even worse is the quality of his cancer ridden voice, reduced to a terrible rasp, even when he's supposed to register emotion. There's a certain home movie atmosphere in the way that Adamson unflatteringly films his star, happily guzzling a bottle of vodka and spitting it out! It's a sad sight to see, but Lon Chaney's career comes to a close after 164 films in 37 years of dedicated work.

"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.