Girls for Rent

Porn legend Georgina Spelvin, fresh off her success in "The Devil in Miss Jones", got cast in this decent, frequently amusing exploitation-actioner from B movie veteran Al Adamson. Spelvin plays Sandra Tate, career criminal who's sprung from a prison work detail in Mexico to work for crime kingpin Joseph Moreno (Kent Taylor, "Brides of Blood"). Her first order of business is a hit, but Sandra chooses exactly the wrong person to help her carry it out: prostitute Donna Taylor (Susie Ewing, "Smokey and the Bandit"). Sandra is aghast at being party to murder, so she takes it on the lam, with Sandra and Morenos' lackey Erica (Rosalind Miles, "Friday Foster") in hot pursuit.

I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit: it's a sordid and sleazy little flick in which Ewing supplies most of the T & A (although Spelvin does take her top off twice). It's nice to see a movie like this where a lot of the humor WAS intentional; Adamson and his longtime cohort / producer Samuel Sherman were wise not to take this too, too seriously. The acting, too, was better than expected; at the least, it didn't always have me rolling my eyes. It's also a little twisted, as we see at about the 70 minute mark as it's revealed just how nasty Sandra is capable of being.

Granted, the stock music used was variable, in another case of the score working at some points and not at others. But I laughed heartily at how Sandra & Erica were really put through their paces trying to put a couple of bullets into Donna. And there's even a bit of heart, as Donna connects with the helpful Chuck (Preston Pierce, "Whiskey Mountain"). The big chase finish is fairly well done, as well.

Overall, this was fun to watch, although Spelvin herself disliked the experience enough that she went straight back to doing adult films (although she DID do two of the "Police Academy" movies in the 80s).

Seven out of 10.

Low-budget schlock director, Al Adamson & frequent collaborator, John D'Amato tell this story of Sandra Tate (adult movie star Georgina Spelvin of "Devil in Miss Jones" & "the Jade Pussycat" fame) a prisoner who escapes from custody during a cat-fight between the other female prisoners before she's picked up by Erica, a member of a crime syndicate who whisks her away to the head of said organization who promptly offers her a job which she promptly accepts. When the prostitute whom she hires to help eliminate her first assignment (a politician with a bad heart) bugs out and skips town for the border, Sandra & Erica are hot on her trail to tie up this loose end (no pun intended)

I'm not usually too found of Al Adamson helmed films (Doctor Dracula & Dracula Vs. Frankenstien are utterly abysmal), but compared to his other output, this picture is actually pretty good. Doesn't hurt that I like Georgina Spelvin and think she was an under-rated golden age adult star (speaking of which she plays a real piece of work here) The movie drags in parts and has some filler, but the dune buggy/car chase was pretty good and although the movie was far from perfect I didn't feel as if I wasted my time watching it.

Eye Candy: Sandy Carey & Tallie Cochrane get topless; Susan McIver and Georgina Spelvin both show T&A

My Grade: C-

Girls for Rent (1974)

** (out of 4)

Action flick from drive-in master Adamson about a crime boss (Kent Taylor) who breaks a woman (Georgina Spelvin) out of prison so that she can run his "girls for hire" business. The newly released woman sends a new girl out on a hit where she unknowingly kills a man, which scares her so she takes off running for Mexico. This leaves the boss and another woman (Rosalind Miles) to try and track her down. Considering some of the films Adamson made this one here actually isn't too bad and manages to be fairly well-made. The biggest problem is that it really lacks any good pacing or energy to make its 90-minute running time go by fast enough. There are many times throughout the film where you'll be watching a scene and wonder why you're watching it because it goes no where and in reality it adds nothing to the actual story. I'm going to guess that Adamson needed to expand the running time and this is the reason but no matter what the reason was it ends up hurting the film. The movie is pretty stupid from start to finish but there are enough silly moments to make it worth viewing. One such moment happens during a "high speed" car chase, which includes one of the cars being a Pinto. Another scene has Spelvin raping a retarded man before shooting him in the head. Being exploitation you can expect a fair amount of nudity by lovely young ladies who probably went to Hollywood expecting to become Monroe but instead find themselves being shown nude throughout the drive-ins in America. Spelvin is best known for her lead role in DEVIL IN MISS JONES and she isn't too bad here but then again she's not that good either. I will say she has one of the most non-threatening laughs in the history of bad guys giving disturbing laughs to look creepy. Miles was a pro at various blaxploitation flicks and she's without a question the most interesting thing here. This turned out to be Taylor's final film as he would retire from the business (or just simply got fed up that no one was offering him work except Adamson). GIRLS FROM RENT, on DVD as I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE, isn't the greatest film ever made but it's certainly not as bad as some of the director's work. This movie wasn't made for the art crowd so only those wanting low-budget thrills should check it out.

You may have put aside all the trash from trash video distributors like, you know, the ones behind this; you may think you won't give Al Adamson (director) or Samuel Sherman (producer) a second chance to trip you into a poor evening watching cheap soft-core, but!... This jewel of a cheap, quick movie here, made up in 60 days, has superb acting, reasonable direction, well photographed mountain and desert scenarios, creditable script (with not that many goofs), and - being a crime movie, action, thriller - a surprise ending. No, I won't reveal if it's better for you to drive into the desert with a car full of petrol, or without it. You shall find by yourself. If you can find this videotape somewhere, rent it, buy it, or rob it. If you had seen it, you'd opt for the third option, for sure :-))

"Girls for Rent" is an example of sexploitation movies, so don't expect much from it. But still, one should not neglect the ill-conceived moves in the scenario. The film is full with illogical actions from every point of view. I'll save them for the viewer who will still want to watch the movie, but there's no way you try to shoot a stationary person from 30 yards, miss him, and then hit a speeding car and the man in it both times with two shots while driving along dirt road, barely staying in the bouncing car.

There are many other such moments in which you say to yourself "Ah, this is impossible!", "How did it turn out exactly like that?", "Is the hero really so stupid as to act so unwisely?", which spoils the impression of otherwise the good idea and the dynamic action.