Cette femme est un flic

POLICEWOMEN opens with a semi-explosive, karate-enhanced jailbreak, led by the nefarious duo of Janette and Pam (Laurie Rose and Jeannie Bell).

Now, uber-tough policewoman, Lacy Bond (Sondra Currie) is on the case. Thankfully, she's as good at gunplay, stunt driving, and snappy comebacks as she is with her fists. She'll need all of her skills to take on an all-female drug smuggling ring, headed by a 75 year old granny!

Lacy's superiors have a hard time containing her unorthodox, violent methods, while many terribly-choreographed, sluggish martial arts battles ensue.

This is another example of drive-in movie fodder, with the typically forced "street" dialogue, hit and miss acting, and haphazard story line. Still, Ms. Currie remains likeable throughout, in spite of the hilarious shambles around her. Her character's training session with Bill the karate instructor (William Smith) is one for the ages!...

Among the films that have featured female super cops (mostly Hong Kong), Sondra Currie is more believable. She's not big, but displays sufficient athleticism so as not to ruin the illusion. This low budget crime action film is passable entertainment. I actually liked it, but I enjoy the action woman genre. None of the movie was believable. After all, who would put a policewoman in such extreme danger without much backup.

The video box cover indicates that this movie is "the most daring caper since "The French Connection". This puffing is a tad overstated, okay, a lot overstated. The cast was fairly extensive and the acting ability varied quite a lot. Don't be mistaken, most viewers will be laughing at portions of the movie. For me, I will overlook the bad and take some comfort in seeing the film and knowing that the film makers tried to make a good movie. Policewomen has largely disappeared from circulation. I gave it a 6 (from 10).

I have always loved crime or action films starring female criminals, inmates or not. Although there were dozens of women in prison movies. This one is not, or only at the beginning, whilst a bunch of chicks escape from behind bars. Besides this, that film is a great fun, despite the fact that it is really corny, but that's why I love it. Don't watch it in the same way as you could do it with SET IT OFF, A GUN FOR JENNIFER or GIRLS ON THE LOOSE, other girl gang features, which deserve to be seen with other eyes, with a more serious manner. This is a grade B film destined to Saturday evening drive in audiences, nothing else. I would not be surprised to learn that Quentin Tarantino is a great fan for this kind of stuff, and this film in particular. It could have been a series TV pilot, but I guess the TV show starring Angie Dickinson - POLICE WOMAN - would have jeopardize this never made TV show. I laughed with the sequences showing the lead female character - the cop - wearing her suit without undergarment for her breast. We clearly see her tits through the shirt. I am surprised that no other viewer has commented about this. And useless to say that the scenes showing the headquarters of the bikini girls is unforgettable. And the old gang leader with her younger husband, a sort of pencil neck bodybuilder pumping iron...ha ha ha

A must see for grade B cinema. But ONLY grade B cinema. Don't expect any serious stuff.

Can you give a low budget b-movie a 7 rating? I am tempted!

I was entertained and amused for 90 minutes by this 1974 flick. No it's not the best script and acting but it is definitely entertaining and I enjoyed it more than some IMDb 8+ rated blockbusters. Plenty of gratuitous nudity and classic 1974 action/fighting / karate scenes.

Sondra Currie was extremely enjoyable and the clear star of the show. And she's not difficult to look at either. A strong 6 plus for this flick.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

A beautiful, albeit deadly, young policewoman named Lacy Bond (Sondra Currie) is recruited to help bring down a new all-girl gang.

This film is aimed squarely at drive-in film fans who like their stories with a little touch of female exploitation. Well, this film is nowhere near as sleazy as its opening credits would seem to suggest so some may be disappointed.

Ultimately this is a film that Almost Works: the fight scenes are surprisingly good, there's a coherent plot that's easy to follow and our leading lady proves easy to like as well as easy on the eyes. Yes this almost works...in terms of a serious film...

But Not Quite...why?

Well for one thing there's a few too many underdeveloped characters. Another is how the all-girl gang likes to spend most of their time sunning themselves in bikinis....also the ending really stretches the credibility a bit too far...

Still all in all this is sometimes quite a lot of fun to watch. My favorite scenes include Lacy kicking butt in police uniform when the prisoners make a break, what happens when she takes on William Smith, and when she saves someone (I won't say who) from a severe beating at the hands of five vicious bikini-wearing babes?! Somewhat ahead of its time given the current craze in television for this type of stuff.