Cette femme est un flic

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.

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).

Policewomen is an action movie directed by Lee Frost, who made several exploitation flicks including the pleasingly ridiculous The Thing with Two Heads (1972) about a white racist who has his head transplanted onto the body of a black guy! This one is certainly less psychotronic than that effort but is better value overall in my view. Its title makes no sense at all of course, as there is only really one policewoman in the film, seemingly it was going to be titled 'Policewoman' until a TV movie of that name was aired just before its release so the producers just pluralized the title of this one. Whatever the case, it hardly matters. It's about a female police officer who goes undercover to infiltrate an all-female gang of criminals.

I really like films full of women so this one was right up my alley. The guys that appear are very peripheral and sometimes even get beat up by the chicks, which is never a bad thing. But seeing as it's a 70's action flick, while it has some material satirising male chauvinism, the female empowerment stuff is offset by a sprinkling of nudity throughout, so everyone's a winner basically. The lead actress is Sondra Currie who makes for a great heroine. She, and the other women, get involved in much kung fu fighting and it's consistently entertaining stuff. The film opens with a prison break and then moves onto its gangster plot-line but it is in essence a female-led action flick which was clearly aimed at the unpretentious low budget drive-in crowd. I personally found quite a lot to like about this one and consider it something of a success.

POLICE WOMEN is a straightforward early '70s action flick about an undercover cop who infiltrates an all-female gang in order to bring some perps to justice. It has a low rent, TV movie-style look and feel to it, but a string of rather basic martial arts fights keeps the running time bubbling along, allowing this to be mildly enjoyable for the undemanding viewer.

Sondra Currie essays the role of the tough, ass-kicking female lead, and she does a fine job with it. She brings some of the sass and verve of Pam Grier to the part, and she's one of the best things about the movie. Elsewhere, watch out for William Smith's amusing cameo as a karate instructor. Director Lee Frost worked his way through an exploitation career incorporating such titles as HOUSE ON BARE MOUNTAIN, THE DEFILERS, LOVE CAMP 7, and THE THING WITH TWO HEADS. What a resume!

I found Policewomen really disappointing; although I must admit that I went into it with the wrong expectations. I was hoping for a drive-in feature along the same lines as women in prison flicks such as Caged Heat or The Big Bird Cage; and after the opening scene, which features a prison break, it looked as though I was going to get my wish. However, from there Policewoman quickly descends into boredom and ends up turning into a low-rent female lead version of Dirty Harry; and I was none too impressed. The plot focuses on Lacy Bond (who, according to the poster, came before James Bond; even though this film was released twelve years after James' film debut). Lacy is bored with her job of guarding female prisoners; but she gets break after thwarting the prison escape that takes place during the best part of the movie single handed. She gets some training and then the top brass decide to give her an assignment that involves infiltrating an all-female gang of drug smugglers.

The main problem with this film is that the plot isn't very interesting, and there is little in the way of distractions. There are plenty of films like this that aren't particularly strong in the plot department; but work anyway thanks to interesting characters and wacky situations; but despite featuring an old woman with a strapping young husband; this film is seriously lacking in those areas, which makes viewing it very tedious. There's also nothing in the way of sleaze, which is unforgivable as far as I'm concerned since that's the only reason I was watching the film. The lead role is taken by Sondra Currie; and she's not very good, both in terms of how she looks and her performance. I really lost interest in the film after about half an hour and director Lee Frost didn't seem interested in trying to regain it. The grand finale is not too bad, and better than anything featured in the middle part of the film; but even so, this really is disappointing stuff and I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to find a copy.