Savage Sisters

I'm surprised this isn't more well known among exploitation fan circles. As far as women in prison movies go, this one is pretty amusing and works better than most of its ilk. Sure, it's not without flaws with some lame action scenes and a surprising lack of sleaze for the genre but the directing and acting do well with the zany script.

The lead women, which are a white, black, and Asian respectively, skip on the nudity but deliver some amusing dialogue and acting which the movie would have been pretty dull without. Performances are over the top lending to a cartoony vibe with John Ashley and Sid Haig being standouts. No ground is being broken here, but after watching countless exploitation movies, this one provides a fun lighthearted atmosphere missing from most.

I was warned that this would not be a typical women-in prison film. Cheri Caffaro may have tempted us with clothing that she was about to burst out of, but the key words are "about to." Even the shower scene with Caffaro and Rosanna Ortiz was a bust. Even Gloria Hendry in a bathtub was covered in soap. Even the matron (Rita Gomez), who jumps into bed with all the officers, hides herself well.

It's all about some crazy General, who has 10 stars and wears medals on his T shirt, who is after a million dollars the rebels stole. He enlists Capt. Morales (Eddie Garcia) with the promise of a star. Hendry takes Caffaro and Ortiz and they make a plan of their own with a shifty John Ashley, who plans to double-cross them.

Funny, but a big disappointment for WIP fans.

You have to give credit to this Filipino actioner for at least trying something different, and that's with making the movie more or less a comedy. However, the comedy is so lazy, so uninspired, and so utterly unfunny that sitting through the movie is more painful than had it kept the comedy out! (Also, the comedy sometimes has a mean-streak in it, giving some scenes a bitter taste.)

It's not that the movie is just bad with its comedy, it's also badly made. The "action" is poorly choreographed, and the mayhem has the intensity of seeing a group of people running by you. As well, there is some unbelievably slipshod editing; characters suddenly appear (or disappear) with no explanation as to how they got there or where they went. Added with a prologue that suspiciously looks like it was filmed and added in at the last minute, there seems to have been some problems during the shooting, or that they were frantically trying to save the movie in the editing room.

Oh yeah, don't let the "R" rating fool you. The rating seems to be more for several utterances of the "ultimate" four-letter words. The action isn't graphic, the sex happens off-screen or just out of camera range, and I don't think there's one instance of actual nudity by the ladies. You have to ask yourself why if they were headed for an "R" rating with the language, why they didn't use the opportunity to spice things up.

'Savage Sisters' comes from the same period as the Jack Hill led Filipino "chicks in chains" flicks of the early 70s ( see 'The Big Doll House' and 'The Big Bird Cage' for the best of the genre). Hill wasn't involved in this one mind you, the director is Eddie Romero, also responsible for the classic 'Black Mama, White Mama', who also appears in a supporting role as Captain Morales. The three aforementioned movies all co-starred blaxploitation icon Pam Grier. Grier isn't along for the ride in 'Savage Sisters', the Grier role is taken by Gloria Hendry ('Live And Let Die', 'Black Belt Jones'), and while the prison side of things isn't as important as the others in the series, fans of them will really dig this one. As always, while filmed in the Philippines, the movie is set in some unnamed Banana Republic. General Balthasar (Leopoldo Salcedo) plans on smuggling one million dollars US out of the country. A group of local revolutionaries plan on stealing the money and form an uneasy alliance with some bandits, led by the wily Malavael (the legendary Sid Haig, a regular in these kinds of movies), and his bumbling sidekick One-Eye (Vic Diaz, another familiar face). Malavael not surprisingly double crosses the revolutionaries and makes of with the cash. Meanwhile Jo Turner (Cheri Caffaro) and Mai Ling (Rosanna Ortiz), each with varying commitment to the Revolution, are captured before they can rendezvous with their comrades, who include Turner's lover. While in prison they are interrogated by tough hooker turned cop Lynn Jackson (Hendry). She is later convinced by the shady W.P. Billingsley (John Ashley, who also co-produced) to break the two women out of prison and help them track down Malavael, with the secret intention of getting hold of the cool million for themselves. However, Billingsley's plan of betrayal may not go exactly as planned as Jackson begins to bond with her "savage sisters" on the jungle journey. Newcomers to these kinds of movies may not enjoy this as those more familiar with their style and approach, but I enjoyed 'Savage Sisters' a great deal, and think it deserves to be much better known than it currently is. A tough and cool movie with plenty of fun and thrills.

Savage Sisters (1974) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline focuses on some females that form a plan with a local bandit to steal $1 million US dollars. They need to team-up to execute the heist but can they trust their bandit friends and his group of outlaws? This movie is directed by Eddie Romero (The Passionate Strangers) and stars Sid Haig (House of 1,000 Corpses), Gloria Hendry (Black Belt Jones), Cheri Caffaro (Girls are for Loving), John Ashley (The A-Team) and Rosanna Ortiz. How can you not love this movie? The script is absolutely awesome. The dialogue keeps you cracking up from beginning to end. You also have to love the old school gun shooting and bodies hitting the ground noises. There's also great torture, shower, sex, shootout and fight scenes. And how can you not enjoy the slang from this era - jive turkey, cabbage and pork chop. Lol The soundtrack is also awesome. While this isn't an epic masterpiece, it is non-stop entertainment that I'd easily score a solid 7/10 and strongly recommend.