Rebellious sisters and a crooked PI try to escape from the girls' mobster uncle with stolen loot and meet dangerous characters while dodging a pair of enforcers.Rebellious sisters and a crooked PI try to escape from the girls' mobster uncle with stolen loot and meet dangerous characters while dodging a pair of enforcers.Rebellious sisters and a crooked PI try to escape from the girls' mobster uncle with stolen loot and meet dangerous characters while dodging a pair of enforcers.
Diana Darrin
- Miss Meadows
- (as Diane Darrin)
Ron Gans
- Radio Newscaster
- (voice)
Vern Rowe
- Mr. Harris
- (as Vernon Rowe)
Jimmy Lydon
- Motel Manager
- (as James Lydon)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
It may be a bit hard to fathom why this is called "Bonnie's Kids" when the mother character "Bonnie" is dead before the movie even starts and does not appear at all, even in flashbacks. But this is no doubt a reference to the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" which this film at times certainly resembles. Two sisters are living with their drunken, brutish stepfather after the death of their prostitute mother. The older sister (Tiffany Bolling) catches the stepfather trying to molest the younger sister(Robin Mattson) and shoots him dead. The two go on the lam and end up at the home of an uncle, who owns a fashion magazine, but (rather incongruously) is also a vicious gangster on the side. The older sister goes to pick up a "package" for the uncle from a dimwitted private detective. They fall for each other and when they discover the "package" is a large amount of cash, they flee with it with two of the uncle's dangerous associate (Alex Rocco, Timothy Brown ) in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, the younger sister is seducing practically everyone in her uncle's household from his studly gardener to his lonely lesbian wife. The ending makes the finale of "Bonnie and Clyde" seem positively cheery by comparison.
This movie has a real early 70's atmosphere of bleak pessimism to it, much like "The Candy Snatchers", another cult film of that era starring Bolling. It isn't just the downbeat ending though, but the fact that ALL the characters are totally amoral and unsympathetic, even the supposed heroines. The two sisters are more than willing to use their sexy bodies to get what they want and they seem completely untroubled by morals or basic human feelings. After convincing him to steal the money, the older sister is perfectly willing to betray her private detective beau and run off with a lecherous traveling salesman to save her own skin. The younger sister, meanwhile, is even more callous: she drives one of her lovers to suicide and then just laughs when she discovers the body. In the end, she doesn't even seem to care about the fate of her older sister.
These sexy but totally unsympathetic heroine roles were pretty much the specialty of Tiffany Bolling. So, not surprisingly, she's pretty good here. This is one of Mattson's first movies, but she would go on to a brief exploitation career (i.e. "Candy Stripe Nurses"), and a much longer career in American television. In way she almost manages to "out-Bolling" Bolling here. She was still pretty young when she did this role, but nevertheless men (and lesbians) everywhere will no doubt be thankful that they don't have a malicious temptress like THIS for a stepdaughter. Director Arthur Marks, who also produced "The Candy Snatcher" would go on to do a couple influential "blaxploitation" movies ("Detroit 9000", "J.D.s Revenge"). I can't say this movie will fit everyone's taste, but one things for sure--they don't make 'em like this anymore.
This movie has a real early 70's atmosphere of bleak pessimism to it, much like "The Candy Snatchers", another cult film of that era starring Bolling. It isn't just the downbeat ending though, but the fact that ALL the characters are totally amoral and unsympathetic, even the supposed heroines. The two sisters are more than willing to use their sexy bodies to get what they want and they seem completely untroubled by morals or basic human feelings. After convincing him to steal the money, the older sister is perfectly willing to betray her private detective beau and run off with a lecherous traveling salesman to save her own skin. The younger sister, meanwhile, is even more callous: she drives one of her lovers to suicide and then just laughs when she discovers the body. In the end, she doesn't even seem to care about the fate of her older sister.
These sexy but totally unsympathetic heroine roles were pretty much the specialty of Tiffany Bolling. So, not surprisingly, she's pretty good here. This is one of Mattson's first movies, but she would go on to a brief exploitation career (i.e. "Candy Stripe Nurses"), and a much longer career in American television. In way she almost manages to "out-Bolling" Bolling here. She was still pretty young when she did this role, but nevertheless men (and lesbians) everywhere will no doubt be thankful that they don't have a malicious temptress like THIS for a stepdaughter. Director Arthur Marks, who also produced "The Candy Snatcher" would go on to do a couple influential "blaxploitation" movies ("Detroit 9000", "J.D.s Revenge"). I can't say this movie will fit everyone's taste, but one things for sure--they don't make 'em like this anymore.
I've been watching quite a lot of arty-farty foreign flicks of late... so what better way to chill out and take out a break from all the pretentious posturing, than to take on the sort of movie that would have had the drive ins packed 40 years ago. You have a couple of gorgeous babes, senseless violence throughout, casual racism, rampant homophobia, a ramshackle story which goes in every direction and gratuitous nudity as a given. What more could you ask for?
Well, perhaps an ending which will p*ss a lot of people off... GUARANTEED. And maybe they could play the one tune they have on the soundtrack slightly less than every other scene. Other than that, you'll get what you expect. A passable time waster, but don't expect it to be too distracting when y'all smooching with ya babe in the front seat. Don't forget to brush your teeth!! Or at least chew minty gum...... 5/10
Well, perhaps an ending which will p*ss a lot of people off... GUARANTEED. And maybe they could play the one tune they have on the soundtrack slightly less than every other scene. Other than that, you'll get what you expect. A passable time waster, but don't expect it to be too distracting when y'all smooching with ya babe in the front seat. Don't forget to brush your teeth!! Or at least chew minty gum...... 5/10
"Bonnie's Kids" is – plain and simply put – one of the absolute greatest and most entertaining exploitation movies to have emerged from the entire 70s decade; period! This movie is a totally bonkers and exhilarating thrill ride from start to finish and, with a little bit of crazy imagination, you could even state that this is bizarrely unhinged fairy-tale! Two beautiful young "princesses" named Ellie & Myra, sisters and daughters of the infamous Bonnie who's dead even before the movie begins and only referred to verbally, live with their violent and abusive stepfather. When he attempts to assault Myra, Ellie blasts him away with her shotgun and hides the body in the cellar. The two girls subsequently go on the road and head for El Paso, where they plan to live with their dubious Uncle Ben; owner of a nudie magazine and a notorious crime boss on the side. While young Myra develops a special bond with Ben's frustrated and oppressed lesbian wife Diana, Ellie gets asked by her uncle to do an errand. She has to go and pick up a package from the private detective that her uncle's henchmen have recruited, but she and Larry fall in love and discover that the package contains a gigantic amount of money in cash! They intend to keep the money, but find themselves relentlessly pursued by Ben's henchmen. Admittedly, this brief description makes the film sound rather ordinary but I guarantee that this isn't the case! The 105 minutes of running time are literally chock-full of versatile events that are alternately comical (the sleazy salesman) and brutish (the nihilistic killing of the young motel couple), as well as plenty of road-movie styled action and sleazy coming-of-age themes. But the most remarkable thing about "Bonnie's Kids" is undoubtedly the colorful cast of characters! Every single character is unique, and yet they all have something in common: every character – from the two protagonist girls to the most insignificant supportive role - is a totally amoral and self-centered individual. Myra doesn't care about anybody but herself and shamelessly uses her luscious young body to discover life, while Ellie quickly profiles herself as a stone cold and carnivorous killer bee. Then you have Ben's two goons Eddy and Digger, respectively played by exploitation veteran Alex Rocco and the Afro-wearing Timothy Brown. Like another reviewer already cleverly pointed out, it might very well be that Quentin Tarantino modeled his legendary characters Vincent and Jules (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) from "Pulp Fiction" after these two! Their looks and personal behaviors are similar, but they also spend their days chatting in their car, sipping drinks in cheap diners and ruthlessly executing people when necessary! Considering Tarantino's well-known taste in movies, I'm 200% convinced that "Bonnie's Kids" is a beloved favorite of his. Writer/director Arthur Marks was particularly specialized in Blaxploitation cinema and directed a handful of them ("J.D's Revenge", "Bucktown", "Friday Foster"
) but "Bonnie's Kids" is undeniably his best work: a fantastically deranged, unscrupulous, energetic and insanely imaginative exploitation masterpiece!
*edit: I just read in the trivia section that Tarantino is indeed a tremendous fan of this film and even paid tribute to it in "Pulp Fiction" by naming one of the segments "The Bonnie Situation". I didn't even think of that!
*edit: I just read in the trivia section that Tarantino is indeed a tremendous fan of this film and even paid tribute to it in "Pulp Fiction" by naming one of the segments "The Bonnie Situation". I didn't even think of that!
This movie is really good at accentuating how pretty its women are, and how sleazy its men are, and at that mostly outright predatory. To emphasize how good it is at these things, it gives us fairly regular shots of women topless, with additional shots of women in scant clothing, and even fifteen-year old star Robin Mattson is not excluded. To much the same point, even men's own family members are not safe from their predation, and any cops we see in passing are just as rotten. My, my, if all such sleaze were piled any higher then this would be a film about conservative politicians! Somewhere amidst all the dubiousness - further including some deviousness from the female characters, and pointedly, cheekily counterbalanced with very bouncy music - there is a plot about sisters Ellie and Myra looking out for each other, and eventually some shenanigans about dirty money. I say "eventually" because in a runtime of a little over 100 minutes, we're basically halfway through before that plot more or less begins to take shape, and longer still before that plot begins to truly progress. Up to that point, and still more past it, 'Bonnie's kids' is more of a loose assemblage of characters toying with each other in one way or another.
Look, now Ellie and Larry are dancing and giving each other eyes! Well, isn't that just so sweet. Will this turn out to be more important than it's made out to be in the moment? You bet! Conversely, Myra just disappears from our screens for a surprisingly long time.
The premise sounded interesting. I won't argue with filmmaker Arthur Marks, the women are indeed beautiful. The music is catchy and enjoyable, whatever the precise mood it's embracing. The cast give committed, commendable performances, with Mattson and even more so Tiffany Bolling surely standing out most as Myra and Ellie. This is well made in most every regard, including the editing and cinematography, the costume design, the hair and makeup, and so on. I like the narrative in and of itself, and the scene writing is fairly strong. I do like the ideas on hand, including the characterizations, and in fact the material is primed for a rather dark, absorbing, stimulating neo-noir thriller. I think the whole would be far more solid if Marks weren't so lackadaisical about developing that narrative, and if he didn't shove most of the substance into the relatively small corner of the last two-fifths. Very much accentuating the point: just as the overall sleaze is most predominant in the first forty-five to sixty minutes, and the unhurried storytelling, as the plot truly kicks off in the latter half, Marks left himself so much to do and show in such comparatively little time that the pacing seems rushed, failing to give scenes, beats, and ideas all due time to resonate. Oops.
On another note, we can perhaps accept the misogyny, otherwise touches of sexism, and a racial slur as being part and parcel of the saga, and the figures it presents to us. A homophobic exchange of dialogue, however, is plainly unnecessary and earns a demerit.
Anyway, yes, the pacing shifts from "la, la-laa, la-laa" to "go, go, go," and similarly, the tone shifts from "do, dee-do, dee-do" to "oh man, it's going down, now." I'll grant that this tends to be the narrative structure in most any work of fiction, but the shifts here are glaringly unnatural, not to mention forced and brusque owing to Marks' direction. Carson Whitsett's music similarly becomes more intense and grabbing, and it's superb in and of itself - but again the disparity is noteworthy in an unfortunate manner. The first long stretch that traipses along needed to be tightened; the back end needed more room to breathe as the seediness explodes into jarring violence with a swift gait. With all this firmly in mind, I still believe the picture is enjoyable and worthwhile, and it's better than not. Really, at its core this is flush with potential that should have let it stand tall beside its genre brethren. It's just regrettable, therefore, that the faults stand out so vividly, almost threatening to outshine the value 'Bonnie's kids' boasts. By all means, check this out if you have the chance to watch, for it earns a fair recommendation, and may you like it more than I did. Why, I myself want to like it more than I do. Would that the two unequal halves had been treated more carefully.
Look, now Ellie and Larry are dancing and giving each other eyes! Well, isn't that just so sweet. Will this turn out to be more important than it's made out to be in the moment? You bet! Conversely, Myra just disappears from our screens for a surprisingly long time.
The premise sounded interesting. I won't argue with filmmaker Arthur Marks, the women are indeed beautiful. The music is catchy and enjoyable, whatever the precise mood it's embracing. The cast give committed, commendable performances, with Mattson and even more so Tiffany Bolling surely standing out most as Myra and Ellie. This is well made in most every regard, including the editing and cinematography, the costume design, the hair and makeup, and so on. I like the narrative in and of itself, and the scene writing is fairly strong. I do like the ideas on hand, including the characterizations, and in fact the material is primed for a rather dark, absorbing, stimulating neo-noir thriller. I think the whole would be far more solid if Marks weren't so lackadaisical about developing that narrative, and if he didn't shove most of the substance into the relatively small corner of the last two-fifths. Very much accentuating the point: just as the overall sleaze is most predominant in the first forty-five to sixty minutes, and the unhurried storytelling, as the plot truly kicks off in the latter half, Marks left himself so much to do and show in such comparatively little time that the pacing seems rushed, failing to give scenes, beats, and ideas all due time to resonate. Oops.
On another note, we can perhaps accept the misogyny, otherwise touches of sexism, and a racial slur as being part and parcel of the saga, and the figures it presents to us. A homophobic exchange of dialogue, however, is plainly unnecessary and earns a demerit.
Anyway, yes, the pacing shifts from "la, la-laa, la-laa" to "go, go, go," and similarly, the tone shifts from "do, dee-do, dee-do" to "oh man, it's going down, now." I'll grant that this tends to be the narrative structure in most any work of fiction, but the shifts here are glaringly unnatural, not to mention forced and brusque owing to Marks' direction. Carson Whitsett's music similarly becomes more intense and grabbing, and it's superb in and of itself - but again the disparity is noteworthy in an unfortunate manner. The first long stretch that traipses along needed to be tightened; the back end needed more room to breathe as the seediness explodes into jarring violence with a swift gait. With all this firmly in mind, I still believe the picture is enjoyable and worthwhile, and it's better than not. Really, at its core this is flush with potential that should have let it stand tall beside its genre brethren. It's just regrettable, therefore, that the faults stand out so vividly, almost threatening to outshine the value 'Bonnie's kids' boasts. By all means, check this out if you have the chance to watch, for it earns a fair recommendation, and may you like it more than I did. Why, I myself want to like it more than I do. Would that the two unequal halves had been treated more carefully.
I do love a good sleazy seventies crime flick, and Bonnie's Kids is certainly a very good sleazy seventies crime flick! The main reason this film works so well is because everything about it is absolutely spot on - writer-director Arthur Marks creates a real gritty and sleazy atmosphere that fits his plot brilliantly, while lead actresses Tiffany Bolling and Robin Mattson both manage to pull off performances that are sexy and tantalising as well as being deceptive and as far away from 'innocent' as you can get! The film makes best use of its elements and what we end up with is pure drive in gold! The plot focuses on two girls, Ellie and Myra, the daughters of deceased town tramp "Bonnie". After their no good stepfather tries to rape the younger daughter, the older one blows him away with a shotgun and the two daughters decide to go and stay with their only relative, Uncle Ben, in his lavish mansion in El Paso. The two get involved with their new lives, and soon enough the older daughter is asked to run an errand for her uncle, but when a chance to steal a load of money presents itself; she takes it...
The plot of this film is great in that we get a basic premise and from there it's never clear where it's going to go. Arthur Marks' script has plenty going on in it; the main story always revolves around the girls, but there's enough going elsewhere and with other characters to ensure that it's always interesting and the 105 minute runtime is certainly not packed with filler! The film is also good in that it's clearly a product of the time in which it's made - everything about the film clearly sets it in the seventies; the fashions, the music, the cars, houses etc are all exactly what you'd expect from a film like this. There's a real lot of themes that are common in seventies exploitation that made it in too, from sex and shooting to lesbianism and teenage angst. The fact that the film is not predictable is carried on all the way to the end, and the climax really does come as a big surprise and was not what I was expecting! Overall, this might not appeal to all tastes, but for my money, Bonnie's Kids is an out and out drive in classic and should not be missed by anyone who considers themselves a fan of films like this one!
The plot of this film is great in that we get a basic premise and from there it's never clear where it's going to go. Arthur Marks' script has plenty going on in it; the main story always revolves around the girls, but there's enough going elsewhere and with other characters to ensure that it's always interesting and the 105 minute runtime is certainly not packed with filler! The film is also good in that it's clearly a product of the time in which it's made - everything about the film clearly sets it in the seventies; the fashions, the music, the cars, houses etc are all exactly what you'd expect from a film like this. There's a real lot of themes that are common in seventies exploitation that made it in too, from sex and shooting to lesbianism and teenage angst. The fact that the film is not predictable is carried on all the way to the end, and the climax really does come as a big surprise and was not what I was expecting! Overall, this might not appeal to all tastes, but for my money, Bonnie's Kids is an out and out drive in classic and should not be missed by anyone who considers themselves a fan of films like this one!
Did you know
- TriviaThis film was very influential to director Quentin Tarantino when he was making Pulp Fiction (1994). "The Bonnie Situation" segment in his film was titled as such as a direct homage to this film, and - as in this film - Bonnie is never seen by anyone in it at all.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 4: Cooled by Refrigeration (2009)
- SoundtracksEscape
Words and Music by Estelle Silberkleit
- How long is Bonnie's Kids?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Bonnie's Kids
- Filming locations
- Westwood Village, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, USA(Myra and Ellie arrive in Los Angeles, parking the white pick-up in lot.)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 45m(105 min)
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content