Girl Gang

This movie is actually one-of-a-kind. It is so very bad, especially the sound, the lines, the acting.... that it is really entertaining, worth a view. I would not buy it, or rent it...but if it pops up on Comcast "Something Weird", as it did for me...check it out. The fact that it shows how to free-base heroin, way back in 1954 , marijuana (Mary-Janes)and the whole drug scene, way back then, just really amazed me. The babes are "cheese-cake" all the way, Joanne Arnold went on to be a Playmate Centerfold May 1954 (The month/year I was born) makes it extra special. Joe, the drug dealer wearing a "tie", the "like Mom's kitchen -so warm and friendly"...the old cars...very entertaining in a strange kind of way!...

Sure, they look innocent enough, but, no, they're the GIRL GANG! Marauding, marijuana-puffing minxes on a mission of mischief and mayhem! Working for the devilish Joe (Timothy Farell), these hellcats are out to cause big trouble!

Joe keeps these girls in line by getting them hooked on "the needle". We watch in horror, as he goes through the step-by-step process of injecting the dreaded drug! Yep, it's the big H for these hellraising females!

Soon, Joe and his cohorts are teaching the local kids to smoke "wacky weed", so they can be more easily led.to "the hard stuff". Who knew that pot smoking and harp music were so intimately connected? In no time, everyone's "hopped up" to beat the band!

Joe reaps the benefits of his eeevil empire, turning the youth of America into felonious fiends of frenzy! Prostitution gallops in on its pale horse, accompanied by the boogie-woogie and acid jazz that has corrupted so many innocent souls! Can death be far off?

Heed this warning, or pay the price!...

Girl Gang is so bad it's good. The acting is sub-par, yes. The direction isn't great. But the plot is actually pretty well thought out: Drug dealer uses a couple of his regulars to recruit young 'greenhorns' to his 'candy'. Once they get hooked on weed, he moves them on to heroin and all of them eventually find that the heroin habit is more expensive, therefore they 'owe' the dealer more and more money. He then basically forces the girls into prostitution and 'rape' allegation shakedowns to get the money to pay him back. Time goes on and they get deeper in debt to him and get into worse and worse criminal activity to support their habit. This is certainly not a family night movie, what with all the sex and prostitution and blackmail. There is even a point where it shows step by step how to freebase heroin...you learn something new every day! If you have no sense of humour, or the slightest understanding of the time period in which this film was made, I don't suggest you waste your time. On the other hand, if you love 'Teenagers Going to Hell' delinquency films of the fifties and sixties as much as I do, you'll love this monstrosity! It's a campy cheese-fest worthy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 that actually holds up decently on it's own!

Timothy Farrell runs an operation where he gets boys and girl hooked on marijuana and heroin, then sends them out to rob and commit prostitution.

When the most prominent name on a cast and crew list is Farrell, you know you're in for a dire time. No one can read a line with any conviction, the mise en scene is obvious and dull, and even the sound effects, provided by Dale Knight are poor; the sounds he offers bear no relation to what is seen on screen, save the occasional jangling of harp strings to indicate a high.

Like most exploitation films, this one promises a lot of titillation, but the cheap and sordid production doesn't offer much beyond some necking, a view of Joanne Arnold's garter belt, and a poorly shot, fully clothed catfight between her and Mary Lou O'Connor. If that's all you require for a major turn-on, then you've got an imagination that sets a very low bar.

This film when watched on a Ultra HD screen takes on a a whole new viewing experience, if one can put aside their predilections for what the film "should" be, they will uncover an existentialist nightmarish allegory of the complacency and conformity of the nuclear age. Previously I viewed this film as a standard "exploitation" film. I viewed it a second time , late one night after 13 energy drinks, 7 cups of coffee and sleep deprivation of 49 hours; and came to a far different conclusion. When examining Ed Wood's subconscious one can see that he was comparing the heroin addicted life style that the Girl Gang was engaged in to that of the prescriptive feminine standard of living in the 50's where every female was racing through life trying to imitate one another and never taking time for introspective review. Wood's conclusion was that this conformity led to death, or a mental prison that was inescapable. While viewing this celluloid sociological warning to women imprisoned by the etiquette and mores of the nuclear age, those who would give up their careers and dreams for a marriage and the security of a husband with a pension, it is good to remember the wisdom bestowed by Ed Wood's own words," Live life because life is to be lived."