Girl Gang

My mother played the part of one of the girls, Wanda! So here we are me, my husband, my step-son, and my mother (Mary Lou O'Connor) watching Girl Gangs on Christmas day!!

I can remember my mom telling me that she did a movie before I was born, and now I am finally seeing it. I cannot believe what this movie contains for the time period. It is astonishing the things that they show the people doing, or is it just the fact that my mom is in it that I find it so unbelievable! I have only watched it because she is in it, other than that I wouldn't give it the time of day.

Girl Gangs is a really horrible movie.

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!...

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.

First off, the title is wrong. There are girls and there is a gang but they're only incidental to the story. Most of the movie deals with a bunch of very overage "teenagers" getting hooked on heroin. Purportedly this movie is supposed to be a warning against it, yet it shows them all having a great time while on it! They're singing, dancing (a sequence that goes on for 10 minutes. Why? To eat up running time!) and having sex...so what it they're hooked? There's even a sequence which shows--step by step--how to inject heroin!

Very cheaply done, all horrible acting with uproarious dialogue. Also the worst use of music ever! Most of the time it doesn't even fit the scene! It's really hard to explain how totally worthless this movie is. Not even bad/good. Skip it.

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."