Dir: Eddie Romero (Black Mamma, White Mama)
IMDB rating: 4.7 out of 10
Well February is here and it is time to celebrate Black History Month with some good ol' fashion Blaxpploitaion. Although this film is considered in that genre, it is not the typical Afro-centric cinema I have come to expect from the genre, as it comes off as more of a women in prison exploitation film more than anything. Being that there is only one Black cast member in the entire film , with the exception of one man in a very small part towards the end.
Savage Sisters follows two women involved in the Philippino revolution and we are introduced to these women by a playboy character , Mr.Billingsley as he narrates the beginning , explaining that Jo Turner the girlfriend of revolutionary leader Ernesto is en route to a work camp with her partner in crime Mai Ling in order to gather up her army to sabotage a shipment of one million dollars being transported to the military. They plan on stealing the money to fund their cause. Right away things go south as the military has been tipped off about the plans and they form a ambush of their own which leads to the girls being captured. When Jo and Mai refuse to talk their fellow lady troops are executed and Jo and Mai are taking to military prison for further interrogation. While being held prisoner Ernesto's plans to get the money carry on but fail as they manage to get the cash but, A group of thieves the revolutionaries aligned themselves with led by Malavaesi (Sid Haig)
decide to keep the money for themselves and turn on Ernesto's group leading to a brutal shoot out which leaves the revolutionaries dead.
Back at the prison The girls are introduced to the military's head interrogator Lynn Johnson, A former prostitute and co-worker of Mai Ling's. Lynn specializes in torture and when the girls refuse to talk she has some big plas for the girls in order to make them talk. WHile the intterogation is going on , The higher up's in the military are showing their softer more erotic side with one another when a siren goes off allerting them that the General has arrived. Gen.Baltazar likes the idea of presenting the two female revolutionaries to the media to let the public know that the fight is over and the military has won. While Jo finds out that her man Ernesto is dead she swears revenge on Malavaesi and his goons, while across town he is contacting billingsley for a plane to flee the country with his money.Billingsley's pilot , A drunk old fighter pilot attempts to steal the money on his own. After loosing out on his cut Billingsley decides he wants all the money now and he contacts Lynn about his plans. He talks Lynn into freeing Jo and Mai in order to lead them to the money.
Lynn is on board for Billingsley's plan although she knows his hustling past. After Lynn free's the girls following a big shoot out with the guards, The girls map out a plan but first they test Billingsley's loyalty to the cause by individually seducing him only to find out he plans on taking the money himself after telling each of the girl's separately he was gonna take it for them and leave the other two in the dust. This leads the girls to ditching Billingsley and heading out to find Malavaesi on their own. From this point on the film is pretty standard stuff as the girls just roam around the land looking for clues to find Malavaesi and his goon's before he escapes with the cash. While Billingsley is hot on their trail as well.
The chase leads all parties interested to a boating dock where The three parties meet and a fire fight ensues. After once again feeling left out of the equation Billingsley joins forces with the girls again for a small cut of the cash. The girls of course get the dough and leave Malavaesi on the beach after they force him to bury himself to the neck in the sand. After the girls split the cash once again Billingsley gets the shaft and Jo and Lynn flee the country while Mai stays behind to keep the revolution alive.
Savage Sisters is a strange film, Although it is an exploitation film it is played off for laughs. I feel that the Director Eddie Romero, who is more noted for bringing the Pam Grier classic Black Mama, White Mama to the screen was just poking fun at the genre with this entry.From the over the top characters such as Billingsley and Malavaesi to the strange antics of the military higher up's while off duty everything in this film is played as a spoof of the popular films of the time. If that is not the case than I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish with this flick.This film is definitely not for those looking for a serious entry to the genre and honestly if not for the ties to Eddie Romero's previous works it would not even be considered in the same genre of Blaxploitation. This one is only recommended for completists of the Blaxploitation or WIP genres , not worth it for anything other than a few laughs and that's all.
Gore:4
Nudity:0
Story:4
Characters:6
Fun Factor:4
Overall: 4 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment