Cult Cuts Volume 23 (Tarantino Edition)
#1/4: The Switchblade Sisters (1975)
(7/10): Originally Titled "The Jezebels", The Switchblade Sisters is a solid exploitation gang film from cult director Jack Hill who has written and directed many cult staples from the late sixties to the early eighties, including another film that has peeked the interest of Tarantino and was covered previously during Black History Month, Coffy, which led to Pam Grier getting the lead role in Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
Back to Switchblade Sisters, it follows a young group of women who are in a gang with some men that are soon to be in a gang war with a rival gang over territory, during this time we see their lives as one of them is in a relationship with one of leading male gang members who has been hanging around a newcomer, and she suspects that she has been fooling around with her man.
Things escalate as she holds it in and lets her join the group and then once the rival gang strikes back for the initiation she had that wrecked a bunch of their stuff and also had their leader lose his necklace, the war begins as they plan to strike back with an attack at the roller rink that goes wrong and leaves the one man and his girl in the hospital and distraught.
Once they recoup they ween out the men who have been nothing but cowards and rename themselves The Jezebels and aim to finish this war once and for all.
It's got everything that you would find in an exploitative crime/action flick from the seventies; blood, breasts, gritty and grimy fight scenes and rape, which is never pleasant.
It tells a tale of life on the streets as a young woman and from a female perspective, obviously I can't speak on whether or not it's %100 truthful as I can't speak for a kind of person that I have never been or met, but it seems realistic enough that everything that I see, give or take a few elements, is believable.
The acting was pretty solid across the board, the fact I didn't love it was more just because, I don't know exactly, maybe something about it rubbed me the wrong way a tiny bit, it could be the rape scenes, I never really enjoy those, even though they were never meant to be enjoyed, but still.
The score has a bit of an attitude to it which I rather liked as it complements the rebellious nature of the film.
I can totally see why Tarantino would have enjoyed this film, I always find that sometimes the inspiration and interests of specific directors might be equally if not more interesting than their work and I find that that's the case with Quentin Tarantino.
#1/4: The Switchblade Sisters (1975)
(7/10): Originally Titled "The Jezebels", The Switchblade Sisters is a solid exploitation gang film from cult director Jack Hill who has written and directed many cult staples from the late sixties to the early eighties, including another film that has peeked the interest of Tarantino and was covered previously during Black History Month, Coffy, which led to Pam Grier getting the lead role in Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
Back to Switchblade Sisters, it follows a young group of women who are in a gang with some men that are soon to be in a gang war with a rival gang over territory, during this time we see their lives as one of them is in a relationship with one of leading male gang members who has been hanging around a newcomer, and she suspects that she has been fooling around with her man.
Things escalate as she holds it in and lets her join the group and then once the rival gang strikes back for the initiation she had that wrecked a bunch of their stuff and also had their leader lose his necklace, the war begins as they plan to strike back with an attack at the roller rink that goes wrong and leaves the one man and his girl in the hospital and distraught.
Once they recoup they ween out the men who have been nothing but cowards and rename themselves The Jezebels and aim to finish this war once and for all.
It's got everything that you would find in an exploitative crime/action flick from the seventies; blood, breasts, gritty and grimy fight scenes and rape, which is never pleasant.
It tells a tale of life on the streets as a young woman and from a female perspective, obviously I can't speak on whether or not it's %100 truthful as I can't speak for a kind of person that I have never been or met, but it seems realistic enough that everything that I see, give or take a few elements, is believable.
The acting was pretty solid across the board, the fact I didn't love it was more just because, I don't know exactly, maybe something about it rubbed me the wrong way a tiny bit, it could be the rape scenes, I never really enjoy those, even though they were never meant to be enjoyed, but still.
The score has a bit of an attitude to it which I rather liked as it complements the rebellious nature of the film.
I can totally see why Tarantino would have enjoyed this film, I always find that sometimes the inspiration and interests of specific directors might be equally if not more interesting than their work and I find that that's the case with Quentin Tarantino.