Jack Hill. He gave us great blaxploitation flicks such as Coffy and Foxy Brown, and wrote and directed the cult black comedy horror classic Spider Baby. Sprawl his resume in front of your eyes and you can feast on some incredible titles, all of which are worth discussing and fawning over, but there's one in particular that stands out to me as a great borderline feminist piece and social commentary on urban gang life - even though it is quite comedic in some aspects. That title is Switchblade Sisters.
The fact that Quentin Tarantino dubs this as one of his faves does not influence me at all given the fact that I saw this before I knew who he was, but we all have to thank him for releasing the perfect DVD version on his Rolling Thunder label. The picture is crisp, but not so crisp that it takes away from the grimy, '70s vibe that is necessary for the story. A true drive-in classic that makes you feel like you've stepped back in time to when bellbottoms were the shit and the word "jive" was part of your everyday vernacular. Actually, that's my normal everyday life, but I understand that not everyone shares this sentiment. So let's get to the story, shall we?
Meet the Dagger Debs. A rough, edgy female gang whose leader Lace let's those who cross her know who is boss. Her boyfriend Dominic, leader of the counterpart male gang the Silver Daggers, is a loud-mouthed jerk, but they make a great couple. The Dagger Debs also consist of such buxom babes such as Patch, Bunny, Cherry and Donut -played by Kitty Bruce, daughter of Lenny Bruce- ...just to name a few.
The movie starts out with a funky, soulful theme song "Black Hearted Woman" sang with heavy vibrato by Medusa as images of run-down city life flash on the screen. I'm sold. Lace is the first to be introduced, leaving her ghetto apartment and meeting up in the elevator with the landlord who was just threatening her mom for not being timely with rent. As the elevator goes down, more Dagger Debs come on-board and they attack him in the elevator. He catches up with them eventually at a burger joint when Donut is made to squeal like a pig for asking to order more food, and Maggie, the new girl in town, is confronted by the Debs. Because of the landlord, and the cops knowing the Debs and Daggers all too well, members of the gangs are arrested.Lace soon finds a friendship in Maggie after they are taken to "juvie" and Maggie fights a big, stacked lesbian who is out for fresh blood - her blood. The fight is amazing, especially when the Dagger Debs join in on the asskicking. Maggie is soon released and Lace confides in her to take care of some business while she's still locked up, including delivering a love letter to Dominic. When the gang makes fun of Lace's letter, you learn fast there are no real likable people in the flick and that is further confirmed when Dominic goes to Maggie's place and rapes her.
Once Lace and the rest of the girls get out of juvenile detention, Lace treats Maggie as if they've been chums for years and Patch (who I have a soft spot for and is played by beautiful Monica Gayle) is forced to the backseat. This upsets Patch, as it should, because she lost an eye for the gang and rants about it often. To compound problems, Lace discovers she's pregnant with Dom's baby and he tells her in one scene to go get an abortion as he throws money at her in a wrongly hilarious post-sex scene. I'm jumping ahead though because before all this, Maggie undergoes a somewhat initiation into the gang - stealing a gaudy amulet from some douchebag named Crabs (Chase Newhart, also from the depressing as Hell 1978 classic The Deer Hunter). He has bad hair, a shitty wardrobe, and he sucks at life. Maggie gets the amulet, they all cheer, she finds out info on his gang, and then Crabs attacks back by shooting Dom's brother and kidnapping one of the Debs in his rape van and his gang rapes her.
Bad move, Crabs. Bad move.
Next is the organization of Crabs' attack at a local roller rink. Crabs' men are prepared with ammo, guns, bombs...okay, just guns and ammo and the night turns out bad when Dom is shot and killed and Lace falls only to be kicked in teh stomach by Crabs, ultimately losing the baby. Her plans backfired. What?! Her plans?! Yeah, more on that in a few. While Lace is staying in the hospital, Maggie turns into a territorial she-wolf and dubs the former Debs with a new name - The Jezebels. She also organizes a teaming up with old friend Muff and her political gang of black beauties to plan a revenge attack on Crabs and his gang. They assemble tanks, armed vehicles, guns, ammo, and grenades; this time I'm not joking. It's quite the showdown, and Crabs gets it. Before he does, Maggie wants info from him as she suspects that someone from her gang gave Crabs info on the roller rink ambush. As I leaked before, it was Lace who did it in hopes that it would get Maggie killed. Patch knows this and when Patch, Lace, and Maggie corner Crabs, he is about to tell when Patch shoots him before he says a word. Maggie, in a furious rage, yells at Patch and further suspects something is up when Patch blatantly lies and says that he was reaching for his gun.
Patch shoots Crabs. Boy, that's not a sentence you hear everyday!
The Jezebels assemble at their hangout for a party and Lace and Patch try to inform the gang that they believe Maggie was the one who caused the roller rink debauchery. The gang doesn't believe them, cigarettes are put out in bellybuttons, and then the closing knife fight begins, ending with a fatal stab to Lace's throat shown in a brilliant shot of the two girls' shadows on the wall. Maggie emerges from the darkness and police have already surrounded the building. When the cops bust in, the girls proudly exclaim that they are all part of The Jezebels and they are escorted out under arrest. Blood-caked Maggie has to have her last words though, and they are amazing. She threatens the cops to remember their names because they'll be back out on the streets and The Jezebels shall reign!
"No, let me give YOU some advice, cop! You can beat us, chain us, and lock us up, but we're gonna be back UNDERSTAND?! And when we do, cop, you better keep your ass off our turf or we'll blow it off. Ya dig? We're The Jezebels, remember that name!"
Switchblade Sisters carries a full punch and delivers in all aspects that you would want a movie like this to deliver on: endless quotes, memorable scenes, mediocre acting, thumping funk music, and the feminist "women's lib" vein running through it. To guarantee authentic characters and dialog, Jack Hill interviewed real women in street gangs before composing the script.
As far as the acting goes, Joanne Nail as Maggie is great, and Robbie Lee as Lace is annoying at times due to her constant teeth-clenching during the delivery of her lines. Asher Brauner as Dominic is tricky; if he was going for a dumb asshole fuckface character then he did a great job. But the acting shouldn't be the focus on why this movie is good. The movie is great because so many elements make it memorable and make you want to watch it over and over again.
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