Girls for Rent

Girls for Rent (1974)

** (out of 4)

Action flick from drive-in master Adamson about a crime boss (Kent Taylor) who breaks a woman (Georgina Spelvin) out of prison so that she can run his "girls for hire" business. The newly released woman sends a new girl out on a hit where she unknowingly kills a man, which scares her so she takes off running for Mexico. This leaves the boss and another woman (Rosalind Miles) to try and track her down. Considering some of the films Adamson made this one here actually isn't too bad and manages to be fairly well-made. The biggest problem is that it really lacks any good pacing or energy to make its 90-minute running time go by fast enough. There are many times throughout the film where you'll be watching a scene and wonder why you're watching it because it goes no where and in reality it adds nothing to the actual story. I'm going to guess that Adamson needed to expand the running time and this is the reason but no matter what the reason was it ends up hurting the film. The movie is pretty stupid from start to finish but there are enough silly moments to make it worth viewing. One such moment happens during a "high speed" car chase, which includes one of the cars being a Pinto. Another scene has Spelvin raping a retarded man before shooting him in the head. Being exploitation you can expect a fair amount of nudity by lovely young ladies who probably went to Hollywood expecting to become Monroe but instead find themselves being shown nude throughout the drive-ins in America. Spelvin is best known for her lead role in DEVIL IN MISS JONES and she isn't too bad here but then again she's not that good either. I will say she has one of the most non-threatening laughs in the history of bad guys giving disturbing laughs to look creepy. Miles was a pro at various blaxploitation flicks and she's without a question the most interesting thing here. This turned out to be Taylor's final film as he would retire from the business (or just simply got fed up that no one was offering him work except Adamson). GIRLS FROM RENT, on DVD as I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE, isn't the greatest film ever made but it's certainly not as bad as some of the director's work. This movie wasn't made for the art crowd so only those wanting low-budget thrills should check it out.