Wonder Women (1973)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Mike Harber (Ross Hagen) is a Los Angeles detective who finds himself trapped in the Philippines. An insurance agent wants him to track down a missing person, which Harber reluctantly agrees to. Before long he learns about a strange doctor doing bizarre experiments on people as well as her gang of female fighters.
WONDER WOMEN kicks off with the MPAA sticker announcing that the picture is rated PG. From here we get a scene of some topless women swimming and throughout the 82-minute running time we are greeted with more nudity as well as some sleazy violence. This here has to be one of the dirtier exploitation movies from this era that didn't carry a R-rating.
With that being said, is the movie any good? It's certainly not a masterpiece or a "good" movie but at the same time it is an entertaining picture. As I stated above, the film contains a fair amount of nudity as well as some violence and this certainly helps keep the film moving. The nice mix of sleaze is a bonus with the various action and martial art scenes.
Another plus is that we've got a lot of familiar faces in the cast. Hagen does a very good job in the lead role as he pretty much plays a James Bond type. I thought the actor was a lot of fun in the role and helped keep the film moving. You also get other exploitation favorites like Roberta Collins, Marilyn Joi, Nancy Kwan and Maria de Aragon.
The story to WONDER WOMEN isn't the most original and there's no doubt that there are a few pacing issues. With that said, I thought the film was entertaining enough to make it worth watching.
