The Mini-Skirt Mob

I forgot how many of these drive in types were turned out in the 60's & 70's, but this is one no one could remember but the actors' families. What an embarrassment, especially for someone like Harry Dean Stanton, who turned out to be such a remarkable character actor, who in this film is the only "character" of note.

Diane McBaine is miscast badly. Yet, note that she allowed her hair to get messed at least once & to have a dirt smudge, of all things(!), to be placed on her face in the final chase scene.

If you are bored & need a good laugh & want to remember the old biker movies, rent this. But, if you then feel you've wasted your buck, don't say I didn't warn you!

The Mini-Skirt Mob - sounds like the coolest girl punk band you ain't heard of, or just another AIP biker movie. It's the latter. This isn't that terrible, one guesses. No, it's knowable: this is a gosh-darn B-movie if I ever saw one. Why the gosh-darn? The movie deserves one: it's a western in biker-movie skins, and it shows a sign, oddly enough, of where its director Maury Dexter would be headed a year or so later when he made a very good low-level-action biker movie called Hell's Belles.

It's set mostly out in the desert, where the leader of the Mini-Skirt Mob, the bossy Shayne (Diane McBain rockin the hard-to-frazzle blonde-top look), is after a former cowboy who left her to settle down and marry with an ordinary girl. She and the gang and some other rodeo-party-down type guys (such as Ross Hagen and Harry Dean Stanton) basically chase after these guys till they strand them in the desert, rip their tires, and force a stand-off... a long one, that'll need some beer, and relationship drama!

There's some time during the movie where the writer tries to make this less about the bikes and more about the characters, and this is where things get a little shaky. Sometimes it's just plain hysterical trying to see these guys emote, or try to have any kind of connection. The fact is what makes the movie so entertaining is that practically everyone, even the two leads (and especially that little lady) are just stupid. Shayne might just be sadistic or mean, but there's still a level of not knowing all where its at and is only a minimal bad-ass. The keeper though is Harry Dean, always dependable in a fix for a supporting role, who is a "dumb redneck" among the group, but also isn't much in the way of being a killer. He just wants to hang out and party, and that's where the other girls in the 'Mob' want to be at. You'd think they'd go off and have crimes or party down. Nope. Have a chick as the leader, bound to have some man-drama.

If you like a biker movie way past your bedtime, you could do worse than this. Its action isn't staged too well and the acting by the two leads (Slate and Jackson) is so stiff you can feel the strain in trying to make an argument scene look halfway convincing, but some laugh out loud moments are to be had, like when we see a shot of the bikers arguing about something and a pan of the camera shows boy-scouts hearing their every word! Goodness! This is actually fairly safe stuff, nothing too dangerous actually in the way of much violence and sex.... actually, I take that back, there is one semi-awesome explosion, a couple of awesome cheesy deaths by incredible launch-off-bike, and a person runs out on fire! Nothing exciting, but its... what it is.

"The Mini-Skirt Mob" is no classic (which, given that title, should come as no surprise) but it delivers enough action to make it worthwhile. Diane McBain stars as the leader of a female motorcycle gang, who is determined to punish the guy who jilted her. With the aid of her companions, including biker film veteran Jeremy Slate and future cult actor Harry Dean Stanton, she proceeds to harass both her ex-boyfriend (Ross Hagen) and his mousy new bride (Sherry Jackson). Along for the ride, and good in a sympathetic role, is ex-child star Patty McCormack, as McBain's little sister. The photography is excellent as is the color, and the movie doesn't take forever to make it's point. McBain is terrific as "Shayne". Very watchable. Incidentally, McCormack sang the title song, but, on the ''MGM Midnite Movies''DVD, her vocals have been re-dubbed by an unknown male vocalist. Nevertheless, picture and sound are both excellent, and the companion feature ''Chrome And Hot Leather'' (1971) while not as good a film,looks and sounds fine, too. And since it's soon to go out of print, now's the time to grab it!.

I didn't think this movie was so bad. They had no set, no props really, and yet it served to be an entertaining story til the end. I thought Shayne was a well done evil lead lady, though she didn't seem to confident on a motorcycle, that's for sure. She did a good job at making you hate her. Her little sister was good too.

For a lot of the film, I felt sorry for the bride. But at the same time, you have to remember that she and the groom only knew each other for 3 weeks before they got married. She seemed really out of place, and that was intended.

It's the first time I had seen rodeo guys mixed with biker gangs, but I guess it makes sense. The scenes where people fell off cliffs were pretty painful to watch, I thought they did a good job staging those stunts.

All in all, the movie was entertaining and simple. I was thinking there would be more women kicking ass involved, but really it's just one woman who bosses some dudes and her sister around. It's not about a mob at all - just one evil, overly hair-sprayed lady. However, I wouldn't want to watch it again.

Our story concerns a pack of females known as "The Mini-Skirts" and their accompanying rough riders in mountain terrain looking for trouble against an innocent trailer couple. The only things you'll appreciate from this hopelessly dated film are some nice pairs of legs and an appearance by Harry Dean Stanton as one of the rodeo rednecks. Everything else, the bad lighting, the fragmented story, leaves an awful lot to be desired, and even the title of this "biker" picture doesn't fully live up to anyone's expectations. To add even more scorching embarrasment is the opening theme song by Patty McCormack, also one of the gang members. Those who are looking hard to find this hidden cult movie will see the light as a limited cable TV offering, but remember, you get what you deserve! RATING: *