Ginger

"Ginger' (Cheri Caffaro) is a young woman from New York who has been recruited by a private investigative company to gather intelligence on a criminal named "Rex Halsey" (Duane Tucker) who has a small operation in New Jersey which capitalizes on drugs, prostitution and blackmail. To get the evidence required for a conviction she has to infiltrate his small circle of accomplices and the last two who tried have ended up dead. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that I found this to be a sleazy but somewhat entertaining film all the same. Having said that I should probably add that this movie is not for those who are easily offended as it contains scenes with full frontal nudity, bondage, rape and racial slurs. Along with that it was a low-budget film which includes some weak fighting scenes, a poor script and some very basic acting. But Cheri Caffaro does a decent enough job in spite of it all and manages to keep the film moving along all the same. Likewise, having attractive young ladies like Michele Norris (as "Vicki Jennings"), Cindy Barnett ("Jean Oliver") and the aforementioned Cheri Caffaro certainly didn't hurt. Accordingly, I rate this movie as about average.

There's something special about the three "Ginger" movies, something I'd very much like to see re-made or re-tried with today's sensibilities and a bigger budget. While "Ginger" is, by far, the worst of the three ("The Abductors" and "Girls are made for Loving" are actually completely watchable B-movie fare albeit with a strong sexual / sadomasochistic touch), the idiosyncrasies which made this series stand out among other, more forgettable drive-in fare, are already there in part 1. The premise of a female hero not only surviving in an otherwise men's world (and genre) but positively calling the shots is extremely rare even today. In "Haywire", Gina Carrano is bashing male stars left and right, but she is far from "calling the shots" - neither does she sexually predate like Ginger does. The same goes for Angelina Jolie's "Salt". In fact, Ginger is maybe the nearest we get in movie history to what was otherwise a very male role-model. (This is probably why she was called "the female James Bond" although she's not a secret agent at all). And while today's killing ladies are as a rule ridiculous (even Carrano - trained in martial arts - looked silly beating up guys double her weigth), Ginger very rarely relies on beating someone up - she works the weapons of a woman as well as guns, poison, traps or whatever it takes to take her opponents out. Disturbing but, in a refreshing way, at least halfway realistic!

A word on acting: As mentioned, the two follow-up movies are much better, "Ginger" otoh sports acting that can only be described as a-tro-cious. Except for Cheri Caffaro herself, she's neither a top-model nor a great actress but she has screen presence in spades (a bit like Schwarzenegger) and there are a few scenes in here (the killings of Rodney and Jimmy for instance) where she comes over truly menacing and mesmerizing. Part of her screen presence may be thanks to her tall body - maybe the other actors were cast so they were a bit smaller but she does own every scene she's in.

So, while I can't really recommend this slow-paced and cheaply-made stinker to anyone on its own merits, there are certain qualities in there which are really interesting and some themes which I would liked explored in future productions.

Ginger (1971) stars Cheri Caffaro as Ginger McAllister, a 23 year old woman who takes an undercover assignment for a private detective.

Rex Halsey and his crew have found a way to coax money out of the local rich kids. They get people hooked on drugs, prostitution, and blackmail people into paying them. Rex and Rodney and the crew look at it as steady income.

Private detective Jason Varone has sent two people in to investigate, but both times were failures. Ginger seems to have her reasons why she wants to go undercover. She doesn't seem to care if she survives or not. Ginger will use her mind and her body to get in good with Rodney, Rex's go to guy, and get the answers she's looking for.

Cheri Caffaro is the best thing about the film. If you want to see more of Ginger, the Abductors is the next film in the series.

In my honest opinion, watching this movie qualifies as an utter waste of life. I can't think of any other movie (I hesitate to call this a "film") that displays less intrinsic value to the viewer. As a matter of fact, I feel dumber for having seen it. Beware the "chicks and bullets" cover, it's utterly misleading, and there is nothing remotely erotic in there. If you're in the mood to be utterly disgusted, by all means watch it. As a matter of fact, this movie engenders a certain dissapointment in the human race in general for having produced it.

Oh, I know the acting is wobbly, the plot clanks like a medieval dungeon, and the cinematography is dodgy. But this is pure '70s sexploitation.

I loved it.

Yes it is sexist, unpc and everything modern Hollywood tries not to be. But that is its charm. It is about cute women toting unfeasable weapons and getting naked in an unbelievable B-movie plot. So what? That's what we want with this stuff.

If you want boring and complacent cinema, go watch a movie with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.....