Policewomen

A beautiful, albeit deadly, young policewoman named Lacy Bond (Sondra Currie) is recruited to help bring down a new all-girl gang.

This film is aimed squarely at drive-in film fans who like their stories with a little touch of female exploitation. Well, this film is nowhere near as sleazy as its opening credits would seem to suggest so some may be disappointed.

Ultimately this is a film that Almost Works: the fight scenes are surprisingly good, there's a coherent plot that's easy to follow and our leading lady proves easy to like as well as easy on the eyes. Yes this almost works...in terms of a serious film...

But Not Quite...why?

Well for one thing there's a few too many underdeveloped characters. Another is how the all-girl gang likes to spend most of their time sunning themselves in bikinis....also the ending really stretches the credibility a bit too far...

Still all in all this is sometimes quite a lot of fun to watch. My favorite scenes include Lacy kicking butt in police uniform when the prisoners make a break, what happens when she takes on William Smith, and when she saves someone (I won't say who) from a severe beating at the hands of five vicious bikini-wearing babes?! Somewhat ahead of its time given the current craze in television for this type of stuff.

"Lacy Bond" (Sondra Currie) is a young policewoman who is stuck in a jail-house processing female prisoners and she feels like she is going nowhere fast. Then a mass breakout occurs and she single-handedly manages to prevent all but two female prisoners from escaping. Because of her actions she is offered an extremely dangerous assignment involving a group of female gold smugglers headed by a ruthless leader by the name of "Maude" (Elizabeth Stuart). Now, rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a mildly entertaining low-budget film which attempted to emulate the James Bond series to a certain extent. Unfortunately, some of the characters and the script clearly needed some fine-tuning and as a result it just wasn't up to the same high standards. But Sandra Currie was definitely hot and having plenty of attractive young women in swimsuits lolling about certainly didn't hurt this movie in any way. In short, this isn't a great movie by any means but it wasn't that bad either. Accordingly, I rate this movie as about average.

Among the films that have featured female super cops (mostly Hong Kong), Sondra Currie is more believable. She's not big, but displays sufficient athleticism so as not to ruin the illusion. This low budget crime action film is passable entertainment. I actually liked it, but I enjoy the action woman genre. None of the movie was believable. After all, who would put a policewoman in such extreme danger without much backup.

The video box cover indicates that this movie is "the most daring caper since "The French Connection". This puffing is a tad overstated, okay, a lot overstated. The cast was fairly extensive and the acting ability varied quite a lot. Don't be mistaken, most viewers will be laughing at portions of the movie. For me, I will overlook the bad and take some comfort in seeing the film and knowing that the film makers tried to make a good movie. Policewomen has largely disappeared from circulation. I gave it a 6 (from 10).

Can you give a low budget b-movie a 7 rating? I am tempted!

I was entertained and amused for 90 minutes by this 1974 flick. No it's not the best script and acting but it is definitely entertaining and I enjoyed it more than some IMDb 8+ rated blockbusters. Plenty of gratuitous nudity and classic 1974 action/fighting / karate scenes.

Sondra Currie was extremely enjoyable and the clear star of the show. And she's not difficult to look at either. A strong 6 plus for this flick.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

I have always loved crime or action films starring female criminals, inmates or not. Although there were dozens of women in prison movies. This one is not, or only at the beginning, whilst a bunch of chicks escape from behind bars. Besides this, that film is a great fun, despite the fact that it is really corny, but that's why I love it. Don't watch it in the same way as you could do it with SET IT OFF, A GUN FOR JENNIFER or GIRLS ON THE LOOSE, other girl gang features, which deserve to be seen with other eyes, with a more serious manner. This is a grade B film destined to Saturday evening drive in audiences, nothing else. I would not be surprised to learn that Quentin Tarantino is a great fan for this kind of stuff, and this film in particular. It could have been a series TV pilot, but I guess the TV show starring Angie Dickinson - POLICE WOMAN - would have jeopardize this never made TV show. I laughed with the sequences showing the lead female character - the cop - wearing her suit without undergarment for her breast. We clearly see her tits through the shirt. I am surprised that no other viewer has commented about this. And useless to say that the scenes showing the headquarters of the bikini girls is unforgettable. And the old gang leader with her younger husband, a sort of pencil neck bodybuilder pumping iron...ha ha ha

A must see for grade B cinema. But ONLY grade B cinema. Don't expect any serious stuff.