Arrow Video is releasing a new blu-ray version of the Jack Hill directed film SWITCHBLADE SISTERS. My first exposure to this film was years ago when director Quentin Tarantino released it in 1996 as part of his Rolling Thunders Pictures label, a collection of movies he considered among his most favorite. At that time I found the movie terrible, perhaps because my expectations were set high. So here I am 25 years later willing to give the movie another chance.
The movie revolves around the girl members of a gang called the Dagger Debs, an offshoot of the male gang the Silver Daggers. Led by Lace (Robbie Lee) they run into the recently relocated Maggie (Joanne Nail) at a local burger joint and haven’t quite decided what to think of her. When Maggie helps them as they take on an obnoxious collector, all of the girls are arrested and tossed in jail.
The jail is overseen by nasty lesbian warden Mom Smackley (Kate Murtaugh) who takes a liking to Maggie. Mom leaves the Debs alone so they play nice while in jail. But Lace takes a liking to Maggie and comes to her aid with the rest of the gang letting Mom know she’s hands off. Now friends Maggie becomes part of the gang and when she gets an early release Lace asks her to deliver a letter to her boyfriend, the Silver Daggers leader Dominic (Asher Brauner).
Maggie follows through with the delivery of the letter but other members of the gang take it from Dominic’s hands and begin reading it out loud. Rather than allow his feelings to be on display he lets it happen joking that Lace is reading more into their relationship than he feels. Upset and angry he follows Maggie home and rapes her. From that encounter (and only in the world of a grindhouse style film) he begins to wonder if she would be better for him than Lace.
Lace’s friend Patch (Monica Gayle) is jealous of Maggie’s budding friendship with Lace and sets out to split the two. She tells Lace that it was Maggie who read the letter aloud and made fun of her. She also leads her to believe that Maggie is making a play for Dominic. Lace tries to lay claim to Dominic once she gets out of jail by claiming she’s pregnant. Wanting nothing to do with the child Dominic leaves Lace.
As all of this is going on the Daggers are facing trouble from a rival gang led by Crabs (Chase Newhart). After Crabs shoots Dominic’s little brother the Daggers are out for revenge. Maggie suggests a plan to get that revenge at the local roller rink. But Lace, angry at Dominic, betrays the group and they are ambushed at the rink.
As Lace recovers in the hospital from the attack, Maggie takes over the Debs and renames them the Jezebels. Claiming they don’t need the help of the Silver Daggers any longer after their numbers have been cut, she guides the girls out for their own form of revenge. But will she be able to handle Lace and Patch when they return?
The movie is pure drive-in/grindhouse material. This time around I saw that there was more story to the film than I gave it credit for all those years ago. And the performances weren’t nearly as bad as I recalled either with the exception of one. I still found Lee’s performance as Lace grating. The amount of times she yells things through clenched teeth to show anger displays a lack of ability that comes with time. Most of the cast never went on to lengthy careers with the exception of one, Don Stark. He plays gang member Hook. You’ll see him and think you’ve seen him before and most likely that was when he played Bob Pinciotti, Donna’s dad on THAT 70’S SHOW.
In the end the movie was better than I recalled and for fans
of drive-in/grindhouse movies this will be a must add to your collection. Not
only does it look better than ever Arrow has done their due diligence and
included plenty of extras. These include a new audio commentary track by historians/critics
Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger, “We Are the Jezebels” and archival documentary
on the film, “Gangland: The Locations of Switchblade Sisters” an archival
documentary about the locations the film was shot at that includes director
Jack Hill and filmmaker Elijah Drenner visiting these locations, an interview
with Jack Hill and Joanne Nail at the Grindhouse Film Festival in 2007, an
archival interview with Hill, Lee and Nail featuring Johnny Legend, galleries
of behind the scenes stills, international posters, video covers and lobby
cards, theatrical trailers, a reversible sleeve with original and newly
commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil and for the first pressing only an
illustrated collectors booklet featuring new writing by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
and Heather Drain.
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