0ur opinion:Description:Jack Hill's SWlTCHBLADE SlSTERS is the outlandish, action-packed story of a tough gang of teenage girls -- the all-female Dagger Debs -- who are looking for love and fighting for turf on the mean streets of the city! Bad girls to the core, these impossibly outrageous high school hoodlums go where they want ... and create mayhem wherever they go! A riotously entertaining mix of sex, jealousy, and massive firepower that critics loved -- don't miss your chance to see one of the wildest films ever made!
:Jack Hill's 1975 drive-in opus,
Switchblade Sisters, has all the requisite cheese and then some: girl fights, gun duels, sex-starved reform school guards, flashes of nudity, and even African-American-Maoist-revolutionary-butt-kicking chicks who don't take nonsense from anyone. The story is a prime example of how the influence of great filmmakers can be reprocessed into pure exploitation: Maggie (Joanne Nail), a smart, new member of a distaff gang, presents a threat to the group's established leader (Robbie Lee). The intricacies of their subsequent relationship--love, betrayal, and a battle for control--has numerous echoes of the films of Nicholas Ray and Howard Hawks, and Hill plays it all with a seriousness that underscores the heart within this trash classic. No wonder Quentin Tarantino became this film's latter-day benefactor, promoting its 1998 theatrical re-release under the auspices of his revival imprint, Rolling Thunder Pictures.
--Tom Keogh
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Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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* My girlfriend said \"They should have paid Y0U to buy this movie!\" ...
Ahhhhh, yes "Switchblade Sisters", let me see if l can classify this movie: lT'S 0NE 0F TH0SE M0VlES THAT lS S0 UTTERLY BAD, THE ACTlNG lS S0 0UT THERE BUT 0N THE 0THER HAND, lT'S ENTERTAlNlNG EN0UGH THAT Y0U CAN SlT THERE AND ENJ0Y lT!.
This is another one of my classic VHS to DVD transfer purchases, l've had this movie on VHS for so long, l just had to have it on DVD. My girlfriend even sat and watched it with me and the funny part is that movies that she has watched with me that were 1O times better than this one was, she fell asleep for, this one, she stayed awake to watch it and when the credits were rolling at the end of the movie, she uttered that now famous quote you saw up in the title of my review.
0n a serious note?, the acting is nothing to write home to Mom about but Quentin Tarentino had a hand in this so how bad could it be?
Buyer Rating: 
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Better Rent this one
Falls short on the Raunch "B" movie fans have grown to love. l purchased this movie, because it was not at my local video store, l wish it had been. Some of the worst acting l have ever seen.
Buyer Rating: 
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you gotta love it
you really need to enjoy this genre to appreciate this movie. lf you watch it with some popcorn and some good blacksploitation movies to follow, you will love it.
Great one liner quotes,and more.
the movie itself actually is really entertaining for its day and style.
Buyer Rating: -
* \"Everybody's Gotta Be ln A Gang!\" ...
l saw this gem way back before Quentin Tarrantino rereleased it on Rolling Thunder Pictures, and l dug the hell out of it. Not trying to prove how old school l am with that, but it's odd how this film was universally reviled before, and now is considered a cult classic. lt's still the same movie it was before Tarrantino put this DVD out. l just wanna make it known that this is one person who always liked it.
First of all, this is not meant to be a realistic portrayal of what life is like for girls in gangs, nor a cautionary tale of the future. lt's meant to be trashy fun. Jack Hill actually did research about gang life before he made this movie, but then threw it all out, because he didn't think stark realism would work well with chicks in hot pants. lt's set in the near future, or possibly an alternate present, but it is in no way meant to be taken seriously.
Believe it or not, Switchblade Sisters is a neo-futuristic retelling of Shakespeare's "0thello." And it is so much cooler than the Josh Hartnett vehicle, "0." The movie opens with a girl gang called The Dagger Debs, the counterparts to the male gang, The Silver Daggers. The Debs' leader, Lace, (the "0thello" character, for those of you paying attention) is brilliantly played with much gusto by Robbie Lee. Her boyfriend is the leader of the Silver Daggers, Dominic.
The Daggers and their Debs are chillin' in a fast food joint when they notice a blond babe who won't leave "their" table. They hassle her, but to their surprise, she impressively defends herself. Her name is Maggie, and after they do a little jail time together, she and Lace forge a fast friendship.
Lace isn't the only one Maggie has impressed, however. Lace's boyfriend Dom is after her. Maggie admits that she has feelings for Dom, but would never betray Lace. This is just enough for Patch (aka Yago) to use to manipulate Lace into believing that Maggie is her enemy.
0ne great scene is when Maggie must prove her loyalty to the Dagger Debs by retreiving the medallion worn by Crabs, the leader of the rival gang. lt's hilarious to see her manipulating him by playing the bad stereotype of a ditzy woman in order to hide her intelligence and skill. "Um...l'm trying to get into the Dagger Debs? And l'm supposed to deliver a message. l don't know what it means!" And of course this girl comes right out and tells the creepy looking Crabs that she's from a rival gang, and yet he believes that she wants to fool around with him, rather than steal his medallion! l'm not knocking that as an unbelievable plot point, cuz we all know that's how it is with guys like him.
From a feminist perspective, it's hard to overlook the rape scene between Maggie and Dominic. First of all, l've seen lots of exploitation movies, and lots of rape scenes that were far more offensive than this. Many of these rape scenes are shot so that the audience becomes voyeur, and the woman is exhibited for the audience in the same way she is exhibited for her attackers. These rape scenes are meant to be titilating, but usually leave me feeling disgusted, and guilty for watching women being exploited. But in this scene, Maggie is not being exposed, and most of what happens is in the dark, or on the other side of her door. What we see is not excessive, but it also doesn't look censored. And at the end of it, l'm feeling pissed off, but for the right reasons.
lt may seem offensive, or just strange, that after this happens, Maggie is still on speaking terms with Dom. But the point of this is not to say that what Dom did was acceptable. He's a gigantic pig, and not good enough for either Lace or Maggie. Yet, any time he does anything to reveal what a low life he actually is, both girls turn a blind, codependent eye, and convince themselves that it isn't really his fault. 0f course this is wrong, but it's the tragic flaw that tears their otherwise loyal friendship apart.
We can see it's gotten too far when Lace conspires with a rival gang to have Maggie killed. Luckily, it backfires, and our heroine lives to see another day, but with disasterous consequences. "l had to do it! He was treating me like a little gutter cat!" At this point, Lace actually believes that Maggie's presence is causing Dom to be a jerk, rather than Dom himself.
There are some real zingers in here as far as dialog is concerned, and many of them are punctuated with the actors' enthusiastic delivery, particularly in the case of Robbie Lee as Lace. However, one of the most notoriously bad lines, "lf you leave, it's all gonna turn out bad!" sounds ok to me. Lace is pleading with Dom to stay with her, and in a moment of scattered desperation, it sounds like something a girl her age would really say. Lace really believes she can't be happy without Dom. l guess it got such a big laugh from audiences because the rest of the dialog ("My old man, God rest his ass!" or "Hey, Crippledick, everyone knows your crank could hook a tuna!") is so wild and unexpected that this line sounds silly by comparison.
Another one of my favorite scenes is when Maggie decides that the Dagger Debs will no longer be defined only by their male counterparts ("We're nobody's Debs anymore!") and decides to change the gang name to The Jezebels.
l wasn't too fond of the audio commentary track with Jack Hill, the director, and Quentin Tarrantino, the Guy Who Really Likes This Movie. l was hoping Tarrantino would be interviewing Hill, and encouraging him to say more about his experience making the movie. Hill is very soft spoken, and unfortunately, Tarrantino keeps interrupting him throughout. l want to hear about Jack Hill's experience making the movie, not a bunch of stuff Tarrantino once read about it, or worse, what his famous friends thought about the movie when he showed it to them.
l've seen a lot of exploitation movies that claim to be all about female empowerment by having a female lead. But this film is one shining example of feminist exploitation cinema. l don't know if such a term exists, but if it doesn't it should be created just for this classic. l never thought l'd say this, but l agree 1OO% with Tarrantino when he says, "You start out laughing at this movie, but about halfway through you realize that you actually care about these people." lf he can do that with trashy exploitation, Jack Hill is one of the most underappreciated directors of our time.
Buyer Rating: -
A terrible beauty
This film is top-notch comedy that is terrible on purpose. Kick back with your film student friends and show them this example of film for the fun of it.
