Cult Clash: Switchblade Sisters (1975)

by Pete Roberts

"We're The Jezebels fatso!"

Jack Hill's drive-in cult classic Switchblade Sisters is truly one-of-a-kind in the world of exploitation cinema. It was originally released under the title "The Jezebels" back in the 1970's, but after writer-director Quentin Tarantino bought the rights and released it on DVD under his great Rolling Thunder Pictures label in the mid 90's, he changed it back to its original slashingly cool name. The film takes place in a sort of parellel universe. Hill actually envisioned the film to have a sort of a post-Nixon era apocalyptic atmosphere. The film's opening credits sequence is great - a black and white montage of tough chicks set against the theme "Black Hearted Woman".

Lace (Robbie Lee) is the leader of an all female gang called "The Dagger Debs". They are the female counterpart of the "Silver Daggers", the all male gang. The Silver Daggers are run by Dominic (Asher Brauner) a big, crazy oaf of a guy that happens to be Lace's main squeeze. We meet The Dagger Debs as they proceed to shred a chunky repo man, "Hammer" (Michael Miller) to bits after they corner him in an elevator. Lace is the James Cagney-esque leader who the other girls follow without question. Lace's number two in charge is the evil, one eyed Patch (Monica Gayle), ready to start trouble at the drop of Lace's hat.

They meet an unsuspecting girl, Maggie (Joanne Nail), at the local burger joint where they all hang out. She looks like a cross between Farrah Fawcett and Elizabeth Shue - a perfect hottie to add to the mix of the film's sexy femmes. Lace and Patch catch Maggie sitting at their favorite table at the burger joint and after a few rude exchanges, Maggie grabs her deadly metal belt and wacks Patch right in the eye. After Patch falls to the floor, she yells and screams and then growls "I'll get that bitch!".

This is just the beginning of the fun.

The cops are called to the burger joint, and The Dagger Debs are all arrested and sent to a female detention center. The film enters the "Women in Prison" genre at this point as we're introduced to the fat, manly female detention headmistress "Moms Smackley", played hilariously well by Kate Murtaugh (Dr. Detroit). Moms hysterically proceeds to drool and harass the young beauties in her husky voice. Once she lays her paws on Maggie, Maggie replies with "Get your hands off me you fat pig dyke!", similar obviously to Charlton Heston's line in Planet of The Apes...but different, of course. This is followed by one of the funniest bathroom catfights in Grindhouse movie history, and it's played out to be outrageously over-the-top. It's The Dagger Debs Vs. Moms Smackley and the Dyke Guards! After the Dagger Debs get Moms Smackley down on the floor they threaten to knock off her lesbian partner on the outside if she doesn't lay off. Since Maggie is a newbie in all this madness, she's released early. Before leaving, Lace asks her to deliver a private message to Dominic.

The letter to Dom is read aloud in front of the entire gang much to their amusement. They laugh and giggle at Lace's heartfelt words. Maggie gives Dom a slap and tells him to go to hell for being such a bastard, and after this unexpected moment, something happens between Dom and Maggie, an unsaid meeting of the minds. After Maggie returns to her house, Dom shows up and....well you get the picture.

When the sordid details about Dom and Maggie are accidently leaked by Dom's second in command, Hook (Don Stark), Patch becomes the Iago of this story, and things quickly spiral out of control between Maggie, Patch and Lace. Maggie is quickly becoming the new leader of the Dagger Debs, even changing the name of the gang to "The Jezebels". The insanity rolls on with many key sequences, including a roller rink shootout, a blow job gone bad, a great knife fight between Maggie and Lace, and so much more.

The acting is really well done for a low budget drive-in film, and Jack Hill really displays a unique style as an exploitation autuer. He also manages to combine elements from several Grindhouse subgenres into the film, including "women in prison" and "blaxploitation". If you go through his filmography you can see that Hill always injects his work with a certain level of intelligence and depth. His work is definitely Grindhouse fare, but at the same time it can be much more.

Note: The cinematography was done by a young Tak Fujimoto, who later went on to do many great movies including Silence of The Lambs (1991).