{"id":22588,"date":"2021-04-23T17:06:04","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T00:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=22588"},"modified":"2021-04-23T17:06:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T00:06:04","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-switchblade-sisters-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=22588","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past Blu-ray Review: SWITCHBLADE SISTERS (1975)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray from Arrow Video will be available for purchase\non April 27th<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re a fan of B-movies from the 1960s and 1970s, then\nthe name Jack Hill will likely ring a bell. Like many other filmmakers of the era,\nthe writer\/director got his start working for legendary producer Roger Corman.\nHill ended up creating several memorably pulpy pictures in a variety of genres over\na decade or so. Some of these notable efforts include Spider Baby<\/em>, Pit\nStop<\/em>, Coffy<\/em> and Foxy Brown<\/em>. Another one of Hill\u2019s many cult\nflicks is Switchblade Sisters<\/em>, a wild and energetic movie about teenage\ngirl gangs. While the movie didn\u2019t make a big impression at the box office\nduring its original run, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction<\/em>, Once\nUpon a Time in Hollywood<\/em>) was a huge supporter of the title. In fact, he\nwas such a fan that he paid for its theatrical rerelease in 1996. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1996 screenings marked the first time that I saw the\nmovie. It made an immediate impression and won me over quickly, providing exploitation\nfilm kicks while sneaking in deeper messages under the surface. This week, Arrow\nVideo are making this movie available to all as a Special Edition Blu-ray. As\nwith virtually all of the distributor\u2019s products, great care has been taken\nwith the low-budget feature\u2019s high-definition transfer. They\u2019ve given it a much\nsharper but still appropriately gritty and filmic appearance. Besides the\nimpressive image upgrade, the disc includes plenty of enjoyable bonuses featuring\nJack Hill and the cast and crew, as well as a few critics offering their\nanalysis on the picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For those new to the movie, it follows a female gang of\nteenagers on the streets of Los Angeles. When Lace (Robbie Lee) and her gang come\ninto contact with Maggie (Joanne Nail) at a diner, the customer manages to hold\nher own during a confrontation. Impressed by her toughness, Maggie is\nimmediately taken into the fold by Lace, much to the chagrin of second in command,\nPatch (Monica Gayle). The ladies grow more powerful with their new member, but internal\njealousy begins to threaten the unit after Lace\u2019s boyfriend Dominic (Asher\nBrauner) sexually assaults Maggie. Patch sees it as an opportunity to sow distrust\nbetween her best friend and the new member. She warns Lace that she is losing Dominic\nand her leadership is on the verge of being challenged. It all erupts in violence\nbetween not only the gang and their enemies, but each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While several elements on display are staples of exploitation\nmovies and can be used in questionable taste, this picture definitely stands as\nan exception. It\u2019s a polished, stylized movie that feels like it takes place entirely\nwithin its own over-the-top universe. The movie has a sense of humor about\nitself from the casting (which features lead characters being played by\nperformers who look considerably older than teens) to the highly exaggerated costumes.\nAnd some of the violent action feels tongue-in-cheek when contrasted by some\namusingly odd backdrops. One such scene includes a \u201cfamily night\u201d roller rink\nshootout and fight between the gangs as those around them run for the exits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All of these scenes are a blast to watch and add a sense of\nsurreal charm to the experience. Yet the drama also works because the\nscreenplay focuses on developing its well-written female characters. Each of\nthe main gang members are distinctive and make a strong impression. Lace is particularly\nfun to watch as she veers between teeth-gritting threats and moments of neediness\nand insecurity. She makes the most of every scene and is consistently\ncompelling to watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie has generated controversy over the years because\nof the way Maggie reacts to an attack early in the film, but the movie is\nclearly making a point about what the women have to endure by presenting the\nact as a familiar and common occurrence. And the climax of the story, which involves\nthe female gang gunning down their enemies, does serve as a form of retaliation\nfor their male counterparts disturbing behavior. The finale is also distinctive,\nunusual and open-ended. While several critics and fans have passionate reads on\nthe final scene, one can interpret it in a couple of ways (which once again, makes\nthis film all the more intriguing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 46 years after its original release, this is still a punchy little B-movie that delivers kicks and also addresses issues that will leave audiences talking long after the film ends. The Blu-ray also provides plenty of bonuses to help inform fans looking for more details. There\u2019s a booklet included with an analysis, as well as a recently recorded commentary track with film historians\/critics Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger. They talk about the movie and discuss it as an early example of female empowerment, while also noting that it isn\u2019t afraid to be complicated. The two also admire the feature for avoiding the recent trend of present these themes in a bland and watered-down manner. It\u2019s an informative listen and the reviewers also mention plenty of other titles from the era that may be of interest to viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The most entertaining extra may be a making-of documentary featuring the director, a few crew members and the cast. Hill is an affable subject who notes using the Shakespearian tale Othello<\/em> as inspiration, swapping genders to help his particular story stand out. After developing and spinning off the idea from the classic source material, he explains how important it was to develop distinctive characters and cast the finest performers he could find. Hill also notes his preference for shooting on soundstages and sets. He notes that while they did have to use a couple of real locations, in general it was easier (and in his estimation, cheaper as well) to stay in one spot as much as possible and control what was happening while filming on backlots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the excellent making-of, you\u2019ll also get archival\ninterviews with Hill, Nail and Lee taken during the film\u2019s release in the late\n90s, as well as from a more recent film festival screening in 2007. They repeat\na lot of the same information, but it\u2019s still fun to watch them talk about the\ngreat time they have making the movie and what it means to them. The disc also comes\nwith loads of publicity materials, including posters from around the world, in addition\nto lobby cards, still and trailers. In fact, you\u2019ll also receive previews of other\ntitles directed by Hill, including Coffy<\/em> and Foxy Brown<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Switchblade Sisters<\/em> is a striking effort that still\nholds up today as a wild, unpredictable and adventurous genre film,\nentertaining audiences while taking chances anywhere and everywhere it can. The\nmovie works far better than other similarly-themed titles because of its cast, boldness\nand independent spirt. It\u2019s wonderful that Arrow Video have done the movie\njustice on Blu-ray and this release worth a big recommendation to all genre\nfans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blu-ray from Arrow Video will be available for purchase on April 27th. If you\u2019re a fan of B-movies from the 1960s and 1970s, then the name Jack Hill will likely ring a bell. Like many other filmmakers of the era, the writer\/director got his start working for legendary producer Roger Corman. Hill ended up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[106,697,1832,1836,1878,2124,2923,2939,3067,3073,4983,4989,8099,8172,10096,10746,12626,14175,17139,19458,19459],"class_list":["post-22588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-106","tag-action","tag-arrow","tag-arrow-video","tag-asher-brauner","tag-b-movie","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-cult","tag-cult-movie","tag-gangs","tag-genre","tag-jack-hill","tag-joanne-nail","tag-los-angeles","tag-monica-gayle","tag-robbie-lee","tag-switchblade-sisters","tag-switchblade-sisters-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}