Customer Reviews

Policewomen

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Lacy Bond (Sondra Currie) a cop with a martial arts skills, finds she is only getting boring routine duties.Then while working in a women's prison there's an attempted mass breakout. Lacy goes into action, using her fighting expertise to stop the fleeing convicts.Only two end up making a clean getaway.This finally brings Lacy to the attention of her superiors.Partnered with Lt.Frank Mitchell(Tony Young)she is assigned to stop a large gang of women who are responsible for a crime wave -robberies,drug dealing and gold smuggling being their main activities.The brains behind this "female mafia" (Lacy's phrase), is thought to be an elderly crook called Maude Anderson (Elizabeth Stuart),who is married to a big musclebound thug in his thirties called Doc(Phil Hoover).It was Maude who organized the jailbreak, and the escapees later turn up at her hideout.The movie follows Lacy and Mitchell's adventures in their fight against the gang, while they also develop a romantic relationship.In the course of events Lacy infiltrates the mob and finds an unexpected ally to help her in her attempts to destroy them from the inside.
"Policewomen" is an early "female action" movie, roughly contemporary with the likes of "The Doll Squad","Foxy Brown" and "Superchick".Director Lee Frost helmed a lot of "drive-in" fare in the 1970's including "The Thing with two heads"(1972) and "The Black Gestapo"(1975)."Policewomen"(1974),is one of his least known movies, possibly because it has a pretty mundane title!In the main role, Sondra Currie a small beautiful actress best known in tv guest spots in shows like "Knightrider" is very effective. She plays a tough determined lady cop and was given karate training for the role.Jeanie Bell also appears, playing government agent Pam Harris, but apart from one notable fight, she is under used (the following year she played action heroine "TNT Jackson").Tony Young as Lacys boss/lover is okay, but his part seems underwritten in the concentration on female cast members.Elizabeth Stuart and Phil Hoover as Maude and Doc are a real movie odd couple--a doddery, rasp voiced old witch and a brawny bad tempered thug about 35 years younger than his wife.The "female mafia" are all ruthless blackhearted hookers and gang molls.They are often on display in bikinis,adding to the camp unreality of the movie, but it may help keep guys watching.
The film has a small amount of sex and nudity and quite a bit of swearing,but the emphasis is on action,with car chases,a boat chase and lots of fights.Oddly there is little gunplay.Much is made of the contrast between Lacy's demure appearance and her fierce combat skills.Sexist cops have to eat their words after they see her in action.In the films funniest scene,Lacy shows up a patronizing police fight instructor (William Smith),by beating him during training.Only one of the female villains,Kim(Eileen Saki),shows any fighting ability, and she has single combats with both Lacy and Pam.The rest of the bad girls take on more than they bargained for.One of the best action scenes sees Lacy having to come to the rescue as Frank is viciously attacked by a whole boatload of Maude's weapon wielding bikini girls-karate chopping Lacy taking them all on-ending with tiny Ms.Bond's dynamic duel with a frenzied oar swinging blonde uber-babe(Dorrie Thomson).
Even by todays standards the violence is sometimes pretty strong.In one scene Lacy is tied to a chair and brutally beaten by the sadistic Doc.During Lacys later bloody fight with Doc, actor Phil Hoover really looks as if he's taking some punishment.There's little evidence of stunt doubles in fight and action scenes and it seems the cast did a lot themselves.
"Policewomen" is an enjoyable example of female action movies.Unfortunately the dvd full sceen sometimes cuts off parts of the picture; however it is a good clear print and includes the original trailer.

I bought this on a whim, and, while clearly a cheapie 70's exploitation movie, it was marginally better a lot of stuff in the genre. The movie is directed by Lee Frost, who helmed such schlocky grindhouse fare as House on Bare Mountain (1962), The Defilers (1965), The Scavengers (1969), Chaingang Women (1971), The Thing With Two Heads (1972), and most recently Private Obsession (1995). The main character of the movie is Lacy Bond, played by Sondra Currie, who is probably better known for her TV work appearing on such shows as The Incredible Hulk, Columbo, and the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. The most recognizable actor in this movie would probably be William Smith who has played in a ton of movies, usually as a bad guy, and is most remembered by me as Jack Wilson in the Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can (1980). His appearance in this movie is brief, so don't blink or you may miss it.

The movie starts out in a what appears to be a police station, but then is also a woman's prison...go figure. Lacy is a cop, or a guard, and she's instrumental in stopping a planned escape by a number of inmates. Two manage to get away, but Lacy's efforts do not go unnoticed by her superiors. They pick her for an undercover mission to infiltrate a gang of women that have been committing crimes.

Before her mission starts, they put her through some training exercises, where the misogynist male cops laugh and guffaw at her, because she's just a woman, and she continually makes them look like jerks when she excels in these exercises. The scene with William Smith, who plays a police martial arts expert, is not too bad, except maybe the end. The martial arts work and stunts are marginally better than you might expect, and some of the fight scenes, especially between the women are downright brutal looking.

Anyway, Lacy manages to infiltrate the gang, which is run by a fairly whithered and crotchety old woman who I believe was called Ma. Now Ma has a young boy toy (ewwwwwwwww) who also doubles as her bodyguard. (I made the ewwwww noise as I just remembered a scene where the muscled boy toy made sexual advances towards his sugar mama and she subsequently turned him down because she had a 'headache', for which I was eternally thankful, but it just the thought of the two of them made me shudder.)

After learning about their operation, Lacy is recognized by another gang member as a cop, but she manages to shut that woman up, if you know what I mean. Also, we learn another female member of the gang is an undercover FBI agent. This may account for the plural form of woman used in the title, as it didn't seem to make sense, as there was only one policewoman up until that point. Or maybe the title Policewoman had already been used...who knows.

So now both law enforcement undercover agents have been exposed, and are now being used as hostages while Ma and her gang perform their big score, involving a shipment of gold or something or other...the plot got a little messy after awhile, but this leads to a big final confrontation at the end of the movie.

Not a bad movie for what it's worth, and there are copious bits of nudity in a few scenes. Sondra Currie is, or at least was, very easy on the eyes. The movie is in a full screen format, and little or no extras, except maybe a trailer. If schlocky 70's movies are your bag, then this is right up your alley. If cinematic verite' is your cup of tea, avoid this movie.

Disclaimer: The version of this film that I watched is included in the Big Screen Bombshells: 12 Movie Collection, and as such I cannot comment on the quality of the product offered on this page. My review is concerned with the entertainment value of the film only.

If you define 'exploitation film' as a vehicle that wears a legitimate issue - such as women's equality - as a disguise while shoehorning in every demeaning cliche relating to that same issue, then you would have a pretty good example here in Lee Frost and Wes Bishop's 'Policewomen'. Like catfights? Here they are. Topless wome? Ditto. How about catfights? Did I say that already? Well, there are several examples of women kicking male tail too, if that's what you prefer. And if that doesn't do it for you, there are always the catfights and topless women to look forward to.

Sondra Currie - who I must say is just a stunningly attractive woman - is officer Bond, Lacy Bond, a women's prison guard who just happens to be on duty when a break is made, and who singlehandedly stops all but two of the prisoners. Recognizing the possibilities, the male dominated department considers Lacy for an undercover assignment - infiltrating an all-woman gang who are involved in a series of armed robberies and gold smuggling. First she has to prove that she has what it takes though - which she does, both on and off the field.

If you don't require your exploitation to be too gritty, then this film is sort of fun in a retro-campy way. The story is logical, if far-fetched, and the actors and actresses do a credible job most of the time - as an actress, I must say that Sondra Currie is just a stunningly attractive woman. And despite the stream of invective that Phil Hoover as the token man in the all-girl-gang spouts, and if the topless scenes were cut, there is a distinct television feel to this film, sort of goofily innocent the way 'Barnaby Jones' or 'Ironsides' was - or, say, maybe even the way 'Police Woman' was.

This OOP Rhino release is not credited with any extras either on the product page, or on imdb, and the aspect ratio is listed at 1.33:1. Mill Creek's Bombshell collection, on the other hand, doesn't have any extras either, but is in anamorphic widescreen, which, in my opinion, is the only way to go. Unfortunately, you'll miss out on the excellently cool DVD cover art, which would have looked really good as a poster on my wall about 30 years ago. My mom would have made me take it down though.

I watched this in "full screen" and I couldn't read the opening credits as they were cut off in the middle. Lacy Bond (Sondra Currie aka Linda from "Hangover") is a security guard at a woman's prison, who is also a police woman. During an escape, Lacy manages to prevent all but two of the women from escaping using karate kicks, while wearing a tight split skirt. When the tear gas is lobed at the good guys, Lacy is the only one who knows to crawl along the floor to get out. She does so with her butt sticking about 2 feet into the air.

Lacy is rewarded with condescending remarks by her male counterparts, remarks which she also freely dishes out. I wasn't three minutes into this film when I wanted to see her die, unfortunately this was a 70's film and I knew that wasn't going to happen. The dialouge was extremely campy and funny in retrospect. The movie is filled with sorry puns... "We couldn't find a male to penetrate the [all female] gang." ..."So you need a woman to go undercover?"

Lacy must go undercover to infiltrate an all girl gang run by Maude (Elizabeth Stuart). Guess where the two escapees ended up? The gang is doing armed robberies, smuggling gold, and dealing heroin.

The soundtrack was campy by modern standards. "Peter Gunn" style music to enhance bad chase scenes, French accordion music for love scenes, etc. Cars driving straight along the highway having squealing tires. Cars sliding down an embankment, suddenly having a rear gas tank explosion, then the hood blows off. Guys with 70's porno mustaches.

Nudity (Susan McIver of the Golddiggers,Jeannie Bell aka T.N.T.Jackson ,Sondra Currie) cat fights, sex, swearing. Okay this wasn't supposed to be a comedy, but I had to laugh, MST style.

I bought this video as one who is a martial arts officianado. Unfortunately, I would have to say that though they may not have used many stunt doubles, all of the punches were 'pulled'. This movie certainly did not rate near as well as say a 'Cynthia Rothrock' effort. For the most part, I think the story line held together, and I think, contrary to some other reviews, the scenes we 'believable'. If you are looking for a movie that has a little action with some story, this is a good one. However, if you are looking for some hard hitting adrenaline pumping action, you might want to check out 'Tigerclaws' or another action packed movie with Cythia Rothrock. Another good female action star is Cory Everson, though she has not done near as many action films!