By Desson Howe
Washington Post Staff Writer
June 21, 1996
With its tough-talking sluts who wield knives, fight over creepy boyfriends and plot gang rumbles, "Switchblade Sisters" makes sublime, exploitative camp. The 1975 film, directed by Jack Hill (who also made "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown"), has been brought back into distribution by hipster Quentin Tarantino, who in his video store jockey days would recommend this cult flick to anyone who stopped by.
These female punks, known as the Dagger Debs, are the female auxiliaries to an all-male gang called the Silver Daggers. The Debs are led by Lace (Robbie Lee), a rather improbable gangster with a squeaky voice. She's going out with Dominic (Asher Bauner), leader of the Silver Daggers and, quite possibly, the dorkiest "stud" ever seen on screen. Also figuring in the movie: Patch (Monica Gale), who sports a leather patch over one eye and who (in this movie's crude reworking of "Othello") turns out to be a scheming Iago; and Donut, an overweight Deb who's constantly stuffing her face with food -- and being mercilessly taunted for doing so.
The story gets underway when a loner called Maggie (Joanne Nail) sits in the holy-of-holies -- the gang's favorite booth at the local hamburger stand. Maggie's refusal to be intimidated impresses Lace, who soon inducts her into the Debs. But the newcomer is bad news. A sort of female Lancelot, she starts, ever so gradually, to steal Lace's boyfriend and leadership from right under her nose.
The movie establishes its exploitative credentials with campy abandon. Blithely unaware that they're being treated like second-class molls by their male counterparts, the Debs swagger around with all the bad-girl menace of Barbie dolls in leather. When they're run into jail for harassing a bill collector, they're placed in the hands-on care of lesbian prison matron Mom (Kate Murtagh).
"I know how to cool down chippies like you," she tells Maggie.
Lace is devoted to Dominic, a narcissistic creep who makes fun of her love letters behind her back. "I'd kill for that guy," she purrs fondly. When Dominic impulsively rapes Maggie, the newcomer's upset -- but only for a while.
The movie takes a tour through all the known vices, including prostitution, drug dealing and protection hustling. There's also a multi-gang melee, featuring a soul-sister outfit strongly into Chairman Mao, rifles and tanks. But the real high point is the inevitable mano a mano between Lace and Maggie. Now there's a catfight you won't want to miss.
SWITCHBLADE SISTERS (R) -- Contains sexual situations, profanity and violence. At the Cineplex Odeon Dupont 5.
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