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Lethal Ladies (Roger Corman's Cult Classics)

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    Todd Jordan
    Smut is good.

  • Lethal Ladies (Roger Corman's Cult Classics)



    Released by: Shout! Factory
    Released on: 10/25/2011
    Director: Cirio H. Santiago, Don Schain
    Cast: see reviews
    Year: various (see reviews)
    Purchase from Amazon

    The Movie:
    TNT Jackson (1974) “She's a one mama massacre squad!” dir. Cirio H. Santiago
    Someone is responsible for the disappearance of the brother of Diana “TNT” Jackson, and TNT (Jeanne Bell) intends to find out what happened and what asses she needs to kick. And believe it, she can kick some serious ass. Putting herself right smack dab into the dangerous parts of Manila's Chinatown, she quickly befriends Joe (Chiquito), a friendly club owner with clientele that he believes have the answers she seeks.

    TNT quickly hooks up with the only other black person in the Philippines, Charlie (Stan Shaw), a young gangster working his way to the top, and he's right at the point of going over it. His boss sends him to check her out and see what she's in the city for, and he takes a real shine to her. He also thinks she can be of some value to the organization he's with run by Sid (Ken Metcalfe), the local drug kingpin. Along the way TNT finds herself at odds with Sid's old lady Elaine (Pat Anderson), and the two just can't get along.

    Meanwhile the drug game is heating up, with Sid's shipments getting hijacked left and right and the pressures being put on him by his boss. The blame is put on TNT and he wants her out of the way. Charlie is looking out for her though and is getting ready to make his moves, on both TNT and his soon-to-be self-appointed promotion. TNT gets closer to the truth about her brother and has to form an alliance she isn't up for, but she'll do whatever it takes to find out what happened to her brother and make those responsible pay for it.

    Simply put this is drive-in fare at its funnest. It's the shortest of the three in this set (just one hour and 12 minutes), and it may well be the most enjoyable. It zips along, wasting very little time with exposition and just jumping with into the action. There're lots of fight scenes; some fights look better than others, and some people with obvious (and not so obvious) skills in the world of martial arts. Also expect some good shoot-outs, horrible clothing, Max Alvarado, so-so acting, afros, acrobatics, Asian boobs, African boobs, Anglo boobs, a weird parade, sped-up Kung Fu fighting, racial slurs, a Chinese man with a Bob's Big Boy hairdo, and a main theme that is identical to the main theme from another movie by Cirio H. Santiago, Savage!

    What a great way to start off the set.
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    Firecracker (1981) “She'll blow you away!” dir. Cirio H. Santiago
    Susanne (Jillian Kesner, winner of “The Black Belt Olympics”), a West Coast martial arts instructor, is in the Philippines looking for her missing sister Bonnie in the hopes of getting her out of whatever mess she got herself into. She's got some leads and knows right where to start, which is in the seedy underbelly of the city. She quickly positions herself with a group of bad guys who have death matches for rich people to bet on.

    Super stud Chuck (Darby Hinton) is the right-hand man to the big boss and a champion in ring with lots of kills to his credit. The boss sends him to move in on Susanne and see what she's really after, and before long Chuck falls for Susanne. If the man had any idea what Suzanne was really after, he would have stayed away from her. Far away. Chuck's feelings for Susanne cloud his judgement and give her an advantage he'll soon wish he hadn't given her. Once she finds out what happened to her sister, the titties and bodies start flying.

    This one's not all too deep, and if it sounds a bit like the plot for TNT Jackson that's because it pretty darn close. But it is a fun watch all the same. Jillian Kesner (Beverly Hills Vamp, and Fonzie's girlfriend at one point on Happy Days) may not be a thespian, but she sure is easy on the eyes. And a big “thank you” to her for a wonderful fight sequence where her clothes keep coming off until she's fighting in nothing but a pair of panties. Also a plus in this one is the appearance of Vic Diaz as one of the thugs running dope for the big boss. And be on the watch for Weng Weng's boss (Tony Ferrer) and Professor Van Kohler (Mike Cohen) from For Your Height Only. Nice to see them pop up too.

    Directed by a veteran exploitation moviemaker, with such film credits as The Big Bird Cage, Savage!, and Caged Fury, the movie is pretty tightly constructed and at only 77 minutes long it goes by quickly. The fight sequences are actually kind of crummy, looking slow and clumsy and not realistic at all, but that adds to the major cheese factor this one has. You may as well forget about a subplot involving drug trafficking because it doesn't amount to much, but the scenes that consist of the material mostly feature Vic Diaz so they're worth being in there. Oh and fans of Shogun Assassin will undoubtedly notice the liberal use of the main theme from that film. Firecracker is a fun, mindless action movie with a nice set of juggs.
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    Too Hot Too Handle (1977) “Her deadliest weapon is her body!” dir. Don Schain
    Samantha Fox (the slinky and sexy Cheri Caffaro) is an international hit-chick spending some time in the Philippines to take care of a few contracts. Her jobs aren't just any old people, but high-powered criminals and slime balls, and she takes great joy in her work. After a couple of hits (one involving some mild S&M), she gains the attention of the fuzz, run by Domingo De La Torres (Aharon Ipale) and his right-hand man Sanchez, played by the always entertaining Vic Diaz. Domingo falls for the assassin, and with no evidence to connect her to the crimes, there's nothing he can do with her. Well…actually there is something he can do with her…

    The clever Ms. Fox uses both her brains and her body to render her victims helpless, then savors their slow deaths via whatever means suits her fancy at the moment. The police are just waiting for her to slip up, and Sanchez gets to do all the legwork and report back to his boss. The growing bond between Domingo and Samantha is making both of their jobs more difficult to perform, and even though she's killing scumbags, murder is murder and it's illegal. Domingo must live up to his oath to uphold the law, but at the same time loves the killer. She's also torn, wanting to retire and take him with her to far off lands, but she isn't about to be arrested. And so it's a race to the finish: will she finish her series of jobs or be forced to flee? And will he be able to pin the crimes on her before she leaves town? Will they be able to engage one another in acts of love and debauchery? Or be forced to live their lives at odds with each other, each trying to stay one step ahead of the other?

    As with the other two films in this triple feature, it's just plain fun to sit through. Cheri Caffaro, known best for the “Ginger” films a few years prior to this one, is like a mixture between Seka, Julie Newmar, and Angie Dickenson: elegant, sexy, and confident. She wears some pretty wild outfits that show off her attributes (a low-cut funeral dress that would take any man's mind off whoever was in that casket), and she has no problem leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination as well. Full frontal nudity is always a plus in any movie, this one being no exception.

    Vic Diaz plays a good guy for a change and he's his usual awesome self. And Aharon Ipale does a good job in his role with the help of his insanely massive sweater chest. In fact all the actors do a good job, at least compared to the other movies in this set. Those sensitive to real animal death might want to fast forward through a cock fight, although while its going on Samantha Fox gets highly aroused and makes it difficult to turn away from the screen. Whether its some way of telling the audience she's a twisted sex-charged murderer, some social commentary, or a simple sleazy piece of filmmaking could easily be debated. No matter what, it's a fucked up scene.

    Directed by Cheri Caffaro's at-the-time huband Don Schain (who also directed the Ginger films, and now produces High School Musical stuff), the movie pokes along pretty good offering some great, solid 70s cheese. This includes the use of split-screen editing, crazy car explosions that seem to happen for no logical reason, and a great helping of sleaziness to appease the B-movie crowd and live up to Roger Corman's standards.
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    Lethal Ladies Collection makes an excellent companion set to The Women In Cages Collection, giving the watcher a different view of the Philippines by taking place in the city as opposed to the jungle. This offers up some great locations and a peek into the look of the city in the 1970s and early 80s prior to Ferdinand Marcos' removal from power and exile from the country. The movies all share a few commonalities and they all are incredibly entertaining.

    Video/Audio/Extras:
    All three films are presented with 16:9 anamorphic widescreen transfers. They all have some debris here and there, some more than others, but they look pretty damn good. Colors on all are satisfying and not washed out, the black levels look good, and the image is clear. Lovers of film grain should like what they see and overall the picture on all three is satisfying. There appears to be no artifacts, nor anything noteworthy by way of issues. Once in a while there's a spot that looks inconsistent with the rest, but it's short-lived and if you blink you might miss it. The audio on all three is a 2.0 Dolby Digital track, but sounds mono. That said, there is nothing to complain about. Every thing is clear and the balance seems right. Pops and hissing is not really noticeable and if it is it only adds to the whole dynamic.

    There are trailers on both discs. Disc one has “Jackson County Jail”, “The Big Bird Cage”, “The Hot Box”, and “Firecracker”. Disc Two repeats the same trailers (kind of odd), plus has a still gallery, with lots of production stills and promotional photos for Too Hot To Handle. Also on the second disc is an excellent commentary with Ms. Caffaro, moderated by Elijah Drenner, director of the documentary American Grindhouse. They cover lots of stuff, not just for Too Hot To Handle, but also Cheri's career in film and what she is doing now. She has some good stories to tell and it's well worth listening to. She seems like a down-to-earth lady who enjoyed her film work and seems to have no regrets. One other item to note is the inside cover of the DVD, where each film's movie poster is displayed in full.

    The Final Word:
    Shout! Factory has once again delivered an excellent package and a great addition to their already amazing line of “Roger Corman's Cult Classics” discs. All three movies are a good time and they all deliver the grindhouse goods.
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