The Female Bunch (1971) Gilbreth/Action RT: 86 minutes Rated R (full frontal nudity, sexual content, drugs, violence, some language) Director: Al Adamson Screenplay: Jale Lockwood and Brent Nimrod Music: Jaime Mendoza-Nava Cinematography: Paul Glickman Release date: September 1971 (US) Cast: Russ Tamblyn, Jenifer Bishop, Lon Chaney Jr., A’lesha Lee, Jeoffrey Land, Leslie McCrea, Nesa Renet, Don Epperson, Sheryn Wynters, Gina Carol, Al Cole. Box Office: N/A
Rating: *
While preparing to write my review of Al Adamson’s The Female Bunch, I came across a factoid that might explain why it’s still remembered by a select few. Filmed in the summer of ’69, it was partially shot on Spahn Ranch, home to Charles Manson and his “family” at the time. Reportedly, they frequently interrupted the shoot with their disruptive behavior. Although this connection to one of the worst crimes of the 20th century is eerily interesting, it’s still a lousy picture.
The Female Bunch opens with a man and woman driving through the desert attempting to escape from a group of women on horseback. A plane shows up and some woman shoots their tire. Now on foot, the fleeing couple makes it to a cave, but not before the man is shot in the shoulder. After the woman patches his wound, he asks her how she got involved in “this mess”. Begin flashback.
The woman’s name is Sandy (Renet), a Las Vegas cocktail waitress with a history of bad relationships. She tries to kill herself after being dumped by a lounge singer. Her friend, mother hen Libby (Carol, Satan’s Sadists), saves her and tells her there’s a better way to deal with it. She runs with a group of women who live on a ranch in the middle of the desert. It’s off limits to all men except for the alcoholic old coot Monti (Chaney, The Wolf Man) who takes care of the horses. It’s similar to a sorority in that all potential new members must undergo an initiation. In this case, it involves being buried alive for about ten seconds. Whoever doesn’t freak out is in.
The leader of this group is Grace (Bishop, Blood of Dracula’s Castle) who makes it crystal clear all of her orders must be followed. The place is funded by Sharon (Wynters), a rich girl with a drug habit. It’s really a heroin smuggling operation. It works like this. The girls ride over the Mexican border, pick up the smack at a sleazy cantina and take it back to the States to be sold. While there, they take the opportunity to blow off steam by getting laid. Oddly enough, the locals inhabiting the bar don’t seem to mind helping them with this.
It may sound like we’re talking about a bunch of good-time girls here, but nothing could be further from the truth. They’re a gang of sadistic man-hating bitches who engage in depraved behavior like terrorizing farmers and branding male trespassers like Bill (Tamblyn, West Side Story) who they catch in a compromising position with one of the girls. Grace gets a kick out of teasing poor old Monti with promises of sex she never intends to keep. Witnessing their flagitious actions, Sandy starts having second thoughts about joining up with them. She wants to leave, but will they let her out alive?
As a movie, The Female Bunch is bad and not in a good way. In short, it’s a bore. It’s light on action and heavy on scenes of women trying to act tough only to still look like mindless sex objects with whips and spurs. Where are the scenes with cops and border patrol pursing the girls? They’re drug smugglers, remember? I know it’s a low-budget movie, but it doesn’t make sense to not include law enforcement to some degree. In place of action, Adamson gives us sex and nudity in scenes that aren’t particularly titillating. They’re filmed with same indifference as the rest of the movie.
Sadly, The Female Bunch is Chaney’s swan song. You can tell by the raspiness of his voice how gravely ill the legendary horror actor was when he made this crummy picture. It’s the other notable thing about it. The rest of it is of no importance. The acting is bad, but no worse than what you see in other exploitation movies. Tamblyn, the only other actor of note involved, gives it his all but still can’t hide his embarrassment over going from West Side Story to this. Bishop tries to come off as mean, but doesn’t quite the level necessary to make a lasting impression.
Obviously, the title The Female Bunch is meant to evoke The Wild Bunch, but it’s not even fit to shine any of their saddles. Neither unintentionally funny nor entertainingly bad, it’s a lame horse that should have been put out of its misery a long time ago.
