The Female Bunch/Review

Author’s Note: At the time of this article, it's autism awareness month. To my fellow autistic brethren who either frequent the site or our personal lives, thank you for being you. Now on with the review…

Being a guy with autism I can definitely testify one characteristic that is true with us: special interests. We, autists love our niche materials and will go on ad nauseam about it without the neurotypical even caring about it. For me, one of my strangest fascinations has been woman either on horseback or cracking a whip. Maybe there’s a strange Freudian symbolic explanation, but something about a hot girl riding on top while lashing a mean whip gets butterflies in my stomach. Luckily, cult director Al Adamson has spoken to my bizarre fetish with our movie of the week - The Female Bunch.

The plot could be described as the Manson Family if told by Russ Meyer. Sandy, a down-on-her-luck Vegas cocktail waitress gets kicked to the curb by her recent boyfriends being jerks to her. After a suicide attempt, her friend Libby introduces to her a misandrist group of women living on an isolated California ranch. What follows is one girl returning from her European trip and the gang going to Mexico to score some drugs. When the leader of the group, Grace gets too kill-crazy for Sandy’s tastes, things take a turn for the worse. Let’s just say it turns into Peckinpah’s wet sexploitation dream at the end.

I say Manson Family because “The Female Bunch” was shot at the Spahn Ranch at the time Charlie and his girls got their body count in. There are some eerie similarities right down to Bill (Russ Tamblyn) getting a branding that’s way too similar to the mark on Charles’ forehead. Then there’s the plot device of a woman being seduced into a cult at a time when she’s been emotionally thrown in the trash. That’s pretty much the profile on how Manson duped all his girls into his cult. Yet how does the movie itself measure outside of these little nuggets?

Well I can say that it’s an okay viewing that’s for sure. If I can complement anything it’s the cinematography which was done by Paul Glickman. There’s some cool shots like the first time we’re introduced to Grace. The camera moves from spurred boots to up her legs, showing us her sexual curves. Further into the second act there’s some trippy effects with the screen. All to highlight Grace and one her cohorts doing the lesbian no-pants dance after shooing up some heroin.

The acting is where “The Female Bunch” becomes mixed for me. Nesa Rinet is easily the best of the bunch as Sandy for she turns in scenes that makes us feel for her character. Such as in the first act where she does everything to make her boyfriend stay with her, even giving him head. Then we have Jennifer Bishop as Grace, who at times is good, but other moments make it seem like she’s a little flat in her delivery. Horror icon Lon Chaney, Jr plays the horse handler, Monti who’s operates as the wholesome old man of the group. Sure you can tell Chaney is ill from his voice slowly succumbing to cancer, but the dude give his all and I applaud him for trying.

Really the main thing I can definitely take away from the flick is the smoking hot girls. Al Adamson is one lucky dude considering this and Satan's Sadists have the most beautiful-looking babes around. Watching them dance in the Mexican bars and whipping drunkards around is strangely kinky to see. Again maybe it could a Freudian-bondage school of thought that I’m unintentionally getting at. Either way, I’d certainly let these girls rough me up any day of the week if you catch my drift.

“The Female Bunch” is a decent time that goes from action to bordering on sexploitation. Granted the performances are all over the place, though it’s certainly sexy to look at. Both with regards to its photography and the voluptuous vixens on screen. If you’re in the mood for something which doesn’t require too much and yet just the right thing to get you off, I recommend this one. That and you can’t go wrong with a trippy Lesbian-heroin moment I’ll tell you that.

I give it 4 of Charlie Daniels’ fiddles out of 5 - check it out.

Ken Hegarty is a contributor to the Grindhouse Cinema Database. You can find a list of his reviews HERE.