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33%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #7,454
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An undercover policewoman helps three female convicts escape from prison so that they can lead her to a stash of stolen diamonds hidden in a swamp.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: March 30, 2005
Lee (Carole Mathews) is a female police officer who is working on finding some stolen diamonds. The male criminals who stole them have been executed, while the females that were involved are rotting in jail. Lee knows that the women won't tell them where they hid the diamonds, so she comes up with a plan to pose as a criminal and infiltrate the gang in order to find out the location of the diamonds. Her plan involves being sent to jail, getting in good with the ladies, and finally escaping prison with them in order to retrieve the diamonds. The warden of the jail agrees to the plan, and makes things easy for the gang to escape so as to let the plan carry on without any problems. Lee sets her plan into motion by meeting the gang, which is led by Josie (Marie Windsor), and also includes Billie (Jill Jarmyn) and Vera (Beverly Garland). After she gains their trust, she brings up the brilliant idea of escaping the prison, retrieving the diamonds, and splitting the profit four ways. The three remaining gang members agree to the plot, and it's off to find the diamonds... the only problem is that they're hidden deep in the Louisiana swamp. The four ladies must contend with alligators, snakes, and jealousy issues stemming from the male hostage that they've taken. Indeed, they've kidnapped Bob (Mike Connors) and Matie (Susan Cummings), two love-birds who were out taking a boat ride, and three of the gang ladies are falling in love with him.
This movie, which runs for exactly one hour, turned out to be much better than I had expected it to be. A film revolving around crime and ladies making their way through the swamp which was filmed in the mid-fifties by Roger Corman, a director best-known for his low-budget science fiction and horror films, didn't exactly seem like it would work out too well. It wasn't a great film by any means, but it was definitely entertaining if you're a fan of the crime and criminals genre of movies. The movie moves along at a brisk pace, throwing in numerous obstacles for the ladies to overcome in that one hour running time... once things get started, it's a fast-paced ride until the credits start to roll. The only complaint that I have about the pacing and the storyline is the opening scene, which shows Bob and Matie at Mardi Gras (which was quite different than the Mardi Gras we've grown accustomed to in recent years). This opening scene runs for ten minutes, and while it does introduce the characters and develop who they are, it really grows quite boring by the three minute mark. If anyone out there in reader-land decides to give this movie a shot, I'd really advise that you just skip right past this opening scene, as the majority of it is completely irrelevant to the remainder of the movie and seems as though it were only placed here to show off the Mardi Gras parade.
There's little in the way of special effects or action sequences, so if you're expecting a jungle-romp along the lines of Anacondas, you'd be well-advised to look elsewhere. There's a few scenes where the pace quickens, such as a near-fatal encounter with a rattlesnake and an underwater battle between man and alligator, but for the most part, the storyline progresses solely by dialog alone. There's also some very obvious sex appeal moments thrown in (mid-thigh length shorts), scenes which may have been better appreciated back during the time the film was released. These scenes and the criminal slang used by the ladies definitely show the age of the film, but it's more of a nostalgic sort of thing for modern viewers rather than something which would lessen the quality of the feature presentation. Each of the ladies involved did a great job with their roles, playing the part of fifties-era "tough broad" to perfection. Some of the lines were a bit corny and could have easily been removed, but this was more a fault of the script than the ladies who were delivering the lines.
Overall, this would be a film to check out if you enjoy classic adventure / crime cinema. It's also easily attainable thanks to the Dollar DVD collection, so you can pick it up for an even buck at most fine retailers. Give it a shot, you can't go too wrong with this one considering the price. 6/10.
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