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I didn't like the TV series 'The Flash' much but for lovers of girl gangs we had an episode featuring 'The Black Rose Gang'. These particular babes specialised in bank robbery and were not averse to shooting up pursuing law enforcers with their tommy guns. I've no idea who any of the actresses are but Amanda Pays may be among them as she became a temporary member when she switched roles from good girl to bad girl.
If armies of machine gun toting female armies is your thing then you should hunt out a few spy films from the sixties. At some future date I really hope to cover the whole superspy genre in more detail but for the moment here are a few stills from the spoof James Bond film 'Casino Royale'. At over 2 hours long this film long outstays it's welcome but if you can stay awake 'til the final 30 minutes you get to see Dr. Noah's army of machine gun toting babes and if you're really sad (like me) you can spend time trying to recognise some of the very minor starlets amongst them (Anita Harris and Virginia North were the only two I recognised).
Back in the 1970's there were a whole host of exploitation movies often featuring gun toting gangs of girls. Few have much to recommend them and the best of a bad bunch is undoubtedly 'Switchblade Sisters'. Made by genre specialist Jack Hill it tells the story of 'The Jezebels', a group of girl teenage delinquents (though some of the actresses look as if they'd left most of their teenage years behind them). The story starts with 'the new girl on the block', Lace (Robbie Lee) joining the local girl gang, becoming leader and falling out with a male gang whose leader has designs on being local mayor so he can spread dope to the masses.
Before long the scheming Patch (Monica Gayle) is causing divisions within the gang by stirring trouble between Lace and Maggie (Joanne Nail). Patch contacts the dope dealing male gang leader (who has the ultimate 1970's bad haircut) but during a shootout between his gang and the Jezebels, who have teamed up with the local Black Power girl gang, Patch shoots him before he can expose the back stabbing plots within the gang. It all ends in a rather convincing knife fight between the two rivals for the gang's leadership. Like many gang exploitation flicks the acting is pretty excrutiating at times and the dialogue doesn't help. However there is still a watchable film beneath the films surface which breaks out every so often.
There's loads more stuff which could have featured in this article and maybe I'll do a second article at some stage - who wouldn't want to see 'The Doll Squad', 'Top Squad' et al? However I seem to have hit a rich crop of vidcaps with this genre so the page finishes with a bumper selection of images from the early 1990's film 'Sweet Justice' starring Marc Singer (of 'V' fame). The film features a whole variety of gun slinging babes including that stalwart of the cheapo action flick, Kathleen Kinmont, the 'forever on TV actress' Marjorean Holden and my own personal favourite Patricia Tallman. Pat is an incredibly nice person (yep I've met her) and is best known for her role as a telepath in Babylon 5 and the remake of 'Night of the Living Dead'. Pat is also a professional stuntwoman (it shows here) and has stood in for many well known actresses in their action scenes.
Anyway back to the film. The plot revolves around small town America. There's a corrupt woman politician (I'm beginning to wonder whether any politicos are straight in the USA) who is offered one kickback too many and is killed when her conscience gets the better of her. However on the scene are her ex-commando buddies (who are all women and pretty) who are out seeking answers and then revenge.
The chief baddie behind all the skullduggery is the local sheriff played by Frank Gorshin, who manages to give one of the worst performances I've ever seen. However the goons he employs are no match for the revenging babes. After several run ins the women are victorious, the sheriff goes to meet his maker (after an exit of Shakespearian proportions) and the film finishes with a neat twist. Like 'Phoenix the Warrior', which also featured Kathleen Kinmont, this is entertaining if undemanding entertainment. The girls all look at home in their action roles (how often can you say that) though I spotted one goof where one of the stuntman fell over as if his legs had been kicked but the actress forgot to sweep her leg. Ah, the joys of being an armchair critic.
