1975
Starring: Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail, Monica Gayle, Asher Brauner
This movie changed my life. I first saw it between high school and college; I absolutely loved it. I brought it up at movie night to make sure that everyone got a chance to see it, as it's a personal favorite.
Lace (Robbie Lee) is the leader of the Dagger Debs, the sister gang to the Silver Daggers. At the local burger joint she runs into Maggie (Joanne Nail) a girl without a gang. They get into a fight and the police show up. All the girls are taken to juvenile detention. Maggie is about to be molested by the warden Mom Smackley when all the Dagger Debs come to her rescue. Since Maggie doesn't have a gang she's invited by Lace to join the Dagger Debs. Lace is still stuck in the joint when Maggie is released. Lace gives Maggie a note to give to her boyfriend Dom (Asher Brauner), the leader of the Daggers. Maggie gives the note to Dom at the gang's hangout but he reads it in front of everyone and it's romantic and personal. That night Dom goes to Maggie's apartment and rapes her, which is super messed up. Lace is released and she introduces Maggie to Dom and the gang, not knowing that Dom already raped Maggie. Patch (Monica Gayle) is super suspicious of Maggie joining the gang, so she mentions that Maggie has to do a job to prove her allegiance. The task she is given is stealing a medallion from Crabs (Chase Newhart) the leader of the rival gang. Maggies manages to do this and is welcomed into the gang. Crabs and his gang retaliate by shooting Dom's brother Guido and gang raping his girlfriend Cherry. Maggie has the idea to attack Crabs's gang at the roller rink where they hang out on Friday nights. Maggie knows the turf because she used to live in that part of town.
Meanwhile Lace tries to reconnect with Dom and informs him that at the juvenile detention she found out she's pregnant. Dom doesn't care and throws her some money to get an abortion. Lace talks to Patch who convinces her that Maggie is making the moves on Dom and that's why he has become distant.
At the roller rink, everyone is just skating around and all seems cool. Then the Silver Daggers and Dagger Debs attack! But Crabs's gang has their own weapons and they fight back. Dom is shot and Lace is kicked in the stomach. Dom doesn't make it, Lace recovers at the hospital, but she lost the baby. Maggie knows that someone tipped off Crabs because how else would he have known about this attack. Lace plays it cool when all the girls visit her at the hospital, but reveals to Patch that she told Crabs about the attack because he promised he would take Maggie out.
Maggie gathers all the girls together to take a stand. The Silver Daggers, now that their leader Dom is dead don't support the girls. The girls break away from the Daggers and rename themselves the Jezebels. Maggie goes to the local black radical gang for more muscle to figure out how to get their revenge on Crabs. It's obvious that Maggie is the new leader but Lace shows up and makes it look like she's in charge. They all plan the big attack and Maggie is adamant that Crabs must be taken alive to figure out who ratted out the previous attack.
Crabs and his gang have a front where they give out free meals to kids, but I guess they use that as a front to get them addicted to drugs. All the girls attack Crabs's gang with Molotov cocktails and assault vehicles. It's a bad ass attack with the Jezebels and the black radical gang beating down Crabs's gang. Maggie corners Crabs and is about to figure out who squealed but Lace and Patch show up. Patch shoots Crabs and says that he was gonna run. Maggie is pissed.
Back at the gang hangout all the girls are celebrating their victory, they even got a special cake. Lace on the verge of completely losing her hold on the gang and doesn't know what to do. Patch helps Lace get it together and they both accuse Maggie of being the traitor who got Dom killed. Maggie challenges Lace to a one on one fight to prove her innocence. They have a vicious switchblade fight that ends with Maggie stabbing Lace in the throat. The cops show up and take all the girls in, but Maggie is filled with fury and promises that they'll be back.
The rape scenes are tough, but I love that these awesome ladies get through it by sticking together. I love that they shed their abusive dudes to form their own gang. Lace is both tough and a huge baby, it sucks that she was so attached to Dom that she couldn't see what an asshole he was. I highly recommend this movie.
The VHS version that I have was released by Quentin Tarantino's production company and includes him discussing his favorite parts of the movie. I'm glad that he made the movie available again but I always fast forward through him talking about the movie because I can't stand it.
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