Savage Sisters

Last updated
Savage Sisters
Savage Sisters.jpg
Directed by Eddie Romero
Written by
  • H. Franco Moon
  • Harry Corner
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJusto Paulino
Edited byIsagani Pastor
Music by Bax
Production
companies
Distributed byAmerican International Pictures (AIP) (US)
Release date
  • July 1974 (1974-07)
Running time
86 minutes
Countries
  • Philippines
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$250,000.00(estimated)

Savage Sisters is a 1974 women in prison film made in the Philippines and directed by Eddie Romero. [1]

Contents

It was the last and most expensive of several movies actor/producer John Ashley filmed in that country. [2]

Plot

In a revolution-torn country, 1 million US dollars is stolen by a group of revolutionaries, including Mai Ling and Jo Turner. The revolutionaries are betrayed by gang members Malavasi and One Eye, who helped them with the job, and are imprisoned.

Policewoman Lynn Jackson busts Mai Ling and Jo out of prison. Captain Morales goes after them. The women deal with a con man, W.P. Billingsley.

Everyone chases after the money. Malavasi and One Eye try to get it, but are buried up to their necks in the sand. Billingsley tries to take the money, but is overpowered by the women.

Cast

Production

The film's estimated budget was $250,000. [2] [3]

The film's star, Gloria Hendry, later recalled, "John Ashley was a lot of fun, a very positive individual with a lot of energy. A free spirit. It was the first time I had ever gone to Manila, to the Philippines, to work... I spent three wonderful months there. I learned a lot about the country and their process of doing films." [4]

The film was originally called Ebony, Ivory and Jade and strongly featured martial arts. However, by the time the film was released, several martial arts films had not performed well, so the advertising campaign focused instead on the movie being about a Patty Hearst-type liberation army. [5]

Reception

The Chicago Tribune said that "only the broadly comic performance of Sid Haig... breaks the monotony of it all." [6]

The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the better lurid potboilers to come out of the Philippines... Romero's direction is snappy... amusing as a sort of very broad live action cartoon." [1]

Diabolique magazine wrote that Ashley was "especially fun" in the film "as a mustachioed, cigar-smoking conman type figure, doing push ups in leopard print underwear and bedding the three leads, indicating Ashley might have enjoyed a decent career as a character actor in later years had he so chosen." [7]

TV Guide described the film as follows: "a baffling picture about a group of rifle-wielding women who back a revolution on some faceless banana-republic island. Luckily, it doesn't take itself too seriously and emerges as just another of director Romero's exploitative island films." [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Black Mama White Mama</i> 1972 film by Eddie Romero

Black Mama White Mama, also known as Women in Chains, Hot, Hard and Mean and Chained Women, is a 1973 women in prison film directed by Eddie Romero and starring Pam Grier and Margaret Markov. The film has elements of blaxploitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ashley (actor)</span> American actor, producer and singer

John Ashley was an American actor, producer and singer. He was best known for his work as an actor in films for American International Pictures, producing and acting in horror films shot in the Philippines, and for producing various television series, including The A-Team.

<i>Beast of the Yellow Night</i> 1971 Filipino-American horror film

Beast of the Yellow Night is a 1971 Filipino/American horror film, directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, who co-produced the film with Romero. It was the fourth release for Roger Corman's distribution company New World Pictures. It was released as a double feature with the West German horror film, Creature with the Blue Hand.

<i>The Big Doll House</i> 1971 film by Jack Hill

The Big Doll House is a 1971 American women-in-prison film starring Pam Grier, Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, Brooke Mills, and Pat Woodell. The film follows six female inmates through daily life in a gritty, unidentified tropical prison. Later the same year, the film Women in Cages featured a similar story and setting and much the same cast, and was shot in the same abandoned prison buildings. A nonsequel follow-up, titled The Big Bird Cage, was released in 1972.

<i>Suicide Battalion</i> 1958 film by Edward L. Cahn

Suicide Battalion is a 1958 World War II film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Mike Connors and John Ashley, who made the film while on leave from the United States Army. In 1968, it was remade for television by Larry Buchanan as Hell Raiders, which was the film's original working title.

<i>Beyond Atlantis</i> (film) 1973 film by Eddie Romero

Beyond Atlantis is a 1973 Filipino-American science fiction horror film directed by Eddie Romero, written by Charles Johnson, based on a story by Stephanie Rothman, and starring Patrick Wayne and John Ashley.

<i>The Woman Hunt</i> 1972 film directed by Eddie Romero

The Woman Hunt is a 1972 film directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, Pat Woodell, and Sid Haig.

<i>Dragstrip Girl</i> (1957 film) 1957 film

Dragstrip Girl is a 1957 film starring John Ashley in his first lead role. American International Pictures released the film as a double feature with Rock All Night and it proved an early success for the studio.

<i>Young Dillinger</i> 1965 film by Terry O. Morse

Young Dillinger is a 1965 gangster film directed by Terry O. Morse. It stars Nick Adams as the notorious criminal John Dillinger, and co-stars Robert Conrad, John Ashley and Mary Ann Mobley.

<i>Motorcycle Gang</i> (1957 film) 1957 film by Edward L. Cahn

Motorcycle Gang is a 1957 film which is a semi-remake of Dragstrip Girl. It was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Sorority Girl.

<i>Hot Rod Gang</i> 1958 film

Hot Rod Gang is a 1958 drama film directed by Lew Landers and starring John Ashley. The working title was Hot Rod Rock with the film also released under the title Fury Unleashed. American International Pictures released the film as a double feature with High School Hellcats. The production includes performances by rock and roll musician Gene Vincent, and was the final theatrical feature directed by the incredibly prolific Landers, whose career dated to the mid-1930s.

Manila, Open City is a 1968 war film written, produced, and directed by Eddie Romero about the Battle of Manila in World War II. The film was screened upon the launching of the National Film Archive of the Philippines in December 2011.

<i>The Mad Doctor of Blood Island</i> 1969 Filipino film

The Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a 1969 Filipino horror film, co-directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, and starring John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn, Eddie Garcia and Ronald Remy.

<i>Brides of Blood</i> 1968 Filipino film

Brides of Blood is a 1968 Filipino horror film, co-directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, and starring John Ashley, Kent Taylor, Beverly Hills, Eva Darren and Mario Montenegro. It was the first movie that Ashley made in the Philippines, beginning a long association between Ashley and that country. Brides of Blood was the second in a series of four horror films produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn known as the "Blood Island" series, which also included Terror Is a Man, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island and Beast of Blood. Brides of Blood was later released to television syndication in some areas as Island of Living Horror.

<i>Beast of Blood</i> (film) 1970 film by Eddie Romero

Beast of Blood, released in the UK as Blood Devils, is a 1970 Filipino horror film. A sequel to The Mad Doctor of Blood Island, it was directed by Eddie Romero. It was the fourth in a series of four Filipino horror films, produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn, known as the "Blood Island" series, which also included Terror Is a Man, Brides of Blood and The Mad Doctor of Blood Island. It was also Romero's last film for Lynn's Hemisphere Pictures, as the two went their separate ways after this film was completed.

Black Mamba is a 1974 horror film directed by George Rowe and starring John Ashley, Marlene Clark, Pilar Pilapil, and Eddie Garcia.

<i>Smoke in the Wind</i> 1975 film by Joseph Kane

Smoke in the Wind is a 1975 American Western film directed by Andy Brennan and Joseph Kane. It marked Walter Brennan's final film role as he died over six months before the film's release.

Sudden Death is a 1977 action film directed by Eddie Romero, starring Robert Conrad, and costarring Thayer David, Larry Manetti and Nancy Conrad, Robert Conrad's real life daughter.

Hell on Wheels is a 1967 American film about stock-car racing that includes musical performances by several popular country and western singers. It stars Marty Robbins, a popular and successful singer who also dabbled as a NASCAR race driver for a number of years.

<i>Machete Maidens Unleashed!</i> 2010 Australian documentary film by Mark Hartley

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is a 2010 Australian documentary film directed by Mark Hartley.

References

  1. 1 2 Thomas, K. (Oct 4, 1974). "A clean-cut 'dirty, O'neil'". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest   157709006.
  2. 1 2 Tom Weaver, "Interview with John Ashley", Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup, McFarland 1988 p 42
  3. Lamont, John (1990). "The John Ashley Filmography". Trash Compactor (Volume 2 No. 5 ed.). p. 26.
  4. VOGER, M. (Oct 20, 2006). "BLACK BELT GLORIA". Asbury Park Press. ProQuest   437831687.
  5. Lamont, John (1992). "The John Ashley Interview Part 2". Trash Compactor (Volume 2 No. 6 ed.). p. 6.
  6. "Tempo/Movies". Chicago Tribune. Sep 24, 1974. ProQuest   169333360.
  7. Vagg, Stephen (December 2019). "A Hell of a Life: The Nine Lives of John Ashley". Diabolique Magazine.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. "Savage Sisters". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2024-05-02.