[I]t’s a film that was probably more fun to make than it is to watch.
After watching Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson last week, I thought I should see at least one of the director’s films in its entirety. I picked 1971’s The Female Bunch because it was easily accessible on the Tubi streaming service. Made in 1969 under the name “A Time To Run”, parts of the film were shot at the infamous Spahn Ranch. That’s where Charles Manson and his “family” holed up during the Tate murders. And, as the documentary promised, it’s a film that was probably more fun to make than it is to watch.
The flimsy plot centers around Sandy (Nesa Renet,) who, after a string of bad relationships, attempts suicide in Las Vegas. Rescued by a co-worker named Libby (Regina Carrol), Sandy is invited to join a female gang who live on a ranch near the Mexico border. These women, led by Grace (Jennifer Bishop,) run heroin across the border and live a generally hedonistic lifestyle. The only rules to which they abide are no men on the ranch and they must do whatever Grace tells them.
Basically, the “plot” is an excuse to work in a healthy amount of sex and violence as is Al Adamson’s trademark. Most of the dialogue occurs when the person speaking is off-screen. I’m guessing that means that much of it was written after the scenes were filmed . Adamson frequently inserted scenes into his movies after they were “finished” for a variety of reasons. No reason, however, is given to why the women ride everywhere on horseback even though the film takes place in the late 1960s.
Horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. appears briefly as Monti, the gang’s stablehand and the only man allowed on Grace’s ranch. This was Chaney’s final film appearance and he looks ragged. His voice, raspy from a bout with throat cancer, is barely audible. Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story) plays Bill, a man brave enough to venture onto the grounds of the ranch. It’s clear that both were cast due to the value of their name alone. Neither man’s performance does their legacy any favors.
Knowing what I now know about how Al Adamson’s films were put together, I probably gave The Female Bunch more leeway than I typically would any other film this poorly constructed. The editing is terrible. The musical score is obtrusively distracting. The story is just as unfocused as the camera is for the majority of the 82 minute run time. Aside from Chaney and Tamblyn, the rest of the cast were probably chosen either for their looks or their familiarity with Adamson. It certainly wasn’t for their stellar thespianism. Yet, I was thoroughly entertained. Fans of exploitation films will revel in its undeniably tawdry charms. Everyone else can take a pass on The Female Bunch.
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
