Savage Streets
Itâs easy to become nostalgic thinking about those days back in the 1970s and 1980s with that era of the no holds barred exploitation film, movies that were best defined as having almost no socially redeeming value whatsoever but that nonetheless were tremendously entertaining with their willingness to cross any lines of good taste or proper civilized conduct when it came to telling their story. Now and again, these films can still get made today but only those who actively seek them out can actually get to watch them, whereas back then there were pay cable outlets such as Cinemax and The Movie Channel who would gleefully air them by the bucketful (usually late at night) to satisfy the voracious appetites of those who enjoy such cinematic trash. The most amazing thing is that most of the time, these films usually would feature a big name star or two to give it a halfway decent air of legitimacy (something that is also rare today too). In 1984, we saw the release of what many would consider the pinnacle of the genre, a vigilante action revenge drama with enough excess sleaze to drown out a grindhouse theatre pit. It featured as its main star one Linda Blair, immortalized as the little girl in The Exorcist and who seemed to be on her way to the big time before getting busted for coke and amphetamines and thus being blacklisted from mainstream Hollywood, rebuilding her career on the B movie circuit while managing to make a few cult classics on the way. In this movie, Blair was in her mid twenties (and looked it) but yet is still playing a high school student! Turns out that sheâs not just any student though, but rather the leader of her own all girl gang as shown in the opening scene of them strutting up and down Hollywood Boulevard accompanied by Blairâs little kid sister (Linnea Quigley, herself on the way to cult icon status), an adorably innocent, wide eyed blonde schoolgirl who also happens to be deaf and dumb. After a run in with a gang of tough guys whom Blair happens to know are also drug dealers, she decides to play a little prank on them by having her and her girls steal their Convertible (the go to car of choice for all 80s movie punks) and go joyriding in it before throwing a bunch of trash cans inside of it. Now while this might seem like itâs all in good clean fun, it can still be considered an act of provocation which leads to the punks in retaliation cornering poor little Quigley alone and brutally gang raping her in the school locker room (with the whole âbuildupâ of first having one gang member âplay niceâ with the deaf Quigley, getting her to smile at him and become friendly due to her own sweet nature before the whole gang attacks being pretty damn twisted). The funny thing about the gang is that NONE of them actually go to the high school except for one, their âjuniorâ member (who had the honor of being the first one thrown on top of the helpless and beautiful Quigley) whom as the movie goes on starts to have more and more of a crisis of conscience about their actions much to the chagrin of his mates. The others include a guy with heavy makeup, a piercing laugh, and red hair along with a stereotypical Brooklyn / Italian type tough guy and then there is their leader, Jake (Robert Dryer), whom unlike other classic âevilâ movie gang leaders like Clockwork Orangeâs Alex and Class Of 1984âs Stegman, has no depth whatsoever and absolutely no redeeming qualities about him at all (and also unlike those other aforementioned characters, thereâs not even an ounce of either charisma or presence about him due mostly to the actor himself who comes across as resembling Michael Pare with Touretteâs Syndrome). Despite their non enrolled status at the school, the gang still happens to be there quite frequently conducting their business which looks to be in collections since nearly half of their scenes seem to feature them shaking somebody down looking for money thatâs owed to them. As expected, the cops are absolutely clueless as to who committed the crime, as is Linda herself (surprising considering her past run ins with the gang) who is more caught up in her own subplot concerning her badass girl having a little rivalry with a snotty cheerleader due mostly to Lindaâs flirtations with her retarded looking jock boyfriend (played by Brian Frishman, a guy whom previously in Midnight Madness as Barf had played an obviously retarded character for laughs and had actually managed to pull it off) which leads to the two of them having a series of catfights before Linda pulls her rivalâs top off in front of a classroom full of students which pretty much settles it. But, this still puts Linda in the crosshairs of her high schoolâs principal played by John Vernon (best known and beloved as Dean Wormer in Animal House but here playing one of the coolest, most tough talking, foul mouthed principals in movie history and making the most of his limited screen time) who subsequently suspends her from school. Linda becomes pretty depressed after that, drinking heavily and rambling on to her friends about âmaking things rightâ, but after a chance encounter where she finds out who raped her sister (as well as when another friend and member of her gang is brutalized), she takes the time to think about it by smoking a cigarette (which she does excessively throughout the movie) and taking a bath in one of the most legendary nude scenes ever, filmed up from overhead as the camera zooms in on her pensive face (she couldnât have just sat in a recliner and thought about it?) and she decides to do what she needs to do in order for her to âmake things rightâ, things that include investing in a crossbow and learning to use both psychological and diversionary tactics to her advantage. Overall, this movie is really so insanely lowbrow that it comes across as also being incredibly entertaining, aided enormously by a batshit crazy script which specializes in having many foul mouthed one liners (including by Linda herself who spouts the C word and many other unrepeatable non sequiturs) as well as excessive amounts of shit talking (especially by the evil gang themselves for whom all their dialogue seems to consist of nothing but that) with frequent references to Quigleyâs character being a âretardâ (because sheâs deaf and dumb) and Vernonâs principal saying a number of things that no real life principal would ever realistically get away with saying. As for the performances, the standout is probably Quigley, looking so young that acne can still be detected on her pretty face (although she was well over the age of 18 at the time obviously) but moreso, bringing an almost ethereal presence to the role of Blairâs deaf mute sister, using her characterâs disability to project an acute sense of warmth and innocence that almost makes one wonder if she could have carried an entire movie while playing this type of character who never utters a word (before the gang rape lands her in the hospital for the rest of the film). Blair, an actress who was known for goofily bad acting while still having stunning good looks, gives us more of the same here, not really projecting so much of a badass persona but rather someone who not only decides to go seek her revenge but she also sure as hell isnât going to play fair about it, which is understandable since during the climax the evil gang members are constantly telling her that killing her is not exactly the first thing that theyâre going to do to her. The film also features an interesting (and original) heavy metal soundtrack featuring artists whom youâve never heard of performing songs that youâll never listen to again. And again, the insanity of having Linda Blair playing a high school student who decides to become a crossbow wielding vigilante hunting down bad guys in order to âmake things rightâ is something that actually seems to be just right when it comes to making a movie that succeeds in never being boring, having plenty of T&A and upping the violence quotient to a ridiculous level without ever fooling anyone into thinking that The Academy Awards will come knocking on this filmâs doorstep even as most people would rather watch something like this instead of some ponderous Best Picture winnerâŚ
8/10