Weapon Of Choice ‘Switchblade Sisters’ Brings Its Raucous Female Fun To Video As A Quentin Tarantino Favorite

Here are some of the things that occur to Maggie, the character portrayed by Spokane’s own Joanne Nail, in the 1976 film “Switchblade Sisters”:

She gets raped, and she subsequently falls for the guy who raped her.

After having her face pushed into a toilet, she is sexually assaulted by a beefy prison matron.

With the aid of several black women revolutionaries, she leads an armed assault on a rival gang’s turf.

A former friend snuffs out a lit cigarette in her belly button, after which the two square off for a knife fight to the death.

She snarls such politically incorrect lines as “Get your hands off me, you fat pig dyke!” and “So, that’s it - you got your man killed because you couldn’t hold him!”

And those could rank as the poignant moments.

A prime example of 1970s-style exploitation cinema, “Switchblade Sisters” is back in the news. After a theatrical re-release last spring, when the Jack Hill-directed movie played both the obligatory big cities (Los Angeles, New York, etc.) and the film-festival circuit, the movie will enjoy a wider release this week on video.

You can thank Quentin Tarantino for that. His films “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” have proven to be a big influence - for better and for worse - on many of today’s filmmakers. So it’s no surprise that he chose a retro-cool movie such a “Switchblade Sisters” to highlight as one of his Rolling Thunder releases.

A subsidiary of Miramax Films, which in turn is owned by Disney, Rolling Thunder is a specialty label. Which basically means that it’s a way for Miramax-Disney to make money off Tarantino’s popularity.

This is how it works: Tarantino’s deal with Miramax allows him to release up to four films a year that supposedly reflect his own film-going tastes.

Each film is publicized as a Tarantino favorite - which means that each one embodies the curious blend of action, camp and hip humor that epitomize his own movies.

“Switchblade Sisters” is a perfect case in point.

Filmed in 1975 and released a year later, “Switchblade Sisters” resulted from a three-week shoot that cost a bare-bones $320,000.

Set in Los Angeles, the film follows the struggles of a high-school gang, the Silver Daggers, to hold its turf against a group that is bigger, tougher and, ultimately, smarter. At the film’s center is the story of two young women, Lace (Robbie Lee) and newcomer Maggie (Nail) who becomes her rival.

Switchblade-toting Lace heads up the Dagger Debs, who start out as merely girlfriends to the gang proper. But that secondary status doesn’t last long. Jealousy over gang-leader Dominic (Asher Brauner) sets Lace against Maggie, results in the Silver Daggers suffering a severe setback and ends up with the Debs taking over and becoming an I-am-woman-hear-me-roar band that they rename The Jezebels.

Ultimately, it is Lace vs. Maggie, winner take all.

Despite its crude themes and cheap production values, “Switchblade Sisters” is a half step above your typical exploitation flick. Originally called “The Jezebels” and released also as “Playgirl Gang,” the movie boasts feminist overtones.

And even though those overtones are secondary to the regular flashes of breasts and guns, they do predate the same themes in mainstream cinema.

There’s even an “Othello”-type reference to Shakespeare, with Lace’s sidekick Patch (Monica Gayle) doing her best to wreck Maggie’s chances of being fully accepted. Such things typically impress some critics.

“‘Switchblade Sisters’ is of course first and foremost a violent urban myth that comes full circle with the working out of a complex, ever-shifting relationship between two tough young women,” wrote Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas. “(It) is a terrific example of efficient, resourceful filmmaking, and its depiction of urban ills is, if anything, all too prophetic …”

But let’s not get carried away. This is, after all, an exploitation cheapie, not “The Godfather.” Much of the humor comes at the expense of the film as it never misses a chance to utilize a “Shaft”-like musical beat or emphasize a “Mod Squad”-type costume and set design.

Whatever the overall film’s worth, though, 1965 Lewis and Clark High School graduate Nail is riding “Switchblade Sisters” to another turn in the spotlight.

“I feel really positive about this picture,” Nail said during a recent phone interview from her Studio City, Calif., home, “and I think this is going to be a real - what would I say? - well, it’s not a launching pad, because I’ve done so much stuff already. But I think this is a real boost for my career.”

That career has included acting for the Spokane Civic Theatre, heading off for a four-year stay in New York (after having earned a bachelor’s degree at Eastern Washington University), becoming a member of Lee Strasberg’s Actor’s Studio, acting both on and off Broadway, appearing on numerous television shows and doing more than 100 commercials.

But early on, there was “Switchblade Sisters.”

“It was the very first film I had ever done,” Nail said. Having just signed with a talent agency, she’d been encouraged to go up for the film. “My agent said, ‘Listen, try out for this great role. It’s ahead of its time.”’

For the next three weeks, Nail and the rest of the cast worked 18-hour days. Hill, whose previous movies include the Pam Grier films “Coffy” and “Foxy Brown,” shot anywhere that was cheap, from a real abandoned police station to location shots around L.A. neighborhoods. Most of the cast members, almost all of whom had little film experience, did their own stunts.

Unfortunately, their efforts didn’t amount to much. Opening as “The Jezebels,” the film stiffed. In production notes, Hill claims that some theater managers complained their audiences mistook the film for a Bette Davis feature.

But a title switch didn’t help much. Even New York audiences ignored Hill’s movie, and ultimately it was withdrawn from release.

Yet “Switchblade Sisters” remained a cult favorite. And one of its biggest fans was the former video-store clerk named Tarantino.

“Tarantino was awesome,” said Nail, who spent a memorable three-hour lunch with him. “He has seen probably every film that was ever made. He knew all the dialogue that I had ever said in my other films,” which include “The Gumball Rally” (1976), “The Visitor” (1979) and “Full Moon High” (1981).

Because of his interest, camp-movie-fan Tarantino was able to get “Switchblade Sisters” back into the theaters. And now in some video stores (although their availability in Spokane/ Coeur d’Alene likely will be limited).

For Nail, that second coming has given her the exposure that years of part-time stage and television work have not. She’s preparing for the upcoming TV-pilot season and trying to market a couple of screenplays and a novel. A recent film in which she acted, titled “H.T.’s Song,” was submitted to the Sundance Film Festival.

And she’s even got an idea for a “Switchblade Sisters” sequel.

“It should be done when Maggie gets out (of prison),” Nail said. “She comes back as part of a community program for runaways and for girls that are out on the street who come from violent homes. I think that’s where she would be today, running a community center for girls that need help.”

Question is, would she still be carrying a switchblade?

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