The Rowdy Girls

Frankly, I don't like westerns very much. If I did purchase the DVD version of "Rowdy Girls", it was for Shannon Tweed, Julie Strain and the Troma sticker on the DVD.

For the Troma part, Lloyd Kaufman is executive producer and Troma just distribute the movie. Some kind of participation but not the kind of things you expect in a Troma movie. So "Rowdy Girls" isn't particularly violent. It's a western, of course there are gunshots, even dead people but it's not explicit such as in "Toxic Avenger" for instance.

"Rowdy Girls" is less than a hour and a half, so it's going quick, has enjoyable scenes with nudity (even though, as mentioned above, it's not explicit) and humor. It makes a good movie to rent and enjoy on a Saturday night.

This was typical for a Shannon Tweed movie in that the basic components were several beautiful naked women, frequently love scenes, a little bit of a story line, and some acting.

On the other hand, this one did stand out with the utilization of a guitar-strumming narrator, and use of some old-fashioned text narrative, which added a tongue-in-cheek flavor.

With a good, judicious use of humor (particularly in one of the early love scenes), this could definitely be classified as a mellow-drama, which I consider a strong point in its favor - it didn't take itself seriously!

"The Rowdy Girls" is probably close to what would have happened if Andy Sidaris had ever taken his "Playmates, breasts and guns" formula to the West. Unfortunately, it also suffers from the same pacing problems as most of Sidaris' films: it spends far too much time on showing the viewer how the characters get from point A to point B, which makes it feel slow and meandering. On the plus side, Shannon Tweed, at age 43, is still in great shape, and newcomer Deanna Brooks is wonderful - sweet, feisty, curvy and sexy. There is also Julie Strain as an over-the-top villainess....oh, and a singing narrator who appears from time to time ("she wanted to get out of that bordello, and meet a nice fellow"). The film could have been much better, but Tweed and Brooks still make it worthy of a lukewarm recommendation. (**)

This film essentially focuses on three women who each strive for success on their own terms. The first is a prostitute named "Velvet McKenzie" (Shannon Tweed) who isn't getting any younger and in order to leave her profession behind convinces a customer to rob a bank for her. She then double-crosses him and takes a stagecoach headed west and dressed like a nun. The second woman is a vicious killer by the name of "Mick" (Julie Strain) who loves the leader of an outlaw gang named "Billy Poke" (Daniel Murray). The third woman named "Sarah Foster" (Deanna Brooks) desperately wants to go to San Francisco and has left her parents to get there. Unfortunately, she doesn't want to make the trip all by herself and seeks a man to accompany her. Eventually, the paths of these three women intersect and it's at this time that things begin to really happen. Now, although I don't usually care much for movies produced by Troma, this particular film wasn't too bad. While it had the usual cheap feel to it there was enough of a plot to keep things entertaining for the most part. Likewise, the three actresses mentioned earlier certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way. In any case, this movie turned out to be better than I expected and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I wish the producers had rented a real western stage coach instead of using a covered wagon since a good part of this plot was to rob a stage coach ... what were they thinking ... doing things on the cheap doesn't always save money ...apparently horses were at a premium as well ... get rid of that awful guitar strummer and singer ....so much for being a western