| |
Stray Cat Rock: Female Boss
|
|
| Year: |
1970
|
|
Director: |
Yasuharu Hasebe
|
| Stars: |
Akiko Wada, Meiko Kaji, Tatsuya Fuji, Koji Wada, Yosui Inoue, Ken Sanders, Hanako Tokachi
|
| Genre: |
Musical, Sex, Action, Weirdo |
| Rating: |
  8 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Ako (Akiko Wada), a badass biker babe in blue jeans, bails sultry Mei (Meiko Kaji) and her gang of knife-wielding nymphets, the Stray Cats, out of a tight spot. When a rival sukeban mob summon their dune-buggy riding delinquent boyfriends into a raucous rumble, the Stray Cats kick their collective asses. After rescuing a captive cohort from torture by blowtorch, the girls party at a psychedelic nightclub where trouble awaits. Mei’s boyfriend, Michio (Koji Wada) is hellbent on joining the Seiyu Group, a covert gang of right wing nationalists espousing samurai ideals that border on fascism. To prove his loyalty, Michio persuades his boxer friend Kerry to throw his latest fight so the Seiyu Group can score big money betting against him. But in the heat of the ring, egged on by Ako, Kerry knocks out his opponent. Vengeful Seiyu mobsters led by continuously cackling Katsuya (Tatsuya Fuji) brutalize Michio until he is rescued by the Stray Cats. Seiyu bigwig Mr. Hanada has his face slashed in the fracas, setting the Stray Cats on the run.
Nikkatsu Studios, Japan’s then-reigning kings of youth-oriented action flicks, crafted Stray Cat Rock: Female Boss as a vehicle for pop star Akiko Wada. Wada acquits herself exceptionally well as the tough-talking tomboy whose swagger, in a quasi-lesbian subtext, has fellow sukeban girls swooning. She also sings enough pleasant pop tunes in her agreeably husky voice to have this almost qualify as cinema’s first violent girl gang musical. But it was co-star Meiko Kaiji who became the real star of Nikkatsu’s five Stray Cat Rock films and the most iconic actress in the so-called Pinky Violence subgenre, via cult classics from Blind Women’s Curse (1971) to Lady Snowblood (1974) and most notably, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972). Here in her first notable role, Kaji exudes cool sporting a buckskin fringe and very Seventies sunglasses.
Many critics cite the third film, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970), as the highpoint in the series on account of its alleged sociopolitical content, when in fact it is a rather muddled albeit ambitious effort. By contrast, Female Boss draws more vivid characters, is far better paced and features a more engaging plot along with a more coherent subtext. Action specialist Yasuharu Hasebe establishes several motifs he would revisit throughout the series: i.e. the girls rally behind a troubled young man; there is a potent anti-racist theme (Kerry is part African-American, Ako is half-Korean); solidarity between ethnic minorities, youth culture and an oppressed working class; a doomed love affair; sisterhood set against a backstabbing world of false masculinity; the Stray Cats as the embodiment of freewheeling youth battling a fascist order satirising the real-life alliance between big business, right-wing politicians and organized crime in early Seventies Japan.
From the pop art visuals of neon-lit Tokyo streets to the fetching fashions adorning the dishy delinquent girls, this is one great looking movie. Quite often Hasebe freeze frames his characters inside animated panels underlining the film’s giddy resemblance to a manga come to vibrant life. Female Boss also showcases a fine array of psychedelic rock bands, providing an evocative snapshot of a unique era in Japanese pop culture. While visceral and hard-hitting, the film is nowhere as sadistic as later examples of its kind but remains supremely stylish and packed full of action including a terrific chase sequence where Katsuya drives his dune buggy down the Tokyo subway in pursuit of the hog-straddling biker bombshells. About the only criticism one could level is it is such a shame charismatic Akiko Wada - whose warm, big sisterly presence foreshadows the equally laudable Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess (1971) - never returned to partner Meiko Kaji in any of the sequels.
|
| Reviewer: |
Andrew Pragasam
|
| |
|
|
