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Sachiko (Miki Sugimoto) and her girlgang, the Red Helmet Gang, enter
Kyoto on bikes and soon take over the turf of another girlgang simply by
Sachiko beating their leader to a pulp. However, that doesn't sit well
with Nakahara, the Yakuza boss of the district, and he has the girls
bullied on a constant level. Nakahara's sister Nami (Reiko Ike) though, a
typical lone wolf, soon becomes friends with Sachiko. Then Nakahara's gang
moves in to beat the shit out of Sachiko and company, but they are saved
by a lone man, boxer Ichiro (Michitaro Mizushima). Sachiko falls in love
with him and they have a wild night of sex, but the next morning, Ichiro
has to leave for some resort to train for his title fight. Sachiko just
takes her gang and travels to the same resort ... where they bump into
Nakahara and company again, who try their hands in the boxing business
this time around, with a particular interest in Ichiro's coach's stable of
boxers. Sachiko and the girls try to intervene, which only eventually
leads to Ichiro being killed. Sachiko and the girls return to Kyoto, and
Sachiko has vengeance on her mind ... but she and Nami just run right into
the arms of the Yakuza, and are brutally tortured. However, Nami's brother
Nakahara has a change of heart, seeing his sister battered like this, and
he helps them escape. Sachiko ultimately has her revenge on the Yakuza
high brass by planting a bomb in her own car, then pretty much forcing
them to steal it, and ... boom!!! The end sees the Red Helmet Gang
leaving Kyoto once more. In general, I like Japanese girlgang
movies from the 1970's, and I'm especially fond of Norifumi Suzuki's genre
output - but this film does not find the director or the genre on one of
his better days, basically because the whole plot is just too disjointed,
seemingly just leading into no direction in particular and being
interrupted by humourous interludes ever so often. This means the movie
makes it hard to identify with either of its two protagonists (Sachiko and
Nami) and to care too much for the story's buildup. I wouldn't call the
movie a total waste of time though, it's very stylishly executed, it's
well acted, the girls are all pretty cute and there is enough nudity,
action and torture involved to keep one entertained at least. It just
could have been better ...
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