World War II: Allied Command learns that in 60 days three Japanese generals and an admiral party at a bordello on a tiny Philippine island. It's fortified and hard to attack, so a creative, cynical major gets the assignment to figure something else. With the help of Paco, a Filipino guerrilla leader, the major devises a plan to put four women assassins among the prostitutes. He must recruit and train them, convince his general that an unarmed woman can best a man, and get them on the island. The rest is up to them. An imprisoned killer, a nurse with a fatal disease, a chippie on the lamb from the mob, and a Filipina whom the Japanese assaulted are his team. Can they do it? This movie is basically The Dirty Dozen (1967) but with a gang of bad girls instead of a platoon of bad boys. All-in-all, not a bad idea for a movie in my book. Set during World War II, we have four civilian women who are trained to become assassins for a highly secret mission where they will use their sexuality to get up near and close with four high ranking Japanese officers who are scheduled to stop off at a well-guarded island retreat where they intend to spend some relaxation time with some ladies of the night. Needless to say, if the plan goes ahead as expected, these guys are going to be in for a decidedly different type of excitement than they had in mind.<br/><br/>Hustler Squad is one of many exploitation movies that were made in the Philippines during the 70's. It mixes action with a bit of sexploitation. It features a character called Major Stoney Stonewall – a man who, needless to say, doesn't play by the rules. His style of unorthodox thinking leads to the killer prostitutes idea. The girls are assembled from a convict, a rape victim, a hooker and a woman with a terminal disease. Production values are pretty basic as you would probably expect from a Filipino action flick and it rarely gives off the feeling that the action is really happening during the 1940's. The women especially look thoroughly like 70's chicks. But I'm not really complaining because I find this one to be a somewhat unfairly maligned movie which succeeds in entertaining from start to finish. The basic plot-line is a decent one and the action is generally quite a bit of fun. And there's always something undoubtedly good about seeing a bunch of women get together to kick butt in an action flick. This one is certainly rough around the edges in places but that's also part of its charm. The movie starts out with a failed raid by rebel Filipino forces against a Japanese stronghold. The Japanese plan of having their top brass all gather at a bordello on the island. Our military, lead by Major Stonewall (an unkempt John Ericson, Sam Bolt from TV series "Honey West") devises a plan to train and place four women in the midst of them. We meet the major in the middle of an improbable high stakes poker game where he bluffs his way through. He is chosen because he thinks outside the box. He meets with Paco Rodriguez (Ramon Revilla), the leader of the rebels as they openly discuss options while drinking in a public bar in Australia. After a bar fight where the guys get beaten up by a woman who knees them in a soft spot, Paco comes up with an idea of using women.<br/><br/>The first stop is a female prison. After the cat fight, Ericson selects imprisoned killer, Rose Carson (Nory Wright). She slit the throat of her boyfriend for sleeping with another woman, apparently illegal outside of Georgia.<br/><br/>The second woman is Anna Oleson, a doll face pacifist nurse with a fatal disease and has only 2 months to live (after the 60 day training course). Anna is played by Johanna Raunio, who two years earlier in 1974 was Miss Finland ! Sonya (Liza Lorena) is added as the third member. Her family was tortured, raped, and killed by the Japanese. She herself was raped.<br/><br/>The fourth girl is Cindy Lee Dawson, a prostitute who has a price on her head for "crossing the black market." Played by Crystin Sinclaire she has the facial features of Traci Lords and a raspy voice.<br/><br/>Most of their training is accomplished in a long music montage. The girl's manage to infiltrate the bordello (as if anyone would think otherwise). No one questions how 3 English speaking "round eyes" 2 of which are blonde happen to be part of this group of Filipino comfort girls. Cindy Lee Dawson and Nory Wright provide the movie's nude scenes, which are brief and nearly PG-13 by today's standards.
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365 weeks ago