Bullet Points: The Muthers
There is a well known quote that says that being a mother is the hardest job you will ever love. I can’t speak to the veracity of that statement, but I can and will let you know that there is an action movie about female pirates that I love, The Muthers. Luckily for you, I happen to have some Bullet Points for the 1976 blaxploitation/pirate/women in prison film to try and answer that age old debate. I suggest you watch The Muthers after checking out the Bullet Points to let me know after witnessing all that these ladies have to go through that we might have a new hardest job that you can love to watch.
- A Mother’s Crime – The Muthers opens with a pirate crew taking down a leisure cruise filled with rich people primed for the picking. The opening action sequence is all you need to see to know what kind of people we are dealing with, ruthless and clinical. The crew is never named but rides around in a boat called Muthers and since the name of the film is The Muthers I assume that is their name. The Muthers are led by Kelly (Jeannie Bell, T.N.T. Jackson) and Anggie (Rosanne Katon) but the rest of the crew is male. I’m glad the crew not only act like pirates, but dress the part as well with scarves and bandanas aplenty. When The Muthers take down a rival pirate, Turko, we get an excellent shoot out on the beach which means lots of dead pirates. Turko manages to escape alive, not that it will come back to bite The Muthers later… or will it?
- Mother May I – There was another member of The Muthers that has gone missing, Sandra, the younger sister of Kelly. Sandra has been known to leave the pirating game once in a while, but when Kelly and Anggie find out that she has been kidnapped by Monteiro and forced to work at his coffee plantation/slave camp, the pair begin a rescue mission. You may be wondering how Kelly and Anggie found out about the forced labor camp. Well, they got a tip at a local watering hole which means a bar fight. This is where we learn that Kelly and Anggie can hold their own in a scrap… or more specifically, their stunt doubles.
- Mother of Invention – Kelly and Anggie do the easy part first and get taken to the coffee plantation. The hard part will be escaping, something no one has ever done before. The pair meet Marcie (Trina Parks, Diamonds Are Forever) who becomes their confidant inside the prison. Good news is that Marcie verifies that Sandra was there. Bad news is that she escaped with another inmate. That other prisoner is captured first and strung up by her hair to make an example. It is a pretty gruesome method to teach the other prisoners not to try to escape. However, the fate of the guard that was on watch is worse. He is tied up and thrown to a group of prisoners to basically be savaged by the women. Kelly next learns that Sandra has been captured and killed for her attempt and Monteiro just made a mortal enemy.
- House Mother – Kelly and Anggie try to escape, but their attempt is quickly thwarted, but not before nearly taking out a whole gaggle of armed guards. The pair are spared thanks to Serena (Jayne Kennedy), a prisoner who has gotten on Monteiro’s good side and has a place of power in the camp. Serena is friend’s with Marcie and looks out for Kelly and Anggie. The four have finally had enough and hatch an escape plan during a riot which means a jungle chase! If you like booby traps, waterfalls and wildlife you are in for a treat. If you like old and new enemies coming out of the jungle shrubbery then you too are in for a treat because not everyone is who they claim to be. Who will come out alive? I don’t want to spoil it, but it is explosive!
The Muthers proves to me that there are harder jobs out there that are so much fun to love. I am talking about high seas chicanery, women in prison machinations, and jungle warfare. Those are some pretty tough working conditions, but it is so much fun to love because of heroic women involved and some truly dastardly villains. There are enough twists in a straight forward action plot to make it suspenseful, and the action set pieces are exactly what you expect from an exploitation film of its ilk. I will leave it up to you to decide on what is harder, but there is no doubt on something we can all love, and that is The Muthers Bonus Bullet Points.
- Not To Be Confused With – Don’t confuse the 1976 blaxploitation film The Muthers with the 1968 sexploitation film The Muthers.
- Fair Trade Coffee – The Muthers is a fictional story, but seeing the women slaves forced to work on the coffee farm is one of the reasons I only drink fair trade coffee because forced labor is not uncommon in the industry.
- Familiar Face – Seeing how The Muthers was directed by Cirio Santiago, it is not surprising to see faces that pop up in his films like Ken Metcalfe who was in T.N.T. Jackson with Jeannie Bell.
- Destination Unknown – The location is never exactly expressed, but it assumed to be South America with all the names and spoken Spanish language. When I say spoken, I mean dubbed as The Muthers was filmed in The Philippines with a majority Filipino cast.
- If You Ever… – Wanted to see a gun used as a can opener (besides on an episode of The Simpsons) than The Muthers is for you.
- Men Are Snakes Quote – “Just like every other snake I know, can’t leave my tits alone.” This makes sense after witnessing Marcie getting bitten on the chest by a snake.
