Jean Rollins (played by Julie Ange — Teenage Mother) is taking a little time off from her post-grad studies at Yale to help out a couple of her civil rights buddies register voters in the deep south. It will be an experience that she will never forget!!
If the plot line seems vaguely familiar, then you have likely seen director Alan Parker’s 1988 film, Mississippi Burning, which was based on the 1964 murders of three civil right advocates who ran afoul of some locals in the deep south. That story was headline news about the time producer/director put together the funding for Girl on a Chain Gang, which was his first foray into directing a feature film, which he also co-wrote, produced, directed and distributed.
Girl on a Chain Gang, newly-remastered, will be available as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings from the Film Detective on Apr. 19.
Jerry Gross, who would build a cult-following among genre fans for his Blaxploitation entries, including Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and The Black Godfather, wasn’t looking to make any deep-thought murder mystery, but to take those headlines and blend them with sexploitation action elements to tell the tale of a young woman, in a similar situration, and what could go wrong if the good ole’ boys got their mitts on her. Drive-in stuff! Exploitation! And all done on a micro-budget.
Let’s just say the heavy-duty stuff of Mississippi Burning was matched by Gross, which is quite impressive considering that this was his first shot at it. The narrative is pretty straight forward, Jean and her two friends are stopped for “speeding,” pay a fine of $150.00 and are cut loose.
But the sheriff, Sonny Lew Wymer (William Watson in his film debt — In the Heat of the Night, Stingray, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, etc.), decides that he’s not quite done with them and has them quickly re-arrested on “moral charges.” He rapes Jean, murders her friends — for attempting to escape — and has her sentenced to 90 days at a work farm, which you suspect from the people running it, will be the end of the line for her as well.
Of course, it is a chain gang that she finds herself on, so that the title fits. And, wouldn’t you know it, all of her fellow prisoners are young black men. Will she make “new friends?” Will she find justice … or death here?
Girl on a Chain Gang is not great art. It was done on a budget, and honestly the third act appears to have run into some financial and/or production issues. Say what you will, but it does deliver exactly what was promised.
Bonus features include commentary by author Jennifer Churchill (“Movies are Magic”) and the featurette titled “'It's All in the Title: Exploiting Jerry Gross.”
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