"Grrrls in Trouble!"
The riot grrrl is thought to be a '90s phenomenon, but a glance at one of the cinematic backwaters of the past shows there were plenty of precursors. The Roxie's triple bill of girl-gang movies offers a parade of "hellcats in hot pants" -- sleazy teens too busy stealing, screwing, and snorting to learn how to be good wives and homemakers. Girl Gang (1954) stars Ed Wood stalwart Tim Farrell as a horny heroin dealer who hires female juvenile delinquents to steal cars for him and lures good girls into sex parties and addiction -- complete with clinical details of shooting up for the would-be junkies in the audience. In a typical moment in this exploitation classic, a "nice" middle-class girl barely hesitates when she's told she has to "have relations" with five boys as part of her gang initiation. Roger Corman's Teenage Doll (1957) is the gem of this group. With stunning noirish photography by Floyd Crosby (who won an Oscar for shooting Murnau's Tabu in 1931!), this 66-minute miniepic focuses on a violent teen-age matriarchy, the Black Widows, and their attempts to kill a rival "Vandalette" who murdered one of their own. Charles Griffith's dialogue is suitably baroque -- "Sure I was weaned on a .38!" one of the Widows screams -- but the grrrls dominate through the sheer force of their sneering personalities. In Teenage Gang Debs (1966), Diane Conti plays Terry Fiore, a beautiful, vicious juvie who screws and kills her way to the top echelons of the Warriors gang. For Terry, sisterhood is apparently not powerful -- she gleefully arranges the gang rape of one of the girls she deposed. "She's dirt!" she screeches. "Get her!" Conti is all black teased hair, black stilettos, troweled-on black mascara, and an enticing, venomous scowl -- the essence of Early Riot Grrrl.
-- Gary Morris
Girl Gang screens Friday, April 25, at 6:15 and 10:15 p.m., along with Teenage Doll at 7:30 p.m. and Teenage Gang Debs at 9 p.m., at the Roxie, 3117 16th St. (at Valencia). Tickets are $6; call 863-1087.
