Hustler Squad

source: Hustler Squad

One that has a juicy scenario of undercover escorts, who are sent to an occupied island, to infiltrate a party of high ranking Japanese officers and then dispatch them in anyway possible. Sort of like a sleazy 'Dirty Dozen', riddled with such obvious cliches such as "You're not all going to make it back home!" and (what a surprise) this indeed turned out to be the case.

Even in the grindhouse flicks you have some bad flicks. For some grindhouse already stands for low quality flicks. This here isn't a kind of grindhouse I really like. It's a rip-off of a few flicks made with almost no budget. Although it survived the days of drive-ins and is now available on DVD for the first time. The reason is simple because even as this isn't a good flick, still some names attached to it became more known afterwards. Karen Ericson, here as Lt. Jennifer West moved further in Night Of The Demons (1988) as Judy's Mother. It was also her last flick she made. Crystin Sinclaire, here as Cindy Lee Dawson moved further to horrors like Eaten Alive (1977) and Ruby (1977) before quitting in 1979. But Liza Lorena as Sonya might be the biggest name still performing in TV series. The story is a bit sleazy. Hustlers are recruited to the army to seduce Japanese officers and kill them in action. By doing so the enemy could invade the island and conquer the Japanese. And that's were the rip-off comes from, all those movies about outlaws coming together to rescue someone or are out to do a dirty job, remember The Dirty Dozen (1967). There's a lot of talking going on and naturally you have the bastard, here it's John Ericson as Maj. Stony Stonewall, you know the guy, big mouth, always ready for a fight or a card game with the usual cigar. It's only towards the end of this flick that it becomes worth watching. The hustlers do kill the officers and some do show their juggs to do so. There is even, for the quick viewer, a decapitation and a few stabbings by a samurai sword. Blood do flows here and there but on a low base. Still, for the lovers of bad grindhouses it's out there to pick it up. Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

I'm not sure why this movie was made. I'm guessing this was drive-in fare for the 1970's as the fad was still going strong at the time. Hustler Squad takes place in WWII in which the U.S. Army discovers that one of the Japanese generals frequents a brothel. The lieutenant responsible for the mission decides to find four women, train them, and pass them off as prostitutes in the brothel; where they would kill their enemies while they had their "philisophical discussions". He gets a murderer, a prostitute, a woman whose family was killed by the Japanese, and a terminally ill nurse. They are joined by a Filipino sharpshooter. Well, when it's all said and done, you won't believe who survives. Basically, this is a $1.98 movie. The acting is very poor; probably done by first-timers. The lighting is dark and shoddy. The music is typical 70's. There's a lot of fight scenes that echo ye olde days of fistfighting. However, the gunfights come of as Kung Fu Dancing. The soldiers shoot their guns as if they are playing a guitar and they seem to be dancing in close quarters combat. Also, the death throes of the soldiers are way over-the-top. Add in the fact that the film doesn't have anything in it that screams 1944 and you've got a winner of a loser.

How's this for a fresh, novel and interesting premise for a World War II action potboiler: Mighty macho foul-mouthed, cigar-chomping Major Stony Stonewall (gruffly essayed by John Ericson), assisted by compassionate Lt. Jennifer West (the appealing Karen Ericson) and tough guerrilla fighter Paco Rodrigeuz (likable Ramon Revilla), has to train four lovely young ladies -- terminally ill nurse Anna Oleson (yummy Johanna Raunio), vengeful rape victim Sonya (solid Lisa Lorena), libidinous convicted murderess Rose Carson (fiery Nory Wright) and brassy hooker Cindy Lee Dawson (a nicely sassy'n'sexy Lynda Sinclaire) -- for a desperate suicide mission which entails the women seducing and assassinating several top Japanese army officials who frequent a Filipino brothel. Sound pretty silly and ridiculous? Well, it sure is just as laughably dumb and absurd as the plot suggests. However, there's a certain engagingly clunky charm to this admittedly cheesy'n'chintzy piece of ultra-cheap vintage 70's drive-in exploitation junk that's impossible to either dislike or resist. Cesar Gallardo's plodding (mis)direction, the ineptly staged action scenes, the generic film library score, the by-the-numbers hackneyed and predictable plot which blatantly copies "The Dirty Dozen," a knock-down, drag-out barfight, a really funny training montage sequence, a decent smattering of nudity, a welcome appearance by the great Vic Diaz as a smarmy Japanese soldier, the crude, ratty, unpolished cinematography, a rousing last reel raid on the bordello, and the neatly ironic ending all ensure that this honey is an absolute cruddy hoot from stinky start to paltry finish. Good, tacky fun.

Unbearable....its without a doubt the worst film I've ever seen....i couldn't stomach it all as i felt that to watch more would be to waste another hour of my life after the film i felt sick it was that bad...as my friend pointed out poorly lit rubbish. On top of that the gun fights were just terrible....every copy of this film should be seized rollered, burned, urinated on, then sent into space to go infect any attacking creatures with the worst horse kak that man kind can muster...then we should have all religions pray for redemption for us all for creating this rubbish......then knowone should be allowed to speak of this film again....ever........not like many people were in the first place to be fair. Maybe a slight over reaction but you can never be too careful....can you.

As far as low rent Filipino action films go, HUSTLER SQUAD isn't too bad. As with so many films in the genre, the setting is the Second World War, the enemies are the Japanese and their encampment on one of the islands, and the heroes a quartet of women who go undercover amid a party of prostitutes in order to destroy the complex. HUSTLER SQUAD is a well paced little film that sometimes overcomes the shortcomings of its genre. There's plenty of incident here, whether it's the party that the Japanese hold, the lengthy training and recruitment sequences, or the all-action climax. For a low budget girls 'n' guns movie, it's workable enough, with plenty of action to see it through. John Ericson gives a hilariously wooden performance as the impossibly macho US major 'Stony' Stonewall and the rest is a mish mash of violence, explosive action, and fist fights.

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. 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.

source: The Dirty Half Dozen

source: Hustler Squad