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Regular
Price $19.95
Starring:
José María Blanco,
Mike Brendel,
Valentina Godoy,
Herbert Lom,
Ana Lucarella,
Directed By:
Rated: Unrated
Release Date: 1969-04-23
Studio: Blue Underground, Inc.
Format:
Color,
Director's Cut,
DVD-Video,
Widescreen,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
99 Women (Director's Cut)
Another Franco WIP classic
The mere mention of the name Jesus "Jess" Franco in the presence of movie fans will elicit several reactions. Some filmgoers will shrug their shoulders as if to say, "Who's he?" These people likely spend a lot of time watching big budget, multiplex friendly cinema. Other folks will smile. These film fans recognize this director's name in the context of "Vampyros Lesbos" and "The Marquis De Sade's Justine," two Franco movies that actually contain a hint of style. Then there are the poor wretches who'll hear his name and visibly pale, groan as though they've eaten food that's given them salmonella poisoning, and slink quietly away into a corner for a few hours of serious sulking. I fall somewhere in between the last two categories. I liked "Vampyros Lesbos" and "Justine," but I've also seen enough Franco films to understand the utter banality of a large segment of his filmography. "99 Women" is one of the director's contributions to a sleaze genre that could only exist in the 1970s and early 1980s, WIP (Women in Prison). Tons of these films exist, and most of them have come to DVD. Let's explore Jess's offering, shall we? Sure, we've nothing better to do!
O.k. "99 Women". Here we go. The film stars the luscious Maria Rohm as Marie, an unfortunate wretch sentenced to a term at a prison located on an island called, appropriately enough for the genre, Castillo de la Muerte. The Island of Death! With a name like that, any prisoner heading to the prison has to wonder what their future holds. Sort of makes Alcatraz look like a Club Med. Anyway, Marie heads to the island for some fun and sun with the other ninety-eight gals currently serving their sentences. We know there are ninety-eight other women in the jail because Marie receives an inmate number of ninety-nine upon her arrival. Get it? The Island of Death has ninety-nine prisoners, and the movie's called "99 Women"! You simply must admire the internal logic on display here. Considering Franco isn't known for logical filmmaking, we must take what we can get whenever possible and move on. So Marie arrives in a sad state of affairs. She quickly realizes her new digs lack that special something found in the rest of civilization. It's a dump, in other words, and one run by a sadistic warden named Thelma Diaz (Mercedes McCambridge). Anyone care to bet Thelma and Marie won't get along?
Sure enough, Thelma and Marie soon lock horns. The trouble occurs when our heroine, while lounging about in her cell, hears the pitiful cries of a fellow inmate a couple of doors over. Oh, the humanity! When Marie attempts to notify the authorities about this terrible injustice, Thelma orders her thrown into a special detention cell. It's here that our gal meets up with Zoe (Rosalba Neri), the prison's resident Gertrude Stein (if you know what I mean) except far better looking. Hijinks of a decidedly fleshy nature ensue. It's somewhere around this time that we notice an important event, i.e. Franco's film actually has a plot. Thelma Diaz supplies the island's governor, Santos (Herbert Lom), with nubile women from the prison in exchange for favors. It doesn't seem to work, however, as a reformer from the mainland called Leonie (Maria Schell) arrives to inspect the facilities. She's heard horror stories about the shenanigans going on at the prison, and wants to make sure the inmates have an easier time on the island. Or something like that. Who cares, really? Expect a lot of sass, some cheesy fights, and an escape attempt that finds our heroine struggling to return to the world.
Also expect a lot of soft-core scenarios involving lots of lovely ladies. Rosalba Neri. Maria Rohm. A bunch of other 1970s exploitation babes. Rosalba Neri. Did I mention Rosalba Neri? Twice? Really? I wonder why that happened? These are the women of dreams, my friends, and Franco makes sure to throw in plenty of action to keep the male members of the audience fully entertained. As an added bonus the X-rated version of the movie tosses in a bunch of hardcore inserts. These sequences do absolutely nothing to move the plot along, nor do they involve the principal actresses. Yet somehow I didn't mind their presence in the picture even though they look like someone inserted them in the film with a sledgehammer. Another thing you might notice about "99 Women" is Franco's effort to inject a little class into the proceedings. Sure, we get his usual zoom and soft focus tricks, but we also see some stylistic touches sorely lacking in most WIP movies. For example, Rosalba Neri's striptease scene looks pretty darn good. Franco pulls this sequence off quite admirably. Now the negatives: a lame script, an unoriginal plot, and cheap production values all hurt the movie.
Apparently a couple of versions of "99 Women" are floating around in DVD land. I watched the X-rated version, which has the insert shots but lacks extras. According to a few reports I've read, another version (an unrated director's cut, I think) contains a lengthy interview with Franco, deleted scenes, trailers, and alternate footage. What a pity. What the distribution company should have done is release both versions of the film on one disc. Put the director's cut on side one, the X-rated cut on side two. Then sprinkle the extras on both sides of the disc. Is that so hard to do? I somewhat enjoyed the film, enough to give it three stars, but there's no way in heck I would shell out the bucks to buy both versions. I'm not that big of a Jess Franco fanatic. I only watch his movies because I feel I must in order to see as many exploitation films as possible. I recommend renting both versions, giving them a watch, and then deciding which one you wish to purchase. Good luck!99 Women (Director's Cut)
Dreadful!!!!!!
This DVD is dated, and lacks the eroticism and/or nudity you would expect in a women prison movie. I bought the "Unrated" version, but I wonder what that rating was based on. I have bought several "R" rated movies in the women prison genre that were rather hot, but compared to this 1969 rubbish they were volcanic. I was sincerely disapointed, and wished I had read some of the reviews prior to purchasing this dreadful movie.99 Women (Director's Cut)
What's the point of "Unrated"
I'm not sure which versions other reviewers are seeing, but mine from Blue Underground is "Unrated". I guess this is because they really didn't want people to know it should have been rated PG-13. If women in panties and fuzzy breast shots are your thing, then get this movie. Half the fun of campy women in prison movies is naked women. The other half is following along with a silly plot. This movie was boring on both accounts.99 Women (Director's Cut)
EURO - 70' S PRISON WOMEN FLICK
if you like the women in prison flicks, you will like this one. there is a good deal of flesh and some good fight scenes, even some obligatory rape scenes. despite the subtitles and the standard spanish style background music, this flick is a good one to have.99 Women (Director's Cut)
Jess Franco an overrated filmmaker.
99 women is a terrible film. I bought it because Luciana Paluzzi was in the cast and she is one of my favorite actresses. I know that Luciana has never made any good film with the sole exception of Thunderball and maybe other two or three you may consider average. O.K. Luciana is beautiful and that's all she needs, but beware, this film was directed by Jess Franco. This guy made terrible boring films no matter who is in the cast and 99 women is not the exception. You will never get anything from a Jess Franco's film. There are no thrills, no good stories, no sexy scenes (he always cheats with what he promises in this aspect), the title song is hideous and Luciana is no more than 3 minutes in this movie and the rest of it... stinks¡ Nothing is plausible or at least logic. So forget about it. Don't buy it. And the same goes for all Jess Franco's movies.
99 Women (Director's Cut)
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