Lethal Ladies Collection [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

T.N.T. Jackson (1974 Firecracker (1981 Too Hot To Handle (1977)

Wonderful Roger Corman films from the last Century.

They call me TNT, martial arts expert Diana Jackson (Jeanne Bell) announces upon her arrival in Hong Kong to look for her missing brother, heading into the city's worst area, a no-man's-land that is a haven for drug dealers, thieves and killers. TNT does not know that her brother has been brutally murdered by Charlie (Stan Shaw), an American who is bent on inching his way to the top of the city's drug-smuggling trade. But he has no idea what he's up against when he tangles with dynamite in TNT Jackson!

Female karate champion Susanne Carter (Jillian Kesner) goes to the Philippines to look for her sister who has disappeared. She stumbles upon a drug cartel and a tournament of no-holds-barred fights to the death in the action-packed Firecracker. Directed by genre specialist Cirio H. Santiago (TNT Jackson) and costarring Vic Diaz (The Big Bird Cage) and Darby Hilton (Malibu Express).

Contract killer Samantha Fox (Cheri Caffaro) accepts a mission to kill a group of gangsters in the Philippines, but problems arise when she falls for the Manila detective investigating the murders. Director Don Schain, who was married to Caffaro, directed her in several films prior to Too Hot To Handle, including Ginger, Girls Are For Loving and The Abductors.

The image quality is very acceptable. Each film is quite clean, no damage, detail is more than acceptable for the SD format. These are progressive and anamorphically transferred in the 1.78 aspect ratio. The bottom line - these 'new transfers' are completely watchable without any major flaws.

The supplements are small - nothing but trailers on the first disc for T.N.T. Jackson and Firecracker . On disc two Shout! Factory includes an audio commentary with actress Cheri Caffaro on Too Hot To Handle. It is 'hosted by Elijah Drenner - director of American Grindhouse (2010) - they talk about Manila, other films in her career (the Don Schain-directed 'Ginger' movies) and more with some anecdotes about Too Hot Too Handle and low budget films as well as sexuality in the business. It's an open discussion and fairly interesting. There is also a trailer and stills gallery.

All in all ,a nice trio of Action films
Recommended.

Most reviews of the three films with regard to their transfer quality are correct, so I won't rewrite it all in my words. In short, it's great to have these films in decent transfers on DVD at last. Alas... it was disappointing to discover that FIRECRACKER is a CUT print. The irony is, is that the missing "gore" shot is from the lengthy fight sequence that was shot after the film was completed. The point of this additional sequence was to make the movie gorier and sexier. The sequence in question is the one where Jillian battles three thugs in a warehouse, being slowly stripped down to only her panties from a dress in the course of the fight and chase. It is by far the best sequence in the film, EXCEPT.... that when Jillian throws a guys head into a table saw, the cut away shot of a fake head being sawed in half has been CUT or is MISSING from this print. The shot can be seen in the original VHS big box release on Monterey Video back in the 80s. Pity.

One of the best of the Roger Corman packages released by Shout Factory, here we have three prime examples of the quintessential seventies action movie heroine in this excellent two disc set. Disc One emerges also as a tribute to Director Cirio H. Santiago who along with Directors Eddie Romero and Bobby A. Suarez (to name but a few) made hundreds of exploitation films in the Philippines throughout the seventies but only a handful were released in the states. Both 'TNT JACKSON'-1974 and 'FIRECRACKER'-1981 are primo Santiago forays both scripted by Ken Metcalfe who also appears briefly in 'FIRECRACKER' and which have basically similar plots, the main heroine searching for a brother or sister who mysteriously disappear and get involved in drug cartels. 'TNT JACKSON' blends both the Blacksploitation and Martial Arts genres as actress Jeanne Bell chops away in revenge motif to bring down her brothers killer in a tight 72 minute blink. Along for the ride are Vic Diaz who graced many women in prison films and other actors whom fans will recognize especially from the 'BLOOD ISLAND' films. Still better is 'FIRECRACKER' which involves an actual Martial Arts champion Jillian Kesner who Santiago built the film around and confronts actor Darby Hinton in an extremely villainous turn as Kesner's sisters killer and would go on to turn hero in Director Andy Sidaris's excellent 'MALIBU EXPRESS'-1984. It shows how influential these films have become as just recently Director Steven Soderbergh proved in his film 'HAYWIRE' which spotlights real life kick boxing champ Gina Carano as a rogue hit woman who Soderbergh built his film around her. 'FIRECRACKER' emerges as a cult classic with excellent fight sequences and location scenes. The highlight is when Kesner is being chased through a lumber yard by two thugs wearing a skimpy dress. As she constantly bumps and grinds against planks, nails, etc., her dress shreds until when its time for the battle, she's barefooted, topless, and wearing nothing but panties. It has to be seen to be believed. Disc Two has one of my favorite films of the seventies as its sole entry, Director Don Schain's 'TOO HOT TO HANDLE'-1977 and stars the perfect definition of the term lethal lady Cheri Caffaro. Schain who is also Caffaro's husband and helmed the 'GINGER' trilogy also starring Caffaro in the early seventies gets excellent acting from Cheri and improves his directing with slick action scenes. Here Cheri plays an international hit woman for hire named Samantha Fox who plans her hits methodically and gives her lady a touch of class amongst the bloodletting. Unfortunately, she falls for the detective who is tracking her excellently played by actor Aharon Ipale. Joined by venerable actors John Van Dreelan and Corinne Calvet as cameo hits, the film is a tour de farce for Cheri as she dominates the entire films 85 minute running time. The bonus disc extra is the audio commentary between Cheri and Elijah Drenner who asks intelligent questions. When I reviewed the 'GINGER' box set a few years back, I wondered what had happened to her and now my answers are fulfilled. Cheri comes off as an incredible woman with great stories about the shoot and incredible insight on feminism and women in action films in general. She also designed the wardrobe for the film and the interview shows what an underrated personality she truly is and who deserves to be right up there with the best. Vic Diaz shows up once again and is also billed as Production Coordinator and the funky music score is by Hugo Montenegro. It deserves to be included on every best action movie list and is a masterpiece of exploitation. Kudos to Shout Factory for releasing all three films from their original negatives in gorgeous 1.85 transfers leaving the Vestron VHS tapes of old in the dust. Each disc contains trailers to other New World releases to round out the mix. Recommended to action movie fans, it shows how some B-movie filmmakers gave women the chance to be erotic, violent and classy at the time when women couldn't even open a credit card without a man's signature. You've come a long way, baby!!

If you are a guy and don't love the scene where the voluptuous Jillian Kesner (RIP) gets her dress ripped off, then her bra cut off, and then kicks some butt....well, turn in your man card. Her love scene with Darby Hinton (Malibu Express!!!!) is a classic, too.

Buy it for the classic Firecracker if nothing else.

Roger's movies, while listed as "B" level, you will find that they still have a good plot and its interesting to note that while most of the actors are not know to most, they still all pulled it off and made it entertaining. My favorite was "Too Hot to Handle" staring Cheri Caffaro. She does it right. all three movies show that women are not afraid to Kick **** and show you how it's done.