"Thank God - She Only had two !"
There are certain times when everything pretty much clicks in a film , things come together and you've got the almost perfect drive-in movie. With enough sleazy elements (implied incest ,attempted rape, nudity, a shotgun death, plus voyeurism - and this is just during the pre-credits ! - with a bunch more to follow) and a story that develops into an twisting amoral film-noir like plot worthy of a James M. Cain novel, this is a great 105 min. ride. Producer Arthur Marks (The Centerfold Girls) really knew how to cast a movie and Bonnie's Kids has a wonderful cast of newcomers and veterans including Leo Gordon, Scott Brady, Alex Rocco, Timothy Brown, Steve Sandor, Max Showalter, Lenore Stevens, plus Tiffany & future daytime soap star Robin Mattson (who was only 17 at the time of filming - yep we're all goin' to jail !)) as the title characters.
The story starts off with sisters Ellie (Bolling) & Myra (Mattson) who are in the care of step-father Charley (Leo Gordon) after the death of their mother. Coming home from work one night Ellie finds Charley attempting to rape little sister Myra (after an undressing Myra has been leered at thru a window by Dad's buddies and even the local cops !) and blows him away with a shotgun. Stuffing his body down the in the basement, the sisters head off to Los Angeles to hook up with their Mom's brother "Uncle" Ben (Scott Brady) and his wife Diana (Lenore Stevens).
Turns out Ben runs a modeling agency that is tied in with the mob and he sets up the sisters up to live with himself and his ignored wife in their huge ranch house. Ellie then auditions for some nude modeling, afterwards ol' Uncle Ben sends her out of town to pick up a box (which unknown to her at the time, is full of money) that was arranged to be delivered by a P.I. ( Larry - played by Sandor) who was hired by two gunmen working for Ben. At this point for the first time in the movie the sisters are separated with Myra using the lesbian advances of Ben's wife Diana to con free stuff out of her(at first she was merely stealing it ) and Ellie who after discovering what was really in the case, running off with Larry while being pursued by the two gunmen Eddy & Digger (Rocco & Brown).
This is a twisting, turning story that spirals into a bloody & downbeat ending with none of the main characters having much of any redeeming qualities. The best part (aside from Tiffany) are the two the mob guys played by Alex Rocco and ex-football player Timothy Brown. An obvious inspiration for Pulp Fiction, the two go about their business with a low-key, deadpan approach and almost steal the whole movie. Rocco would later later star in Mark's Detroit 9000 (1974). Veteran TV actor and character "face" Max Showalter has a great part as an unlucky traveling gun (!) salesman who has the unfortunate luck to meet up with Ellie and Larry.
A long time wanted DVD, Dark Sky has released this in a very nice package with the trailer, TV spots and an interview with Arthur Marks.
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