Mankillers (1987)

"Women are more effective in the field." - McKenna

The CIA trains a group of female convicts to assist in stopping a rogue agent.
Starring: Lynda Aldon, William Zipp, Christine Lunde, Edy Williams

Link to IMDB

McKenna

John Mickland is one very bad man. He's a drug dealer, murderer, slave trader, and complete psychopath. He also happens to be an ex-CIA agent, which allows him to always be one step ahead of the law as he goes about his daily business of killing people. Desperate for a solution the CIA contacts Mickland's old partner, Rachel McKenna, who has since quit the agency after Mickland betrayed her and left her for dead a few years ago.
McKenna is reluctant to work with the agency again, but agrees to stop Mickland if she gets to be in charge of her own squad that she'll personally handpick and train by herself. Instead of recruiting agents she goes to the nearest prison and selects a dozen of the most dangerous (and hottest) ladies she can find, promising them early parole if they obey her commands and help her stop Mickland. The ladies are a saucy and violent crew, but they generally agree to work for McKenna if it means getting out of jail earlier.


Try not to think about the plausibility behind such an undertaking, because the writers didn't either. The premise is crazy, but it fits perfectly into the wild and hazardous feel of everything else that surrounds it.
Each lady has a brief introduction, but we only get familiar with three or four of them through the movie. Suffice to say, they are all dangerous criminals with fantastic hair!

The training regimen is brutal and some of the girls are troublemakers, but McKenna has no problems keeping everyone in line during the training montage. When Mickland gets word that McKenna is coming for him, the girl's training has to be cut short. They're going to have to launch their assault on Mickland's camp before he can escape across the border! Inexperienced and outnumbered, McKenna takes her team of girls into the battle zone equipped with machine guns, grenades and hot shorts.

Mickland

This was actually more compelling than I would have guessed. It's still very cheesy and trashy (the ladies are always dressed sexy for no reason,) but it also shows the heroines as capable bad-asses that work together and learn how to do something positive with their criminal lives. Mickland is such a sadistic, nasty villain that I was anticipating when he and McKenna would come face to face and settle the score, and I wasn't disappointed!
It's all the typical stuff... Things explode, lots of people get shot and cocaine fuels the criminals. But there's just enough magic here to make it feel like something I hadn't exactly seen before.



Be sure not to miss:
- There are two 80's power ballads featured in the movie. So cheesy and so obscure I can't find them anywhere else.
- The set for McKenna's camp is clearly the same one as Mickland's camp. It makes it seem like they're all living together.
- The last 5 minutes.

Internet review:
"There's an important feminist message underneath all the cocaine and machine guns." - Jerell

Should I watch it?
It's better than expected, but not a must-see unless you crave some sloppy violence.

Where can I find it?
Here on YouTube.

Mankillers gets...