MisterWhiplash The Mini-Skirt Mob - sounds like the coolest girl punk band you ain't heard of, or just another AIP biker movie. It's the latter. This isn't that terrible, one guesses. No, it's knowable: this is a gosh-darn B-movie if I ever saw one. Why the gosh-darn? The movie deserves one: it's a western in biker-movie skins, and it shows a sign, oddly enough, of where its director Maury Dexter would be headed a year or so later when he made a very good low-level-action biker movie called Hell's Belles. It's set mostly out in the desert, where the leader of the Mini-Skirt Mob, the bossy Shayne (Diane McBain rockin the hard-to-frazzle blonde-top look), is after a former cowboy who left her to settle down and marry with an ordinary girl. She and the gang and some other rodeo-party-down type guys (such as Ross Hagen and Harry Dean Stanton) basically chase after these guys till they strand them in the desert, rip their tires, and force a stand-off... a long one, that'll need some beer, and relationship drama! There's some time during the movie where the writer tries to make this less about the bikes and more about the characters, and this is where things get a little shaky. Sometimes it's just plain hysterical trying to see these guys emote, or try to have any kind of connection. The fact is what makes the movie so entertaining is that practically everyone, even the two leads (and especially that little lady) are just stupid. Shayne might just be sadistic or mean, but there's still a level of not knowing all where its at and is only a minimal bad-ass. The keeper though is Harry Dean, always dependable in a fix for a supporting role, who is a "dumb redneck" among the group, but also isn't much in the way of being a killer. He just wants to hang out and party, and that's where the other girls in the 'Mob' want to be at. You'd think they'd go off and have crimes or party down. Nope. Have a chick as the leader, bound to have some man-drama.If you like a biker movie way past your bedtime, you could do worse than this. Its action isn't staged too well and the acting by the two leads (Slate and Jackson) is so stiff you can feel the strain in trying to make an argument scene look halfway convincing, but some laugh out loud moments are to be had, like when we see a shot of the bikers arguing about something and a pan of the camera shows boy-scouts hearing their every word! Goodness! This is actually fairly safe stuff, nothing too dangerous actually in the way of much violence and sex.... actually, I take that back, there is one semi-awesome explosion, a couple of awesome cheesy deaths by incredible launch-off-bike, and a person runs out on fire! Nothing exciting, but its... what it is.

penseur The name of the production company - whose product nowadays regularly features in Incredibly Strange film festivals - alone should be enough warning as to what to expect in this silly, unintentional parody. "The Mini-Skirts" consist of four girl bikers, the brevity of whose skirts is compensated by the length of their eyelashes - plus, it seems, an equal number of chromosome-challenged boyfriends. The plot mostly consists of them "terrorizing", with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the pack leader's ex-boyfriend because he is now on his honeymoon in a caravan with another gal. Much of it naturally is an excuse for shots of the females riding around the wilds of Arizona on their Triumph motorbikes. Hmmm. Wouldn't it be rather cold dressed like that, how long would those hair-do's last? You also get regular glimpses of panties. As Leonard Maltin says in his movie guidebook, those who like the title should like the film.

schles-1 As the title implies, this film is about mini-skirts. It is also about under-wear that is revealed by the afore-mentioned mini-skirts. There is a story, and some acting, props, etc., so perhaps the total package might qualify as a "movie". Now as far as my review, you notice that I gave it a 9 while many others are in the 2 to 4 range. This is due to high marks for honesty or better yet integrity. These guys and gals set out to film young women with short enough skirts so that a young male audience could get a glimpse of their under-pants. Since they accomplished their goal, they deserve a 9. Anything less would be un-fair. But than again, so was the rumor circulating around Van Nuys in late 1968 that a scene in this movie involved one of the females revealing she had forgotten to include panties in her costume.

bensonmum2 Shayne (Diane McBain), the leader of the Mini-Skirt Mob, has been jilted by her lover. Cowboy star Jeff Logan (Ross Hagen) left Shayne and has married straight-laced Connie (Sherry Jackson). Shayne enlists the rest of her gang to help her get Jeff back – even if that means killing him in the process.Oh, what a bad movie. This has to be the most unbelievable motorcycle gang I've ever seen. Most of the members of the Mob look like they've just spent hours working on their hair, make-up, and outfits. I've never seen women in a motorcycle gang so well quaffed. Watching Diane McBain ride a motorcycle has to be one of the funniest things I've seen. She looks so uneasy on her little bike as if she might fall over at any minute. The acting, for the most part, is just plain old horrible. McBain, Ross Hagen, and Sherry Jackson come across about as natural as McBain's piled-up, platinum hair. Logic doesn't exist. For example, if Logan is really such a champion rodeo star, why does he live in a camper that's smaller than my bathroom? The problems with The Mini-Skirt Mob go on and on.So, why haven't I rated it any lower. There are some unintentional great moments in The Mini-Skirt Mob. It's all the things I've described that make the movie at least somewhat entertaining. Just when you think things can't get any worse, they do. The scene where the trailer blows up has to be a real highlight (or lowlight, depending on how you look at these things). In a word, it's ridiculous.A couple of actors to keep an eye out for are Harry Dean Stanton and Patricia McCormack. It's hard to believe Stanton started out making this kind of stuff. He's definitely gone on to bigger and better things. As for McCormack, it was a treat to see the star of The Bad Seed (1956) all grown up.