THE LADIES CLUB (1985)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *naturalistic*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

Like ACT OF VENGEANCE, Janet (SPELLBINDER) Greek's LADIES CLUB revolves around a group of women who band together to battle the societally neglected crime of rape. CLUB is also like VENGEANCE is containing elements that border on the uncanny but are treated in a mundane manner, rendering the movie naturalistic.

Three young punks break into a house and learn that it belongs to a lady cop, Joan (Karen Austin). The guys are so horny that they don't care that she may be armed, and when Joan comes home a little later, they ambush her. Though Joan gives a good account of herself, she's overpowered and raped by at least one of the punks. The scene actually reflects a number of contemporary priorities about the cinematic depiction of the crime, for Joan remains clothed as she's violated, with Greek focusing more upon her mental humiliation.

Being a cop buys Joan no free rides. The punks are captured but a tricky lawyer convinces a jury that Joan invited the guys to a wild party. The only upside of Joan's ordeal is that during her treatment she finds a sympathetic ear in Constance (Christine Belford), a doctor who lost her child to a pedophile attacker. In addition, the sensation-seeking press publicizes the freeing of the rapists, causing several women to reach out and contact the aggrieved policewoman. When a group of them meet in person, they rage at the way rapists keep getting released to repeat their crimes, and one of them floats the idea that such men should be castrated. Then Constance brings up the possibility that a doctor like her could perform such operations without killing the victims-- and in no time, about seven or eight of the women decide to hunt down repeat offenders and make sure that they cannot offend in that particular way again.

CLUB was based on a novel, THE SISTERHOOD, and it's likely that Greek followed the book's lead on framing this extravagant premise in very down-to-earth terms. The film particularly focuses on the members of the Club tracking down the men who particularly offended against them or their relations. Though the film only shows the ladies successfully snipping off two or three offenders, their actions net them notoriety in the newspapers. However, in marked contrast to many vigilante films, the cops are at most amused by the development, rather than feeling the need to put down competitors. In fact, the only thing Joan's fellow cops do in the film is that they continue monitoring the activities of the three punks, in an attempt to put them away on some other charge.

Possibly this police scrutiny of Joan's tormentors is the reason she and her friends don't go after the punks. There are some ancillary plot-developments, most of which are boring, including a scene in which Constance goes over the line. This almost causes the vigilante club to break up. However, the lead punk decides to go after Joan again, and this leads to a combative conclusion. Joan defeats the guy, but implicitly makes the decision that he'll be the next victim of the Club. This is meant to be inspiring, but since this is a case where the victim knows the identity of the woman he accosted, it's hard to imagine how Joan would get away with this particular downsizing.

Austin is OK in the lead, but she's not an overly charismatic actress compared to support-actresses Belford and Diana Scarwid. LADIES CLUB is a watchable though low-key exploitation drama, and though it hits some strong emotional beats, I can't say the whole is more than the sum of its parts.